Interior 2 | 60” x 60” Oil and Acrylic on Canvas

Last week Sarah McKenzie sat down with Sarah Wesseler of ArchDaily to talk about her work and practice.  The Sarah’s touched on the future of architectonic art, the link between building and painting construction, and how Sarah’s work is perceived across the sea.  In the excerpt below Sarah discusses where her painting contemporaries and the historical references she pulls from when creating work . You can read the full article at Archdaily.

Sarah Wesseler: Do you see yourself as working within an art-historical tradition of architectural painting? Or do you ever think about  that?

Sarah McKenzie: I think about art history, but I honestly think more about my work in the context of abstraction. I wouldn’t say that I really look at historical paintings of architecture. I look a lot at contemporary paintings of architecture. I’m very much influenced by the Leipzig school coming out of Germany. There are a number of artists that are part of that movement that have done really interesting things with architecture and paint and the way that an architectural space can relate to a painting space. But that’s not really historical. So in terms of the history I look at I’m much more thinking about abstract minimalist painting from the 1960s and 70s, even abstract expressionism in terms of certain moments when I’m thinking about handling a certain mark in a certain way. That’s the thing about especially the most recent paintings. They’re definitely about architecture, but they’re also about painting as a material and the way that decisions are made in the process of making a painting.

Building Code is on view at Jen Bekman Gallery through April 4, 2009.

Tunnel, 2005
C-print
19” x 24”

Hallo! Ich spreche nur ein bischen Deutsch, so I will speak to you in plain English to relay this über good news. Photographer Holly Lynton is presently showing her Solid Ground, series at Galerie Schuster Photo in Berlin. The exhibition is on view now through December 20th.

Auf Wiedersehen!

Gallery Schuster Photo
Gartenstrasse 7
10115 Berlin

Jen Bekman Gallery is now accepting entries for the Second Edition of Hey, Hot Shot! 2008.

The last round of Hey, Hot Shot! for 2008 is officially underway! We are now accepting submissions for the second edition of Hey, Hot Shot! 2008. Please note our shorter-than-usual entry period: The deadline is Tuesday, November 11th, 2008 @ 8pm.

In other HHS! news, we’ve got a new + improved web site! Big thanks go to the fantastic fellas of Little Jacket for the new logo and design. There’s more to come too — we’ll be making additional improvements to the site’s functionality and adding some nifty new features as well, so visit frequently and often.

Not yet familiar with the awesomeness that is Hey, Hot Shot!? Read on for details about the competition and don’t forget to check out our spectacular panelists.

Hey, Hot Shot! — The Best Thing Going for Emerging Photographers

Hey, Hot Shot! offers unrivaled opportunities for emerging photographers to have their work promoted online, reviewed by top-notch panelists and exhibited in our New York gallery. Now in its fourth year, the international competition has been lauded by curators, critics, educators and journalists. This year, we’ve sharpened our focus on fewer hot shots, giving them even more exposure.

fewer hot shots + longer exhibitions = more exposure
Our panel will select five Hot Shots to exhibit their work in a two-week showcase @ Jen Bekman Gallery. Two shows per year, with half as many people in each exhibition, add up to a higher profile for each winning photographer.

cold hard cash
Each winning photographer will be awarded a $500 honorarium.

ultras go solo
At year’s end two Ultras will be selected from 2008’s ten Hot Shots. The Ultras will be represented by Jen Bekman Gallery and slated for solo exhibitions.

in it to win it
As always, we’ll select contenders to feature daily on the Hey, Hot Shot! blog throughout the entry period.

collect yourself
Contenders will also be considered for 20×200, Jen Bekman’s newest online endeavor which offers limited edition prints at affordable prices. These editions are collected (and coveted) the world over by art lovers, editors and curators.

So what are you waiting for? Get your work out there: Apply Now!

The deadline for submissions is Tuesday, November 11th, 2008 @ 8pm (EDT).

Winners will be announced on Tuesday, December 9th, 2008 @ 1pm (EDT).

There is a $60 handling fee for your entry.

Submissions are open to everyone, from anywhere in the world!

Jen Bekman. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again—the lady is tireless. As if being a full-time gallerist wasn’t enough! Jen still manages to do a million other awesome things, like find the time to be a founding editor of the super hip blog on MediaBistro,  UnBeige.  The New York Times featured UnBeige in an article on Shopping With Design Bloggers.  Check out the full article here.

Also, in case you missed it, see the article on Jen that ran in the Times this past February, Easing the Pain of Collecting.

Navigating the burgeoning Lower East Side art scene is a little challenging without a little help.  Jen Bekman Gallery generously produced a Google map to help eager seekers find what they are looking for.  Today’s edition of The New York Times acknowledged this endeavor as a great way to begin to orient seekers to the expanding art scene.

Read Mary Billard’s full article here.

All art-world insiders worth their salt will tell you the same thing: Art is first and foremost about what you like. That’s you and your taste, not that of the gallery owner, the press or the museums.  “I think it’s really important to buy what you love,” says Bekman.

By Allison Williams 

Time Out New York Jun 4–10, 2008

Read full article

Five More Years @ Jen Bekman

Belated Happy New Year greetings! 2008 is off to a great start for Jen Bekman Gallery.

I’m most happy to announce that we’ve renewed our lease at 6 Spring St! We are looking forward to 5 more years in the ‘hood, which has become quite the art destination, thanks to the recent opening of The New Museum and the arrival of scads of excellent new galleries.

Read on for updates on Friday’s Ne Plus Ultra opening, a Sunday reception at Joe, media mentions and other upcoming events.

Ne Plus Ultra, the Hey, Hot Shot! Annual Opens Fri. 2.8 | 6pm-8pm

Image Credit: Untitled from the series Sub Rosa (2006) by Birthe Piontek

Ne Plus Ultra, the Hey, Hot Shot! Annual, opens @ Jen Bekman Gallery on Friday February 8th, 2008. The reception is from 6pm-8pm, and as always frosty beer beverages will be provided by Crumpler.

Please join me and all of this year’s Ultras at the reception:

Nina Berman
Karolina Karlic
Brad Moore
Birthe Piontek

The exhibition will remain on view through Saturday March 15th, 2008. (The gallery’s official 5 year anniversary!)

Jen Bekman Gallery
6 Spring St
(between Elizabeth + Bowery)
NYC NY 10012
ph: +1.212.219.0166

Joe’s NYC: jen@joe Presents Photographs by Joseph O. Holmes

Image Credit: Broadway (2007) by Joseph O. Holmes

Please join photographer Joe Holmes, Joe proprietor Jonathan Rubinstein and me on Sunday, February 10th, 2008 from 3-5 pm at a reception for Joe’s NYC, the latest installment of our ongoing series jen@joe:

Joe
9 E 13th St.
(between University Place and 5th Avenue)

The exhibition, Joe’s NYC, is comprised of 29 NY-centric prints and will remain on view through April 25th, 2008.

The prints are available in three very affordably priced sizes and will be available exclusively online at jenatjoe.com.

We’ll be hosting other jen@joe events throughout the exhibition. Sign up for the jen@joe newsletter to stay up to date on announcements.

Points of Interest: Online + Elsewhere

Image Credit: White Ice by Tema Stauffer. Read about it on the 20×200 blog.A portion of the proceeds from this edition will benefit The Art Shanty Projects.

As if two openings in one week weren’t enough, there are plenty of other things keeping me busy over the next few months.

20×200 continues apace with two new editions each and every week. Be sure to sign up for our mailing list to get advance notice on new editions.

I’m packing my long johns and heading off to Minneapolis for a few art-filled days (and nights.) I’ll be doing portfolio reviews (afternoon) and a presentation (evening) at the Minnesota Center for Photography on Monday, February 18th.

I’m also looking forward to attending The Art Shanty Projects and the opening of World’s Away at The Walker Art Center. Another show I won’t be missing is Ultra Karolina Karlic’s exhibition at Franklin Art Works.

In quick succession after that: Santa Fe, where I’m honored to be jurying Center’s Singular Image Prize for color photography, Austin, where I’m speaking on a panel at South By Southwest and Houston, where I’ll be reviewing portfolios at Fotofest.

Points of Interest: Online + In Print

Image Credit: Foam Magazine #13 / searching

If you love photography and find yourself in Amsterdam, be sure not to miss the Foam Fotografie Museum, an amazing vibrant venue for exhibitions of established and emerging photographers.

The most recent issue of Foam Magazine, their gorgeous quarterly magazine, includes Jen Bekman: Gallery Without Walls, a long format interview with me by writer Eric Miles, accompanied by portraits from the very excellent Stefan Ruiz.

We have lots of other great media in the pipeline. Some is still a secret, but be on the lookout for Jen Bekman Projects, especially 20×200, in a diverse array of publications including Wired, Redbook and The Artist Magazine.

Also on the horizon: big (exciting! awesome!) changes are in store for Hey, Hot Shot! in 2008.

Stay tuned, and stay up to date: bookmark our blogs, or subscribe to their RSS feeds:

Jen Bekman News Blog
The Hey, Hot Shot! Blog
The 20×200 Blog
Personism (my personal blog.)

Most of all, we’d love to see you in person! Come visit us at the gallery:

Jen Bekman Gallery
6 Spring St (between Elizabeth + Bowery)
NYC 10012
+1.212.219.1066

Gallery Hours:
Wednesday – Saturday | Noon – 6pm

We are most pleased to announce Beth Dow’s review in the current issue of The New Yorker. (Cover date: December 3, 2007)

Seven Stumps by Beth Dow

Fieldwork, an exhibition of black and white palladium prints by Minneapolis-based photographer Beth Dow, remains on view at the gallery through next Saturday, December 8th, 2007. Vince Aletti’s review the exhibition appears in this week’s edition of The New Yorker:

BETH DOW 
This photographer’s New York début is smartly understated—modest but memorable. Dow’s images of woods and fields nod to the landscape tradition reaching from Eugène Atget to Robert Adams, and their quiet beauty is underlined by the richness of her platinum-palladium prints. Dealing with the overfamiliar subject of man’s rude intrusion into the natural world, she’s not always subtle—stacked logs and felled limbs abound—but she knows when to step back and allow an image to breathe. Her pictures of a lone tree in a row of stumps and a pile of smoking stubble under a sad gray sky aren’t just taken; they’re felt. Through Dec. 8. (Bekman, 6 Spring St. 212-219-0166.)

Beth also has an edition available on 20×200. You can be the proud owner of an archival pigment print of Beth’s Bags (below) for as little as $20.

Bags by Beth Dow, also available on 20×200.

As regular blog readers know, Nina Berman’s recent exhibition Purple Hearts, got an amazing review in The New York Times, which was followed by two additional listings in subsequent weeks and an overwhelmingly fantastic array of international press.

20×200 has been getting some attention as well. You can check out our media mentions to date on the 20×200 blog. Also look for us in the current issue of Dwell and the upcoming issue of Ready Made.

In her free time, Jen’s been pursuing her own journalistic endeavors. Look for her interview with photographer Alec Soth in the Fall issue of photo-eye Booklist.

To stay up to date on all the various Jen Bekman Projects, bookmark our blogs, or subscribe to their RSS feeds:

Jen Bekman News Blog

The Hey, Hot Shot! Blog

The 20×200 Blog

Personism (Jen’s personal blog.)

Enough with the virtual, let’s get real – the best way to have the Jen Bekman experience is live and in person. Come visit us at the gallery:

Jen Bekman Gallery
6 Spring St (between Elizabeth + Bowery)
NYC 10012
+1.212.219.1066

Gallery Hours:
Wednesday – Saturday | Noon – 6pm

Nina Berman is featured once more in today’s (Friday, Aug 31st) New York Times, this time in the Art Listings:

NINA BERMAN: ‘PURPLE HEARTS’ One of the more shocking photographs to come out of the current war in Iraq was taken last year in a rural town in the American Midwest. It’s a studio portrait by Nina Berman of a young Illinois couple on their wedding day. The bride is dressed in a traditional white gown; the groom, a former Marine sergeant, is in full dress. Her expression is unsmiling, maybe grave. His face is all but featureless, with no nose and no chin, as blank as a pullover mask, the results of disfiguring wounds sustained in combat. The show also includes 10 portraits of wounded veterans from Ms. Berman’s series “Purple Hearts.” Whatever your politics, the show, installed in a small storefront gallery, adds up to a desolating antiwar statement. Jen Bekman Gallery, 6 Spring Street, between the Bowery and Elizabeth Street, Lower East Side; (212) 219-0166, jenbekman.com, through Sept. 8. (Cotter)

Images from the Dark Side of War by Marc Pitzke for Der Spiegel
A moving photo exhibition in New York shows what the media doesn’t—shocking photos of seriously wounded Iraq veterans. The images and the soldiers’ quotes which accompany them say more about the war than you might want to know.

“Purple Hearts”, miroir brisé de la guerre by Thomas Giovanetti for Liberation
La guerre n’est pas que gloire. Enrôlés la fleur au fusil comme on entame une partie de Playstation, ces jeunes gens mis “Game Over” sont aujourd’hui des oubliés. La photographe les a donc saisis dans leur anonymat, au cœur de l’Amérique profonde, bien loin du mythe guerrier et de l’héroïsme des G.I’s.

Closer to home:
Bringing Home the Faces of War by Mary-Ellen Schoonmaker for The Record
[Berman’s] exhibit at the Jen Bekman Gallery in lower Manhattan couldn’t be more timely, given the debate that is raging in Congress over whether to bring the troops home from Iraq and when. The war is continuing in Iraq, and the suffering of so many soldiers who have left Iraq is continuing as well. For many of them, it will go on for the rest of their lives.

Here’s a round-up of additional press for Nina Berman’s Purple Hearts, which has been extended through Saturday September 8th:

First off, the show is once more recommended in the NY Daily News, this time in the Sports section, where columnist Bill Gallo writes:

It’s so very true that a picture can tell a thousand words and more. If you look at Nina Berman’s photographs of Iraq veterans coming home with their Purple Hearts, you’ll hear a cascade of words roaring, “No more War!” “No more War, Ever!” You will never view a stronger anti-war statement.

Go see “Nina Berman: Purple Hearts”

There’s also been a good deal of online coverage, here’s a sampling:

Time Magazine Arts Blog, written by Richard Lacayo:
...these are some of the most affecting pictures I’ve seen of the costs inscribed on the human body by the war in Iraq. No matter what you think of that war, it would be fair to say that over the past few years Berman has paid more compassionate attention to American veterans than their own government has.

Daily Kos:
Looking at today’s NY Times, my heart was broken open. There is a new and devastating exhibition of photographs called ``Purple Hearts’’ opening in NYC by the photographer Nina Berman. To see these photos is to deepen the disgust with today’s talk from our elders…We must have the Senate and House see these pictures and show them to the world.

Flavorpill
Images of the Iraq war were surprisingly scarce this summer in New York’s galleries. Whatever the reason, Jen Bekman — who goes where many gallerists won’t — remedies this in a show of Nina Berman’s series Purple Hearts.

Ion Arts Blog
Showing now at Bekman is Purple Hearts, photographer Nina Berman’s images and interviews with soldiers severely wounded in Iraq, including her award-winning Marine Wedding, shown here. The images are amazing, sensitive, and apolitical: they are a direct testament to the consequences of war.

And if anyone happens to speak Korean, perhaps they can give us a decent translation of this item, which sent a lot of traffic to our web site and brought many visitors to the gallery as well.

Currently the lead story over at The New York Times online:
Words Unspoken on War’s Faces by Holland Cotter:

Ms. Berman adds no direct editorial comment to the presentation. She has said in interviews that she started photographing disabled veterans soon after the war began mainly because she didn’t see anyone else doing so. In what may be the most intensively photographed war in history, the visual documentation has been selective. The fate of the injured veterans was not a public issue until news reports about substandard treatment at Walter Reed Army Medical Center.

This background provides the context for Ms. Berman’s photographs, which are themselves tip-of-the-iceberg images. No matter what the viewer’s political position, the images add up to a complex and desolating anti-war statement…

Spc. Luis Calderon by Nina Berman

Joanna Molloy, the Molloy in New York Daily News gossip column duoRush & Molloy, attending Nina’s opening on August 8th. She chatted with Nina for a while about the exhibition, and a small knot of eavesdroppers gathered around them loosely while they talked – Joanna was so engaged and asked such good questions, and Nina is just incredibly articulate about the work. (You can find out yourself at the artist talk next week.) Joanna’s interest in the show led to the somewhat unlikely bold-faced appearance of Nina and the subject of one of her portraits, Luis Calderon (pictured above) in yesterday’s Rush & Molloy column:

Luis Calderon was paralyzed in Iraq — but can’t get a Purple Heart. The 22-year-old was injured when a mural of Saddam Hussein he was ordered to pull down with his tank crashed onto him, and you must be injured in combat with an enemy to receive the medal. Photos of him and other disabled Iraqi vets are now up at the Jen Bekman Gallery, where photographer Nina Berman, who includes the pics in her book, “Purple Hearts,” will speak Aug 29.

James Wagner and Barry Hoggard stopped in to see the exhibition on Saturday. You can read about James’s response to the exhibition over on his blog.

About the photo:

22 years old, 4th Infantry Division, was wounded May 5, 2003 in Tikrit. A concrete wall with Saddam’s face on it, which Calderon had been ordered to destroy, came crashing down on him, severing his Spinal cord and leaving him a quadriplegic. His entire family moved from Puerto Rico to south Florida to take care of him.

Photographed December 17, 2003 at the Miami Veterans Hospital.

“From my neckline down, I can not feel anything…. I got an Army Commendation Medal. I didn’t get a Purple Heart. I feel like I deserve one. It would make me more confident that I really did something.”

Photo of the JB by Joe Holmes

The New York Times ran a feature on Sunday called Summer’s Seven Day Week, covering the myriad galleries which actually have August hours. Here’s the snippet about the gallery:

A brief zig and zag down the Bowery onto Spring lands you at Jen Bekman Gallery, which is scheduled to take down its cool group exhibition “A New American Portrait” on Thursday [Ed. note: It’s actually open through Friday], and reopen on Aug. 8 with “Purple Hearts.” This solo show, by the photographer Nina Berman, looks at wounded soldiers back from Iraq. Ms. Berman won a World Press Photo Award for her wedding portrait of Ty Ziegel, a disfigured Marine sergeant, and his wife, Renée.

Kate Bingaman-Burt Featured in Print Magazine

In the July/August issue of Print Magazine there is a feature called The Obsessives which highlights the work of four artists dealing with the topic of consumption.

A week’s worth of time, money, and resources—gone in a flash! Or is it? We asked four artists known for their clever online record-keeping to show us exactly how they spent those precious 604,800 seconds.

View Kate’s week of drawings up close here (PDF).

And if you’re interested, Print has posted Q&As with each of the The Obsessives online.

I might also mention that Kate’s Obsessive Consumption got a write-up in today’s Yahoo! Picks.

Congrats X2, Kate!

painting by Amy Ross (detail)

The press for Boston-based painter Amy Ross just keeps rolling in. Small Magazine, a new mag out to support independent “creators, designers, photographers, and illustrators” just featured a few of Amy’s paintings in their Summer ‘07 issue.

Amy’s solo show anima mundi was shown April 27 – June 7 at jen bekman, her first solo show in New York City. Amy has since recieved quite a bit of attention for her paintings, very well deserved I might add. Many of her pieces have sold after the opening—people are really taking a liking to these images of “genetic engineering and mutation gone awry.” That said, if you’re interested in purchasing what’s left, there are still pieces worth inquiring about: info @ jenbekman.com.

Big congrats to Amy!

Co-curators Jörg Colberg and Jen Bekman with Alec Soth at the ANAP opening

Hi there, readers. This is Shane—photographer, blogger, and short-term summer intern at jb—here to give you a bit of news about your favorite gallerist.

Though first, let me just say that if you were not at the opening for A New American Portrait you did miss quite a fantastic event—and I’m not just saying this because I feel obligated to. As already mentioned, the turnout was remarkable and the work looks especially nice “in the flesh.”

Gallerist Ed Winkleman had quite a few kind words to say about the exhibition on his blog, describing the show as “a wonderful survey of contemporary portraiture in photography.” And Padddy Johnson of the notorious Art Fag City had a bit of fun with the digital snaps that Alec took on her camera at the opening. If you’re curious, there are more pictures from opening night available online in both Jen and Jörg’s Flickr streams.

And fortunately, for those of you who weren’t able to make it on Friday, the work will be on view at the gallery until August 3.

Now back to the original point of this post, eh?

Just yesterday, Jen was on a radio show where she spoke with Eva Lake about the ANAP show, the gallery, her new 20×200 project, Hey, Hot Shot!, Personism, blogs in general, her List of Women Speakers for Your Conference, plus a whole lot more.

Basically, she talked about everything ever.

I found that the conversation was very interesting especially for those less familiar with what goes on the at the gallery. Listeners will get a good sense of Jen’s motivations as a gallerist and a bit of information about her plethora of projects.

The podcast is worth a listen if you’ve got the time.

You can download the .mp3 archive here (0:56:55).

Pushing Mesh by Peter Haakon Thompson, from the exhibition A New American Portrait

Over on the Saatchi Your Gallery blog , Lupe Nunez-Fernandez has some thoughtful words about A New American Portrait. Here’s a particularly juicy bit:

...the show offers a variety of issues to think about, but point of view might be one of the most fascinating here. All of the works share an ambiguous, theatrical sense of detachment, a way in which the exhibition suggestively opens up a conversation on the inherently contradictory elements in contemporary portraiture.

We are nearly finished hanging the show, and it’s looking good. Hope to see lots of you tomorrow!

Benno Schmidt, Portland Harbor by Spring Hot Shot Mark Marchesi

It’s been a big week at the jb. The Hey, Hot Shot! Spring Edition opening last night was a blast. You still have time to check out the exhibition: it’s on view this Friday, Saturday and Sunday from Noon-6pm.

Next up: we’ll spend the week getting ready for our big opening event on Friday June 22, for our Summer group exhibition A New American Portrait.

Here’s a round up of all the gallery related online mentions as of late:

Hey, Hot Shot! featured on the blog for Popular Photography magazine

Rob Walker interviews Jen about 20×200

Unbeige on 20×200

Josh Spear’s Heather Snodgrass on 20×200

Gallery Hopper on 20×200

Photographer Julian Thomas reconsiders 20×200

Photo-Muse on 20×200, but wait there’s more

JPG Magazine Blog on A New American Portrait

Jason Kottke on A New American Portrait

Photographer Greg Wasserstrom is really excited about A New American Portrait