AUCTION: Tamarind Auction to open for bidding

Starting May 2, 2008, the Tamarind Auction will be open for online bidding. Lots include lithographs and contemporary art, not to mention a 4-night shopping spree at Saks Fifth Avenue, Chicago. Additonally, of particular interest to all photographers (who else but fashion photographers could have a use for all of those shoes?) is a workshop on Digital Meanderings in Albuquerque's East Mountains, hosted by Tamarind curator Becky Schnelker. The workshop will take two participants through beautiful and historic places near Schnelker's own backyard, and all will walk away with useful digitial photography techniques for work in nature. This lot has an estimated value of $400, and is limited to one slot for the lucky bidder and a lucky companion. Many other art expeditions are available.

The Tamarind Auction closes bidding on May 18, 2008, so be sure to take advantage of this offer! You must be registered to bid online. Go to their website to sign up.

FESTIVAL: LOOK3 Festival of the Photograph

Back for its second year, the LOOK3 Festival of the Photograph is set to take place June 12-14 in Charlottesville, VA. During the festival, the downtown area will be transformed into a "living image," with exhibitions, outdoor projected presentations, film screenings, live interviews with photographers, and more. Photography of all kinds will be displayed everywhere: in the trees, in storefront windows, on the sides of buildings, and in numerous gallery spaces. The festival also marks the return of the popular and ground-breaking "Yourspace" exhibition, in which anyone can participate by printing and hanging original works.

Three photographers will also be honored for their long-standing contributions to the medium. Documentary photographer Mary Ellen Mark, surrealist boundary- pusher Joel-Peter Witkin, and Time Magazine veteran James Nachtwey will create individual exhibitions and be interviewed by NPR's Alex Chadwick at the historic Paramount Theater.

From LOOK3 Festival of the Photograph:

"New in 2008 are the LOOK3 Workshops and Project Critique Sessions. Photographers of all skill levels will find invaluable instruction and experience by enrolling in classes taught by renowned photographers David Alan Harvey, William Albert Allard, Eugene Richards and Lynn Johnson. Also, Maggie Steber and MaryAnne Golon will lead Project Critique Sessions to help students edit and develop working photography projects. Last year LOOK3 sold out early so we encourage you to start planning now."

Two major outdoor screening presentations, "Shots" and "Works," will present a dizzying variety of work from officially participating artists. Please visit www.look3.org for full details about the festival.

The National Museum of Women in the Arts presents Women to Watch

Until June 15, 2008, The National Museum of Women in the Arts (NMWA) in Washington, DC will exhibit "Women to Watch," in which 32 works by 11 contemporary female photographers. The exhibition was designed to increase the visibility of emerging female photographers deserving of both national and international attention. Participating artists include Marita Gootee from Mississippi, Lissa Rivera from Massachusetts, Zoe Strauss from Pennsylvania, Tricia Moreau Sweeney from Illinois, Tarrah Krajnak and Wilka Roig of Vermont, Valerie Belin from France, Jin-me Yoon from Canada, Elisa Sighicelli of Great Britain, Paulina Parra from Spain, and Joan Myers from New Mexico.

Joan Myers will contribute her images of industrial encroachment on nature—in this case, beautiful panoramas of generators and power plants. Strauss presents photographs of people in her hometown neighborhood of South Philadelphia. Gootee creates impressionistic images of nature, which emphasize the mutability of photographic perception. Rivera documents and unusual subject with deadpan attention to detail: the gaterings seen at college fraternity and sorority houses. Belin's images of Parisian models have been manipulated to appear lifeless and sexless, raising questions about contemporary identity.

This exhibition represents a collaborative effort between 10 of NMWA s national and international committees and the museum. For more information, click here.

Also, Joan Myers will soon present an exhibit at Andrew Smith Gallery in Santa Fe, titled "Brimsone: Photographs from Iceland, Yellowstone and Pompeii," from June 27 to September 10, 2008.

From Andrew Smith:

"Joan Myers is one of New Mexico's most intelligent and prolific artists. Over the last twenty-five years she has produced photographic projects and books about the Santa Fe Trail, Japanese relocation camps, images of older women, the pilgrimage route to Santiago de Compostela in northern Spain, the environment of the Salton Sea near Palm Springs, California, and a comprehensive document and book of Antarctica.

"In recent years Myers has been photographing globally. The exhibit highlights her color photographs made in Iceland, Italy and in Yellowstone where she has been concentrating on geothermal sites that include boiling lakes, mud pots, hot springs and geysers, as well as the ancient city of Pompeii that was destroyed by the fiery eruption of Mount Vesuvius in 79 A.D."

Go to Andrew Smith Gallery's website for more information.

Image: Untitled (White), 2006 © Elisa Sighicelli. Partially backlit c-print on lightbox, 48 x 48 x 2.

Photolucida's Great Northwest Portfolio

The photographic scene in the American Northwest is often overlooked by hot spots in New York, San Francisco, and Los Angeles, though one shouldn't doubt for a second the immense range and multitude of talent in this beautiful region. Photolucida, the annual week-long festival of photography in Portland, Oregon, will present a limited edition of The Great Northwest Portfolio, comprising fifteen contemporary photographers from the region. The edition consists of fifteen copies, which will be sure to be coveted by collectors and photography enthusiasts. The portfolio is available for a limited time at an original price of $5000.

Fifteen images will be reproduced in dimensions of 16 x 20, and essays will also be included from Rod Slemmons, Director of the Museum of Contemporary Photography, and Terri Hopkins, Director of Marylhurst University's Art Gym. The prints to be featured have been donated by some of the Northwest's premier photographic talents, including Paul Berger, Phil Borges, Cherie Hiser, Ann Hughes, Stu Levy, Christopher Rauschenberg, Glenn Rudolf, Carrie Mae Weems, and more.

Photolucida is a non-profit organization dedicated to nurturing photographic talent and encouraging a community of local support for fine art photography. This portfolio is part of a bold new fund-raising strategy to keep Photolucida coming back, with its Portfolio Reviews conference and popular calls for entries, such as the Critical Mass competition, year after year.

A preview of this portfolio can also be seen at this year's Fotofest in Houston, from March 7 to 20, 2008. The portfolio can also be viewed here.

CALL FOR ENTRIES: Los Angeles Center for Digitial Art

The Los Angeles Center for Digitial Art (LACDA)'s annual "Top 40" Competition will be accepting entries for the juried exhibition, which will take place April 10 to May 3, 2008. Entrants are invited to submit three works of original photography and/or digital media, saved as .jpeg format. All styles and mediums involving some kind of digital process in the creation of images are acceptable, as are entries from anywhere in the world. 40 selected finalists will receive one print (of up to 24x36) to be mounted and displayed at the juried exhibition.

Registration fee is $30.Multiple entries are permitted, so long as the appropriate fee is paid. Deadline for entries is March 20, 2008.

From LACDA:

"Many artists from this exhibit continue their relationship with LACDA for exhibit in solo shows, exhibits curated outside of LACDA and exhibit in art and photo fairs where LACDA participates. All entries are given special consideration for exhibiting at LACDA and outside exhibitions where we are featured."

Juried by Rex Bruce, the exhibition will donate its proceeds to the community of curators and gallery programs in Los Angeles. This community is often on the lookout for new contemporary work. The reception for the juried show will coincide with the Downtown Art Walk. Click here for details on the gallery, and how to enter online.

Henry Art Gallery presents Kader Attia

In Seattle, Washington, The Henry Art Gallery, one of the most notable art destinations for fans of photography and contemporary art will present an exhibition from photographer Kader Attia: "New Work," running February 29 to May 25, 2008. Nestled in between the University of Washington campus and the always-hip University District, the Henry saw considerable renovations in 1997, which quadrupled the showing space, added an outdoor sculpture garden, and transformed the interior into an ideal showing space for both two dimensional wall artwork and large installations. Kader Attia, in an unusual twist, will be presenting in both mediums in the Stroum Gallery section. Photography, videography, and even sculpture will comprise the French-Algerian artist's first solo exhibition in the US.

From the Henry Art Gallery:

"Attia, born in 1970 to a Muslim family of Algerian origin, grew up in the outskirts of Paris in a largely immigrant-populated area. The impact the environment in which Attia grew up permeates much of the artist’s works. His early work captured identity and gender issues in Muslim immigrant populations living in a French consumerist society. Attia’s recent projects have turned darker and more intimate, presenting an apocalyptic outlook on the suburban landscape of today. His recent installations move away from explicit narratives to explore the affect of architectural scale."

Attia has taken a month-long residence at the Henry to create new work for the exhibition. The main installation, titled "Rocher Carré," was created specifically for the exhibiton, along with new drawings to complement the artist's work on film. The Henry should make an ideal showing space for such a multi-faceted exhibition. The installation titled "Ghost" will also be presented. The sculpture depicts scores of seated women, wearing hoods while at prayer, made from aluminum foil and deprived of facial features or any suggestion of individuality.

Click here for more information on the exhibition.

Galerie Poller in New York presents Kerim Aytac

Galerie Poller, of both New York and Frankfurt fame, presents a new exhibition of photography by Kerim Aytac: "Tokyo Hotel", running from Thursday, February 14, to April 5, 2008. A British-Turkish photographer, Aytac balances the style of his work between the abstract and the representational, the meditative and the obscure. These are not action photographs, nor are they meant to be true-life images. Instead, every photograph impresses as a self-contained mystery, as if the images displayed are those stolen from a person who is just waking in this environment. Galerie Poller is an excellent partner for this photographer, being solely dedicated to contemporary photography since 2002.

From Galerie Poller, originally by Kate Keara Pelen:

"Kerim Aytac seems to resist clichés of composition, resist the 'good' shot. Instead he seeks out small, incidental, sometimes even unremarkable goings-on. At times the work brings to mind Robert Frank or Walker Evans. But in fact these images adopt more of an in-between viewpoint; alongside an American low picturesque there is also nostalgia for the French semi-abstract black-and-white tradition. The B&W also serves to bring everything to an equal formal level; layers of reflections, markings and traces dissolve into the surface on the brink of the recognisable. As a viewer you have to struggle to identify individual elements, which resist, like embedded ciphers."

Aytac's website can be viewed here.

Paul Ferman continues international tour of Necessary Illusions

Paul Ferman, Australian photographer and creator of the groundbreaking series "Necessary Illusions," will be exhibiting his mixed-media images at Interno Ventidue in Rome. Following an exhibition at M.O.P. Gallery in Sydney, Ferman continues his exhibition tour of composite photographic satire. The subject is Western culture's growing preoccupation with celebrity, and the vulgarity of tabloid sensationalism. With shocking juxtapositions of glossy magazine covers (deceptive, flashy headlines, airbrushed bodies and faces, and much more) with photographs of tragedy, squalor, and disaster, Ferman has attached an artistic microscope to the rose-colored lens of popular culture.

Fashion photography buffs need not picket this one: images of beautiful models and clothing are frequently covered up by other subjects, leaving only the over-energetic proclamations from an editorial formed and fed by information mass-consumption. With glamour squarely out of the equation, the context is completely transformed. There is also a savvy consciousness that points to a twisted kind of optimism: the anodyne of the masses is taking on a life of its own, and Ferman hints that is a childish, misguided—but benevolent—consciousness that is linking more and more people together.

From Paul Ferman's website:

"Celebrity Culture, let's call him CC, has followed a long and winding road to enlightenment, searching his soul in areas such as spiritualism, the arts, benevolent work and the media. It therefore seems only right that CC would at some point begin to compile sacred texts on all he has learnt."

Rome has ever been a center of art, both from the finest classical traditions and from the cutting-edge. This exhibition will satisfy fans of the latter, though this exhibition risks passing Rome's glamour community in the night, despite the prestige of the venue. Click here to view a gallery of images.

Image: Necessary Illusions #323 © Paul Ferman.

CALL FOR ENTRIES: New York Photo Awards 2008

Starting February 1, 2008, the New York Photo Awards will be accepting entries from photographers all over the world, in the search for exciting new work that breaks new ground and challenges common perception. The awards, introduced during the New York Photo Festival, will give participants the opportunity to interact with key experts and decision-makers in the photographic, editorial, fine art, and fashion communities. The New York Photo Awards ceremony will take place May 16, 2008. Only works in the fields of photography, multimedia photography, and multimedia video, produced or published between December 1st, 2006 and January 31st, 2008 are eligible for submission.

Submissions will be accepted until April 14, 2008.

From the New York Photo Awards:

"All Award Winners and Honorable Mentions will enjoy unprecedented visibility for their work. In addition to the New York Photo Awards ceremony, their work will be showcased on the New York Photo Awards and New York Photo Festival websites, and published in leading photo magazines. These artists are also automatically eligible for inclusion in a beautifully produced New York Photo Awards Annual by powerHouse Books. The Annual will be published in November 2008."

Entry Categories include, for professionals: Editorial; Personal Work/ Unpublished/ Fine Art; Advertising; Books; and Multimedia. Student Categories: Editorial; Personal Work/Unpublished; Books; and Multimedia. Entry fees for professionals are $30 per photograph; $90 per published book, catalog, editorial, or any other periodical; and $75 per multimedia selection. Entry fees for students are $10 per photograph; $50 per 12-image portfolio; and $45 per multimedia submission.

Visit newyorkphotoawards.com for more information.

Photo Festival: PhotoVentura 2007

From October 20 to November 3, 2007, dozens of photographic events will be hosted in Ventura, California. During PhotoVenura 2007, photographers, artists, and galleries in the area will act in tandem to fill the festival with slide shows, contests, workshops, and exhibits. Special events include an inaugural PhotoVentura Gallery Crawl. This year's event has drawn over 100 participating artists at more than 20 venues. Foremost among these is the Buenaventura Gallery, the city's oldest showing space, which will host both "17mm and 180°: Altered Views, New Visions" with Kim and Peter Binfield, and will also co-sponsor Kidz Snap, a photo safari for children with a presentation at Bell Arts Factory.

From the PhotoVentura website, quoting photographer and festival founder Stephen "Schaf" Schafer:

"After the success of PhotoVentura 2005, people just kept asking me, when's the next Photoventura?" With the City of Ventura promoting itself as California's New Art City, art programming has been multiplying in the Downtown Cultural District. The city has managed to use art as a catalyst in the downtown area, exciting locals, tourists, merchants and artists with the New Art City Concept."

This seems more than just a local art festival, one deserving of national notice. Ventura appears to have a passion for photography built into its arts scene, with so many galleries participating. Schafer and Co. have needed only to announce a date for all of these organizations to come together—such strong bonds in the community have clearly led to a strong sense of organization and cooperation. The event will be all-inclusive to the various forms of photography, from black and white to color, from traditional landscapes and portraits to cutting edge, abstract works.

For a full list of participating galleries and events, visit www.photoventura.com.

A different philosophy for jurying competitions

Darius Himes (CameraArts September/October 2006) has been keeping busy—on top of teaching at the College of Santa Fe, and editing the photo-eye Booklist, he has juried the Newspace Center for Photography's 3rd Annual National Juried Exhibition, "Among Us and Curious." In the brief time that we were lucky enough to work with him, Darius proved that his unique view of photography, and the myriad ways in which the book can be presented, has a tendency to fire the imagination of his readers. On the Newspace web site, Himes offers his unique approach to this recently concluded competition (thanks Swannie!).

Independence of individual thought and action--that child of the moral revolutions and technological innovations of the 2oth century--permeate the Western world and have made in-roads to more closed societies. The sheer variety of images that we witness today is due more to a belief that ALL voices have a rightful place in the world than anything else. Filters and "the critical lens" are a necessity, now more than ever, when it comes to imbibing and coercing meaning from the sea of work out there.

Thirty-five images from thirty-two photographers are included in this show, culled from over 2,000 images. My approach to jurying this show was neither to survey the field and present a cross-section of "what's happening" nor was it to award artists for the "Best Images in Show." Rather, I looked at the work in front of me and allowed a loose narrative, an unspoken and enigmatic script to emerge. Each of the photographs included have their own merit and play a contributing role in the unity of the show.

The diversity of the entries strikes the viewer immediately, but Himes makes it clear that he's aiming for more than a "Greatest Hits" take on 21st century photographic styles. Instead, we are meant to view these collections in the context of how one progresses to the other. Surely it is not meant to appeal to everyone. Scroll down on this same page to see images from the winners, and a list of websites for all finalists. Tell us what you think.