photo by Klea McKenna

Remainder
April 19th- June 10th, 2012
Artist Reception: Thursday, May 10th 7-9pm

The Philadelphia Photo Arts Center is pleased to announce Remainder, a group exhibition including the work of Amy Beecher, Aspen Mays, Klea McKenna and Brent Wahl. Remainder is a term residing within the language of art and science that implies the end of an equation. This translates well into both the photography and broader art worlds as a metaphor for the process of creation. The exhibition presents a selection of each artist’s work that investigates the boundaries of abstraction within photography and seeks to reveal the shifting connections between surface and image.

Amy Beecher uses a range of media to create work that evokes elements of human bodily experience. Often, she uses her own bodily identity as a starting point, especially her transition from girlhood to womanhood. She is interested in paradoxes within the body: containment and expansion, entering and exiting, dirty and clean, vulnerable but covered. Her challenge is to find a visual language to describe bodily identity as a nuanced intersection of haptic experience, linguistic knowledge and material culture.

Aspen Mays’ project Sun Ruins brings together two major projects as they stand in a contradictory – yet mutually fulfilling – relationship to one another: one positivist, the other offering an interventionist and autonomous account on the limits of photographic depiction of celestial bodies. The series calls in to question the expectation of photography as
documentary and categorical, and explores the visualization of forms of knowledge in both studio art and observational practices. The Sun 1957 is the collective title of 25 silver gelatin prints that depict the Sun from a mid-century international survey of sunspots. Though the negatives used by Mays were possibly discounted from the official study on individual criteria, their quantity en masse begins to create an encompassing picture of the Sun for that year. Being that the film negatives were unearthed from the darkroom’s archive organized by month, Mays has arranged them similarly with some months filling multiple sheets, while other months are recorded by fewer images. By recontextualizing the negatives, the artist constructs a dynamic grid of both spatial and temporal consequence.

In Klea McKenna’s series Dark Star, the historic Theatre Artaud in San Francisco became both the artists subject and studio. Over the course of several nights, Mckenna used the black box of the theatre itself as a darkroom in which to make images of the shapes, objects and infrastructure that make up the theatre space. She used analog photographic paper and the colored gels used in stage lighting to create large photograms. In many cases the images were exposed by the slivers of light that seep into the darkened theatre, through cracks, curtained windows and under doorways. This method transforms the silhouette of familiar, utilitarian forms into vividly colored abstractions. Just as in theatrical performance, these images rely on the power of total darkness to conjure fiction and allow fantasy to arise.

Brent Wahl’s photography, installation, and time-based media work focuses on conjuring the undercurrent of our reality. Through the use of ephemeral materials, he makes low-tech, yet complex constructions that often teeter on the verge of collapse. These ‘situations’ are often transformed from 3D to 2D via photography or through a photo time-based media. The resulting work strives for subtle fluctuations of meaning – meaning that quietly investigates both the disparate and similar links between cultural occurrences, abstraction, time, architecture, illusion, and the spectacle.

SLIDELUCK POTSHOW is a New York City-based, non-profit arts organization that provides an opportunity for artists and arts appreciators to gather around food, friends, and artwork for an unforgettable night. The evening begins with a couple hours of mingling and dining on the home-cooked delights of those who attend while dining outdoors in the garden space at the Crane Arts building, and then the lights are dimmed, the crowd is hushed, and a spectacular slideshow commences in the Ice Box space.

SLIDELUCK POTSHOW Philadelphia
Saturday, June 16, 2012
The Green Space and The Ice Box at Crane Arts
1400 N. American Street
7 PM Potluck | 9 PM Slideshow | Afterparty to follow

Submit your artwork for SLPS Philadelphia!

We are currently seeking cohesive, creative, and thought-provoking submissions for the slideshow! It doesn’t matter if you are a photojournalist, painter, glassblower, fashion or fine-art photographer, or sculptor. Artists working in every medium are invited to submit, and those selected by our curators will present their work alongside one another in a relaxed and spirited atmosphere. Multimedia presentations are also welcomed and all shows must be accompanied by music, commentary, or other audio surprises.

The deadline for submissions is Friday, May 18.
For submission guidelines and instructions, go to

http://www.slideluckpotshow.com/submissions

For more information, email philly@slideluckpotshow.com

 Charlie’s Bloody Ear, Christian Patterson

Of the Ordinary

February 9th- April 15th
Opening Reception: Thursday, February 9th 7-9pm
Gallery walkthrough with the artists: 6-7pm*
Book signings with Ron Jude, Christian Patterson & Ofer Wolberger: 7-7:30pm*
*Please note new times and dates

The Philadelphia Photo Arts Center is pleased to announce Of the Ordinary, a group exhibition including the work of Adam Broomberg & Oliver Chanarin, Alyse Emdur, Ron Jude, Jason Lazarus, Christian Patterson and Ofer Wolberger.

At a time when photography itself is undergoing a tremendous transformation within popular culture and the art world alike, the act of appropriation has become imbued with a new kind of energy. With a galaxy of images circulating without boundaries, moving from one place to another, we can only speculate on what their final resting place(s), if any, may be. Each time the context of a photograph changes, whether it be a digital file or a physical print, the ways in which it is experienced, understood and reinterpreted will also adapt. The act of working with other people’s photographs, whether they are new, old, prints, digital files or otherwise, has been given a new relevance by the mitigating circumstances of contemporary life and image-making. This extends the mutability of meaning embedded within the medium itself and grants more permission to the viewer and author to generate new contexts and interpretations.

Of the Ordinary is comprised of imagery that was never intended to be experienced in the context of a gallery or museum.  The focus of this exhibition is an interest in the political implications of portraiture, highlighting the various ways in which images are created, distributed and experienced in a contemporary setting. Many of the projects highlighted in this exhibition employ the method of editing an existing body of images to further investigate their meaning.

A publication including images from each artist’s project will be produced in conjunction with this exhibition. It will be available for purchase at PPAC.

CONTACT:
Christopher Gianunzio
Exhibitions Coordinator
215 232.5678
christopher@philaphotoarts.org

Exhibition: Silent Existence by Tetsugo Hyakutake
March 8th-June 11th 2012
Artist Reception and Talk
Thursday, 3/29, 6:30 – 8:00, $15
*Proceeds from the reception will be shared with the Japan Society for their Japan Earthquake Relief Fund.

The Philadelphia Photo Arts Center is pleased to announce its first exhibition in our project space, Silent Existence by Tetsugo Hyakutake. This exhibition marks the one year anniversary of the earthquake and tsunami that struck Japan in March of 2011. Over the years, Hyakutake has worked with Japan as the theme of his art, investigating pathos in relation to historical, social, and economic issues involving industrialization and urban and social development.

Japan has been suffering from the aftermath of the tremendous earthquake and tsunami that devastated vast areas in North eastern Japan on March 11, 2011. The disaster was an immense shock to the nation, and the quake and tsunami laid waste to entire towns and villages along the Pacific coast. Hyakutake chooses to work with contemporary issues in relation to their historical contexts. Through his artwork, Hyakutake create what he calls his own “truth” formed from the influences and experiences he has absorbed. His images attempt to portray only one version, but by doing so, he hopes to be able to bring out other meaningful “truths” that may lie deep inside the audience.

** In partnership with Gallery 339 and Alan Klotz Gallery, PPAC will also be selling two disctinct prints by
Tetsugo Hyakutake during the course of his exhibition at PPAC. 100 % of the proceeds from print sales will go to
the Japan Society.

Biography:
Tetsugo Hyakutake was born in Japan. After working for Fujifilm Imaging in Tokyo, Hyakutake moved to Philadelphia and graduated from the University of the Arts with a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Photography, receiving the Promising Artist Award and Society for Photographic Education Mid-Atlantic Region Scholarship Award. In 2009, Hyakutake
obtained a Master’s Degree of Fine Arts from the University of Pennsylvania where he was awarded a Toby Devan Lewis Fellowship. His work has been exhibited in Tokyo, Philadelphia, New York and Madrid. He is currently represented by Gallery 339 in Philadelphia and Alan Klotz Gallery in New York. Hyakutake’s work has been acquired for a number of notable corporate and public collections, including those of BlackRock, Fidelity Investments, the West Collection, and the Library of Congress.

CONTACT:
Christopher Gianunzio
Exhibitions Coordinator
215.232.5678
christopher@philaphotoarts.org

Pa Bouje Ankò: Don’t Move Again by Laura Heyman
December 1st 2011-February 4th 2012
Visiting Artist Lecture:  Saturday, February 4th at 6:30

The Philadelphia Photo Arts Center is pleased to announce its first solo exhibition, Pa Bouje Ankò: Don’t Move Again by Laura Heyman.  For this ongoing project, Heyman travels to Port-au-Prince, Haiti and creates a roaming formal portrait studio. Heyman operates an outdoor photo studio in a particular neighborhood for a number of days before moving to another location. News circulates through advertisements or word of mouth that a photographer will open a studio in a specific neighborhood, and local community members make appointments to have their portraits made for free.  The project questions whether it is possible for a photographer to overcome the hierarchy between first-world photographer, third-world subject, and remote viewer.

Heyman loosely models her studio after the large number of portrait studios in Port-au-Prince, using a variety of backdrops, along with reflectors to control and augment the available light. The portraits created in these makeshift studios are designed to explicitly oppose the aesthetics of tourism, reportage and photojournalism.  The meaning of these images has changed after the earthquake, as they have become both record and memorial. That event also enlarged the focus of the project, which has evolved to include various rapidly expanding communities in Port-Au-Prince tied to reconstruction.

The project was initially proposed for the Ghetto Biennale, an event organized by the Haitian art collective Atis-Rezistans and British artist Leah Gordon which took place in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, from November to December of 2009.

Laura Heyman is an associate professor of photography in Syracuse University’s College of Visual and Performing Arts. Her work has been exhibited at such venues as Ampersand International Arts, San Francisco, CA; Deutsches Polen-Institut, Darmstadt, Germany; Senko Studio, Viborg, Denmark; and The National Portrait Gallery, London, United Kingdom. Her most recent curatorial project, Who’s Afraid of America, featuring the work of Justyna Badach, Larry Clark, Cheryl Dunn, LaToya Ruby Frazier, Zoe Strauss and Tobin Yelland, was exhibited at Wonderland Art Space, in Copenhagen, Denmark.

Photos by: Ashly Cabrera, Amy Wilson, Kit Heng Lau, Jonathan Scott Goldman, Lori Lipton, Edward Mchugh, Kelly Hennigan, Jill Sherman, and Joan Giampietro

Be sure to join us for the opening on November 10th from 6-9pm.  We will be holding a raffle, and all reprints of individual photos will be available to purchase for 25$ each. If you decide to become a member during the opening you will receive a free print of your choice(for all memberships over 50$).

Photo by Will Steacy

The Greater Area
September 6th – October 29th 2011
Opening Reception: Thursday, September 8th, 6:00-9:00 PM

The Philadelphia Photo Arts Center is excited to announce The Greater Area, an exhibition running from September 6th to October 29th with an opening reception on Thursday, September 8th from 6-9pm. The exhibition features the work of Gregory Halpern, Caitlin Teal Price and Will Steacy.

Greater Area is a term used to describe the reach of a city or metropolitan area. Borrowing the term, this exhibition draws upon physical, metaphorical, literal or imagined borders that exist within cities and their inhabitants. The Greater Area depicts contemporary cities as physical and psychological spaces fraught with solitude and caught in the midst of transformation.

The show also highlights photography’s unique capacity to transform the setting of the story, in this case the backdrop of the American city, into the focus of the work itself. The collected works utilize a variety of stylistic approaches that draw upon the histories of both landscape and
portraiture photography. The result is an exhibition that combines elements of the city that are simultaneously overlooked and ignored.

In his most recent series A, Gregory Halpern leads us through the poetically brilliant social landscape of the American rust belt. Intricately combining portraits of men with images of houses and other domestic spaces, Halpern juxtaposes masculinity, fragility and perseverance against the backdrop of one of America’s most overlooked regions.

In Annabelle, Annabelle, Caitlin Teal Price utilizes the severe and minimalistic landscape of the metropolitan city as a backdrop to construct her images of solitary women. The resulting images are meditations on age, isolation and the psychological power of the city. Juxtaposed with these photographs are images of blank spaces like highway overpasses and parking garages, further implicating the constructed landscape as a space brimming with uncertain potential.

Will Steacy’s most recent series Down These Mean Streets examines fear and abandonment residing within America’s inner cities. Utilizing the qualities of light found after dark, Steacy wanders through various regions, charting a route from the airport through the heart of the city in search of images. Leavened by a sense of loss and despair, his intentions are to create an accurate reflection of the American inner city that escapes a simple classification.

A Love Supreme

June 9 – August 27, 2011
Opening Reception: June 9, 6 – 9 pm
Juror: Peter Barberie, Curator of Photographs, Philadelphia Museum of Art

Artists: Steven Beckly, Lisa Boughter, Andrew Burgh, Sebastian Collett, Gregory Davis, Gina Delia, Maureen Drennan, Emily Rooney, Daney Saylor

The Philadelphia Photo Arts Center is excited to announce A Love Supreme, 2nd Annual Contemporary Photography Exhibition. This year’s title refers to the dramatic transformation in John Coltrane’s creative process and sound in his legendary recording. Moving away from jazz standards to a spiritual and instinctual way of making music, Coltrane forever changed his
medium. In this spirit, today’s photographers are creating new visual languages, pushing the medium in unprecedented and unpredictable ways, forever changing how we define photography.

Photo by Mark Steinmetz

Exhibition: East of Eden

March 3rd – May 21st, 2011
Opening Reception: Thursday, March 10th, 2011, 6:00 – 9:00 PM
Curated by Sarah Stolfa and Christopher Gianunzio

The Philadelphia Photo Arts Center is excited to announce East of Eden, a spring exhibition running from March 3rd to May 21st, featuring the work of Doug DuBois, Amy Stein and Mark Steinmetz. East of Eden investigates contemporary America through the lens of John Steinbeck’s canonical novel. The exhibition draws upon themes of the west as a place for transformation and prosperity, familial relationships, America on the brink of change and the deterioration of the small town.

More than 58 years after its initial publication, the novel’s themes still resonate with great impact in a contemporary context. America itself has undergone tremendous shifts in the last few decades, similar to those in the novel. Rather than locate works that draw upon the time period staged in the novel, the photographs in the exhibition were all created within the last 20 years depicting a newer version of Steinbeck’s America fraught with parallel turbulence, doubt and uncertainty.

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Doug DuBois’ series All the Days and Nights documents his family over the course of the last few decades. The resulting images reverberate with emotional immediacy, providing a potent examination of family relations, and what it means to subject personal relationships to the unblinking eye of the camera. Each photograph is rich with color, nuanced gestures and glances enveloping the viewer in a multivalent, emotionally tense world. For East of Eden, selections of images of DuBois’ father from All the Days and Nights are exhibited.

For the Stranded series, Amy Stein has travelled the entire US by car to find people caught in-between freedom and survival at the side of the road. The resulting photographs describe a nation under duress and in transition. In many ways the work speaks to the ability to interact with strangers and also acts as a document regarding a very specific climate in American history.

While teaching in Knoxville, Tennessee from 1991 to 1992, Mark Steinmetz began photographing in the streets, neighborhoods and outskirts of the city. Drawn to subjects where transition is a recurrent theme, he portrays drifters, stray animals, kids and small by-the-roadside scenes that add to a heightened sense of turbulence. Steinmetz uses a 6X9 medium format camera to lushly describe his subjects in black and white.