From this weeks edition of Flavorpill NYC:

James Deavin’s exhibition Photographs from the New World documents the DIY world of Second Life, where users create avatars and detailed online environments in order to live out their dreams. The camera function inside Second Life captures high-resolution images that allow Deavin to produce large digital c-prints. Untitled (lift), a serene shot of a digitally rendered ski lift in clouds, has a remarkable relationship to Untitled (cricket), an aerial photograph by Deavin of an actual cricket pitch in the UK, shot using the same compositional techniques. Testaments to the rich culture of Second Life and Deavin’s talents, these prints embody the quiet contemplation the virtual world provides its residents.

Holly Lynton | Solid Ground : Installation Views 3, originally uploaded by msjenbee.

Holly’s critically acclaimed exhibition Solid Ground has lots of images associated with it. Here’s a round up:

– images, statement, release, bio (on jenbekman.com)

– installation views of the exhibition, shot by the estimable Joseph O. Holmes) (on Flickr) – photos from the artist’s talk by JCN (on Flickr)

The excellent Vince Aletti writes about Holly Lynton’s exhibition Solid Ground in this week’s edition of The New Yorker.

HOLLY LYNTON
Exploring the possibilities for fantasy in her own back yard, Lynton turns it into a wild kingdom for a series of color photographs that assume the point of view of a playful and inquisitive child. Lynton’s nearly naked little girl and a bare-chested friend take on a fairy-tale presence in a landscape rendered mysterious by worm’s-eye-view closeups. He’s a giant seen through a scrim of leaves; she’s a sprite, crouching to catch a sprinkler’s spray in her mouth. But some of the most intriguing images are unpopulated: a tunnel in the snow; a bird caught behind the netting on a raspberry bush; leaves, petals, dead bees, and dry ice floating in a plastic pool. Through Oct. 28. (Bekman, 6 Spring St. 212-219-0166.)

We’ll be hosting a Q+A between Holly and Paddy Johnson of Art Fag City on Thursday October 26 from 6pm – 8pm. (There will be wine + beer, the talk starts around 7ish.)

Space is very limited, so please RSVP: rsvp AT jenbekman DOT com.

The show remains on view through Saturday October 28, and the gallery is open Wednesday – Sunday from noon – 6pm or by appointment.

As I’ve discussed extensively with the talented, gorgeous and awesome La Lux, it is a time of Bold Tings.

Over on Personism, I’ve been pretty fired up lately about the under-representation of women in tech, in art and um, rather broadly speaking creativity. Rather than pointlessly bluster, I started (you have to start somewhere) with a List of Women Speakers for Your Conference.

In other news: we’ve got a whole new crop of excellent interns here at the jb. Be on the look out for their blogging debuts. (Alice Wells made her debut on the Hey, Hot Shot! blog just the other day.)

Speaking of HHS, as previously announced: we’re accepting entries for the Fall Edition of Hey, Hot Shot! The deadline is Tuesday November 7th @ 6pm, but why wait? Apply now.

Special guest panelists this season include Amit Gupta of Photojojo fame and Joerg Colberg who writes the must-read fine-art photography blog Conscientious.

The last edition got some terrific press:

Kate Bingaman was featured on Cool Hunting.

Rob Walker of my most favoriteist NYT Sunday Magazine column, Consumed gave Ernie Button a shout-out on his blog Murketing. (Did you know he has a blog? He does and it’s good.)

Paddy Johson, of Art Fag City fame, stopped by and liked what she saw.

This is the last season of HHS for the year – we’ll be announcing the Ultras in December and their group show will open in January.

Regarding our current exhibition, Solid Ground:

On Thursday October 26 I’ll be hosting an artist talk with Holly Lynton. She’ll talk about her current exhibition, Solid Ground and we’ll ply you with booze. Not to be missed! Reception from 6pm – 8pm, artist talk at 7.

You can stay up to date on gallery related events by subscribing to our email list.

Video Still from Sunday in the Country with Larry Rivers by John Glassie

It’s not that I’m curious. On the contrary, I am bored but it’s my duty to be attentive, I am needed by things as the sky must be above the earth. And lately, so great has their anxiety become, I can spare myself little sleep.
— Frank O’Hara, Meditations in an Emergency

NEW YORK, NY — jen bekman is pleased to present Meditations in an Emergency, a group exhibition of work in various mediums inspired by and interpreting Frank O’Hara’s poem of the same name. The exhibition will be on view from June 20 – August 4, 2006, at jen bekman, located at 6 Spring Street, between Elizabeth and Bowery, New York, 10012.

Jen Bekman will host an opening reception for the artists, all represented by the gallery, on Tuesday, June 20, from 6:00 – 8:00pm at the gallery.

From salad days at the Museum of Modern Art’s front desk to curating exhibitions and writing criticism later in life, Frank O’Hara (1926 – 1966) was a controversial figure in his time as today for both the content of his work and his refusal to draw formal distinctions between mediums. O’Hara was a pivotal figure during the particularly vibrant and creative era of the late ‘50s and early ‘60s; he was a prominent poet of the New York School and collaborated with many of the leading New York School painters as well. O’Hara’s synergetic spirit carried across media and genre and impacted a number of artistic realms.

Gallery director Jen Bekman originally planned on curating an exhibition of art interpreting Lunch Poems, probably O’Hara’s best-known collection, but ultimately decided that Meditations in an Emergency was most meaningful given the current political climate. Says Bekman, “The tenor of our culture now is that we’re in a constant state of panic and alarm and I like the idea of art and creativity providing calm in chaos or helping us to maintain composure in an unsteady moment. During the curatorial process I’ve really enjoyed the dialogue with each artist; seeing which part of the poem each artist responds to is fascinating. And of course there’s my obsession with O’Hara and the fact that he’s been a source of inspiration to me since my poetry-writing college days.”

Participating artists include Agnes Barley, Mara Bodis-Wollner, Christine Callahan, Christine Collins, Benjamin Donaldson, John Glassie, Anne Hall, Addie Juell, Holly Lynton, Dana Miller, Katie Murray, Leon Reid, Eliot Shepard, Tema Stauffer and Jeffrey Teuton.

Meditations in an Emergency at jen bekman, 6 Spring Street.
Hours: Wednesday, Friday & Saturday, noon – 6pm and Thursday noon – 8pm, or by private appointment.

jen bekman is featured in the May issue of Art in America. Journalist Stephen Maine’s Report from New York: Down East is a round-up of Manhattan’s Lower East Side galleries. He describes it as a “mecca for independent, highly innovative new galleries.”

Here’s a snippet from what he has to say about jen bekman:

“Hey, Hot Shot” is the name of the quarterly four day long exhibition of 10 emerging photographers that Jen Bekman mounts in her diminutive storefront gallery on Spring Street just west of the Bowery. The shows allow Bekman a highly structured way to make contact with new artists, a favorite aspect of her work. The currently popular “poetic snapshot” esthetic is well represented among the photographers she works with inclduing Tema Stauffer, Dana Miller and Eliot Shepard.

Bekman… opened the gallery in March of 2003 with an emphasis on photography and an eye on the future New Museum location. Eschewing intellectual obscurities, she takes an unencumbered, “populist” approach to marketing her artists.

How exciting! Page 14 of the April 26, 2006 edition of the New York Sun featured photos of the SVA Mentors dinner. And who is right smack in the middle? Ms. Bekman herself! The dinner which was held af the The Modern (the restaurant in MoMA) was hosted by Stephen Frailey, the SVA Photography Dept. Chair AND a Hey, Hot Shot! panelist.

My apologies to all you dedicated readers of the jen bekman news blog – my student duties got the best of me this week. However, there is good news! The end is in sight and I am ready and willing to keep you updated with lots of posts!

First thing, you may or may not be aware of the new
Hey, Hot Shot! blog which is being edited by my lovely co-intern Anna Wolfgang. Anna will be keeping fans of the competition informed about its going-ons, especially now that the deadline is quickly approaching! Make sure you check it often! Also check out Anna’s post about Hey, Hot Shot! being featured as one of the 7 best photo competitions to enter today as rated by Photojojo.

The other bit of info I wanted to tell you about is the party we are throwing to celebrate Jen@Joe. On April 30th @ Joe on 13th St from 2-4pm, jen bekman and Joe, The Art of Coffee will be having a reception to celebrate our joint venture so please come join us! Save the Date! To read more about Jen@Joe check out my first blog post.

More blogging soon!

While on the topic of the gallery getting some great press (such as Tuesday’s feature in MetroNY) it should be noted that the Hey, Hot Shot! Winter Edition showcase got some great mentions even though it was only up for a short period of time. Impressive! Gothamist, Flavorpill, Manhattan Users’ Guide and The L Magazine all wrote about the show – but our favorite by far was being shortlisted in the Village Voice:

“For the past three years, jen bekman has championed the up-and-coming young artist, particularly in the photography field. It’s appropriate then that the latest installment of her ‘Hey, Hot Shot’ series opens on Wednesday, the gallery’s third anniversary. This time she celebrates with Noah Addis, Benoit Aquin, Jessica Bruah, Claire Hester, Nicole Jean Hill, Andrew Long, Bob O’Connor, Erin Siegal, Rebecca Smeyne, and Rafil Kroll-Zaidi.”

Absolutely awesome!

I personally can’t wait to see who is chosen for the Spring Edition of Hey, Hot Shot! which, by the way, is officially open to submissions.

There’s a nice article about the gallery in today’s Metro NY.

The photos above arefrom the Winter Edition of Hey, Hot Shot!. You can see Benoit Aquin’s photo on your lower left and photos from Claire Hester and Jessica Bruah on the upper right.

The All Girls School | Photographs by Mara Bodis-Wollner

On view @ jen bekman through December 22, 2005.

Current Press:

The New Yorker (Dec 12, 2005):
For her New York solo début, this young photographer says she’s zeroing in on “the experience of disappointment amidst celebration.” But because her subjects are almost exclusively women and girls gathered for birthday, cocktail, or dinner parties, Bodis-Wollner is also taking on the fraught dynamics of female relationships. In these carefully orchestrated tableaux, she invites us into minefields trip-wired by intricate webs of connection and exclusion. The reference point here is Tina Barney, who deploys her patented blend of naturalism and artifice in similarly social settings. Although Bodis-Wollner’s work is more effortful than Barney’s, when she loosens up she has an eloquence and precision all her own.

The Village Voice:
I’ve been looking forward to Bodis-Wollner’s solo debut since the gallery posted a single image from the series on its website months ago… The All Girls School looks to be a spectacular exploration of the dance and drama of life in a place where girls gather day in and day out.

Photo Essay along with a Q A on The Morning News:
...What drew us to her pictures was the storytelling. Each shot has a dozen narratives that pop off the surface if you trace the subjects’ eyes. Admiration, frustration, loneliness, jealousy—it’s your 10-year high school reunion and big family dinner all rolled into a single uncomfortable moment.

Through some kind of weird fluke, I’m mentioned in the New York Times on two consecutive days, which is very exciting to me (and my proud parents, even more so to them!)

Today’s NYT has a feature in the Arts section called Arial Mon Amour, and Other Font Passions. The lead quote is from me in my capacity as the writer and editor of Unbeige.

Yesterday’s T Style: Travel, which is a magazine supplement that runs occasionally on Sundays, had a small feature about Bicycles Locked to Poles. It’s the last item here. It’s brief, so I’ll repost it here in its entirety:

Spin City
May is National Bike Month, a time when socially conscious souls spin their wheels to encourage commuters to bike to work. May also brings us the Five Boro Bike Tour, the 42-mile ride that allows cyclists to take over the streets without fear of arrest. And the Bicycle Film Festival happens this month, featuring a film by Jonas Mekas. And yet, lost in all of this freewheelin’ are the orphaned bikes whose pillaged carcasses, chained to lampposts, are relics of the urban landscape. John Glassie, a writer, photographer and, as of late, temporary editor at The New York Times Magazine, is one of the few people who seems to care about these bikes and has captured their pitiful state in ‘’Bicycles Locked to Poles’’ (McSweeney’s). His photographs will be on display until June 11 at Jen Bekman Gallery in New York. If you bike there, be sure to bring a good lock.

ALIX BROWNE

Our current exhibition, Slower, photographs by Eliot Shepard, is a critics’ pick on ARTFORUM.com:

Shepard clearly has an eye for the cinematic, turning the elusive, enigmatic stranger into the stuff of noir fantasy.

Read the whole item.
Congratulations Eliot!

Eliot’s exhibition is featured in Daily Candy’s Weekend Guide, at the top of the list for things to see in the city this weekend.

Lisa Chamberlain wrote a piece for this Sunday’s New York Times about the burgeoning gallery scene sprouting up along the Bowery, focusing largely on the gallery. I haven’t seen the article in print yet, but it’s avaiable online already. Registration for the NYT site is free, but required to access the article:

New Galleries Set Out To Create a Destination

My favorite quote in the article comes from my neighbor Mitch Epstein. Mitch has championed the gallery since I first opened: participating in two group shows: Made in New York and Home (for the Holidays) as well as doing a book signing shortly for his fabulous, and critically acclaimed, book Family Business. Mitch’s quote ends the article:

“My sense of it is there’s going to be a change because of the New Museum,” said Mitch Epstein, a photographer who has been in the area since 1972… “It will draw more galleries like Jen’s, which are a fantastic addition to the cultural life of this neighborhood.”

Thanks, Mitch.