Casino Employee's Dayby Jeremy Kohm

Happy September collectors! I know I promised Jen's return but it's Sara here—Jen is technically on vacation. While her IM handle has been flashing green and the opportunity to bring you fresh art is awfully tempting, rumor has it that for the rest of the week she's planning on doing what comes most unnaturally to her: resting and relaxing. It's a rare—inconceivable indeed!—but much deserved occasion.

While Jen's away, we'll continue to play—I know she wouldn't have it any other way. 20x200's birthday is just around the corner, giving us lots of reasons for cheer: it's been three years! We're not ones to celebrate alone so we're offering an uncommon deal to all of you out there:

Consider this a stock up sale! You'll be saving lots by picking up scores of 8"x10" and 11"x14" prints. Usually shipping starts at $8.50. One minor stickler: the $3 shipping and handling fee is applied per size, so if you're mixing things up with both 8"x10" and 11"x14" prints, the absolute most you'll pay is $6—still a steal.

To kick-off this birthday special, we present to you Casino Employee's Day, a fitting follow-up to Chateau by the clever Jeremy Kohm. As in Chateau, Jeremy's preference for sharp edges and order is evident, even in the fun and fancy free environs of this water park. A row of lounge chairs hugs the horizontal border below while a gray-blue sky keeps the colorful chaos at bay. Crisp outlines allow the eye to roam from person to person, from slide to slide, from Ferris wheel to whited-out waterfall.

With that, I bid you all good-bye. Take cue from our fearless leader and indulge in some R&R—September's snuck up upon us so I hope you'll enjoy this last long weekend of summertime!

* Rate is applied per size. Special rate can only be applied to orders within the U.S. and does not apply to international orders.

Alex MacLean's architectural training is deeply entrenched in his photographic practice. He exhibits an understanding-of and sensitivity-to the structures that people build and inhabit, some we were reminded with when observing his stunning photograph in the recent Land Use Survey exhibition at Jen Bekman Gallery.

It seems very appropriate then, that Alex's aerial photography of Paris has been selected for inclusion in the Venice Architecture Biennale, which opened on Sunday. From the show announcement:

La Defense and Seine Arche have chosen to highlight the work of Alex MacLean, in the framework of the theme of the Venice Architecture Biennale: "People meet in architecture". Alex's aerial photographs of La Defense, Seine Arche, and the historical axis leading from the Louvre focus on the close relationship between the city's royal core and the modern urban architecture nearby.

If you are lucky enough to find yourself in Venice during one of the most exciting cultural events around, then make sure you swing by Alex's exhibition, which runs until September 19th, 2010.

The Details:
Alex MacLean for The Venice Architecture Biennale
On view: August 29th - September 19th, 2010
Open every day (except September 2nd, 7th, and 14th), from 2:00 to 8:00 p.m.
CA'ASI Architecture Studios
Campiello Santa Maria Nova
Cannaregio 6024, Venice

Drawings from The Exquisite Book by Mike Perry, Camilla Engman, Lab Partners, and Nick Dewar.

Back in January we posted about the upcoming release of a super-cool and super-ambitious project: The Exquisite Book: 100 Artists Play a Collaborative Game. We are thrilled to announce that the day we were so eagerly anticipating has finally arrived—The Exquisite Book is out!

Published by our friends at Chronicle Books (and with a forward by always-awesome-author Dave Eggers),
the book was inspired by, and draws its title from Exquisite Corpse, a practice made famous by the Surrealists in the 1920s; a sort of artists' parlor game. The Exquisite Book's official website explains the project as such:

The book is a modified version of the game, played by one hundred contributing contemporary fine artists, illustrators, designers and comic artists.

There are ten groups of ten artists who participated in the process. Each artist contributed one page to the book. The first artist was given a few words to inspire their drawing. Each of the following artists only saw the page that immediately preceded their own. Each artist used images (and optionally, words) to create the continuation to the story, and the inspiration for the next artist in line.

The image above, with four sequential drawings from the book, gives you a taste of how this idea manifests itself on paper, and of how unexpected, varied and fabulous the end results are.

While this project is incredibly fun and interesting on its own, what makes it even more exciting for us here at 20x200 is that four artists we've had the opportunity to work with were asked to participate! Kate Bingaman-Burt, Jill Bliss, Lisa Congdon and Mike Perry have all contributed pages.

You can also take a look at the complete (and very impressive) list of artists here. Be sure to check out this amazing project and grab your own copy.

Stormville by Kevin Cyr

Hi all! It's Sara, writing from what feels so far, far away from NYC. Over the last few weeks, team 20x200 has been gathering and scattering, then gathering and scattering again, squeezing out the last little bits of summer's rays and wanderlust before we find ourselves deep in the trenches of fall. I'm out West, nestled in the crook of the Rockies with warm light hovering in the big sky above while Jen's just about as far East as you can get, dipping her toes in the frothy swath of blue Atlantic. As we near the long weekend that traditionally waves farewell to the season, I'm betting that many of you too are itching to get out of town.

In the spirit of being on the road (again), we bring you Kevin Cyr's Stormville. Rusty and battered, but preserved in plastic paint—and in these prints, archival ink—the stories that Kevin's vehicles would tell if they could talk are for us to discern instead. I'm guessing this sunset-spattered van spent miles searching for perfect surf, music (or margaritas?), chasing love from one end of the country to the other before coming to a pause somewhere near Brooklyn. With pillows packed to the tops of windows, it looks as if it still might have been serving as a home away from home for the forever restless.

Kevin's own search is over: he's found his one and only and got married this past weekend. We're sending out huge congratulations and wishes for all the best! And so we're off—in celebration of love and new beginnings, even as we approach an end.

Also coming to a close soon: the 2010 Hey, Hot Shot! competition's final deadline is 8:00 p.m. EDT tonight. Photographers, enter your best work to be considered for a $10,000 grand prize that includes two years of gallery representation. All work submitted to HHS! is also reviewed for 20x200 editions. So if you want to see your photography here, submit it there, asap! Jen'll come round tomorrow with more to cheer about: a new edition, 20x200's 3rd birthday and maybe even a surprise or two for you.

The Ex-Wife's Pies and Things (Study), by Ann Toebbe

Welcome back to the Week in Review, a (somewhat) short-and-sweet recap of 20x200 news and links!

20x200 News

• Try, a silent auction of artwork to benefit Team In Training, an organization devoted to fighting Leukemia, Lymphoma, Hodgkin Lymphoma and Myeloma, will be held this Saturday, August 28th, from 7 - 10pm at Jen Bekman Gallery.


• Housekeeping, a solo show by Ann Toebbe, opened last night at at Steven Zevitas Gallery in Boston.


• 20x200 + Reality TV...an odd couple, but an edition by Jennifer Sanchez can be spotted 12 seconds into this commercial for the new reality show "Model Latina".


• One of Andrew Zuckerman's Birds was Daily Candy's "Pic of the Day" on Tuesday.


• Hey, Hot Shot!, the photography competition through which we find nearly all of the photographs on 20x200, has been extended until Tuesday, and the grand prize has been doubled to $10,000. Think you're a Hot Shot? Apply today.


• Looking for inspiration? Check out our JBP Tumblr Mosaic for an overwhelming wall of art goodness.

New Editions

Chateau by Jeremy Kohm	ny.10.#03 by Jennifer Sanchez

That's it for this week, collectors! See anything we missed? Let us know on Twitter @20x200 or our Facebook!

Statistics from research studying what makes people happy reveal that when given the choice, those who spend money on other people and on experiences are generally happier than those that spend only on themselves. Art and giving to good causes are among my favorite things to support and this Saturday, August 28th, Jen Bekman Gallery is offering its gallery space for the Try Art Benefit and Silent Auction.

100% of the auction proceeds will go towards Team In Training (TNT), an organization that raises money to help fight Leukemia, Lymphoma, Hodgkin Lymphoma and Myeloma. TNT is the world's largest endurance sports training program. Participants receive training and experience by expert coaches for their event, transportation and accommodation costs to their event, and free personal web publicity for their participation. In return, the participants agree to raise funds and donation pledges for their hard work in training and in the final competitive event.

Isabel Schofield and Jacob Rhodes, the team behind the Try Benefit blog, in addition to serving as auctioneers at Saturday's art benefit, are also in training for a triathlon with TNT.

The Bedroom, Brooklyn, NY by Amy Elkins, starting bid $200

Interior VIII by Kathryn Parker Almanas, starting bid $200

Over 30 artists have donated work to participate in the benefit, including:

Per Billgren, Lee Clarke, Clayton Cotterell, Jeannie Crosby, Jen Davis, Bobby Dohrman, Kathleen Dohrman, Amy Elkins, Keith Gonzales, Bradlee Hicks, Eunice James, Matt Kaelin, Kristen Kee, Lucy Kim, Soo Kim, Julie La Rue, Derek Larson, Leigh McCarthy, Leeza Meksin, Julie Moon, Betsy Odom, Erik Oost, Kathryn Parker Almanas, Jacob Rhodes, Mark Roeder, Sasha Rudensky, Isobel Schofield, Katie Shook, Shannon Smith, Jeffrey Teuton, Anna Ullman and Alison Walker

The Details:
Saturday, Aug 28th
7:00 – 10:00 p.m.
Auction Winners will be announced at 9:00 p.m.
Where: Jen Bekman Gallery, 6 Spring Street, NYC

Check out artists and work in the auction here and come out on Saturday to show these artists your support and help find a cure for cancer!

Chateau by Jeremy Kohm

The-sun's-about-to-break-through-any-minute-I-just-know-it greetings, collectors! (Actually in the time it took to write this it actually did. Yippee!) If you're following my dispatches via Tumblr or Twitter, you've probably surmised that I've been working from Long Island's tony South Fork for the last week or so. It's been an inspiring and productive getaway so far, with all credit due to the generosity of friends indulgent of my champagne tastes and beer budget. It's also a fitting locale from which to introduce today's edition — Chateau by Jeremy Kohm — which I described as "luxurious yet shallow" when I posted it to Tumblr not so long ago.

As with many beautiful things, I didn't notice how shallow Chateau was right away, captivated as I was by the warm glowing orbs of light, the Art Deco opulence and the allure of a refreshing dip in the pool's clear, still water. A few moments into my reverie, the word SHALLOW — rendered in tile with square precision and reflected by the pool's smooth surface as clearly as if Narcissus himself was staring into it — revealed itself to me, cementing the image's appeal. Grateful (again!) to my friend-on-the-internet Kateoplis for the pointer, I circled back to Jeremy's site for a closer look and liked what I saw. His penchant for crisp edges and clean geometry is a recurring theme in his imagery. Like other photographers I've worked with who do advertising and/or editorial work — Stefan Ruiz, Emily Shur and Patrick Smith all come to mind — his portfolio of work is diverse yet coherent and sprinkled with humor.

Speaking of humor, I cannot resist taking a punny plunge as I elucidate more of this edition's virtues. Chateau's swimming pool subject is one that's much beloved here at 20x200 — if you dive into our archives, you'll see that editions from Gregory Krum and Carlo Van de Roer have made quite a splash with our collectors in the past.

If you're still thirsty for more once you're done plumbing the depths of Jeremy's portfolio, you can dip a toe into our water-themed editions, and then surf on over to Pictory, where our very own Youngna Park recently curated a showcase of images based on a "bodies of water" theme. Don't be shy now, wade In Deep!

Untitled (Santa Barbara) from the series California Vernacular by 2010 contender Liz Kuball

You may have already read the news over on the Hey, Hot Shot! blog, but we wanted to make sure all of you photographers who are reading this blog know that we've increased the HHS! Competition Grand Prize to $10,000 and are extending the deadline to Tuesday, August 31st at 8:00 p.m. (EDT).

From the HHS! blog:

As part of this community, you are well aware of how hard we work at creating opportunities for artists and spreading the word about the competition. The good news is—it's working! After we announced that we were teaming up with Blurb to offer each Hot Shot the chance to produce their own book a few weeks ago, a buzz of excitement percolated 'round the web, and created quite a stir.

We're happy to hear that you're excited—all the energy is bringing new photographers into our community at this eleventh hour. We want to share the love, welcome this new community around us, and give them—and you—a little more time to get your entries in, which is why we're doubling the Grand Prize to $10,000 and extending the deadline to August 31st.

Jen has always wanted the prize to be as big as it can be, and though we were happy to offer you $5,000, we're ecstatic to offer to $10,000. Over the last 5 months, we'd been wracking our brains to figure out how to bolster this amount. We considered working with other companies to increase the prize, but in the end, dug deep within JBP to offer you an amount that we think can make a real, positive change on the possibilities for an artist.

For those of you who have already applied: thank you! The panelists have begun to review your entries and we at JBP are perusing your images and lining up a few more weeks of contenders to feature on our blog. We've featured over 90 this year, and the range of work has been incredible: keep it coming!

If you have any questions make sure to check our Hey, Hot Shot! FAQ, which we've been updating with your questions as we go. If your question hasn't been answered, send us a Direct Message on Twitter to @heyhotshot or an email to hey@heyhotshot.com and we'll get back to you as soon as we can.

Remember, the only way to submit your photos for consideration to 20x200 is through HHS! We've discovered many 20x200 artists there over the years and love forming relationships with photographers who we get to work with across all of the programs at JBP.

ny.10.#03 by Jennifer Sanchez

Good morning collectors! It's Sara with a new print from an old favorite. But before I get to that, I have a very important and exciting announcement for photographers: we've increased the 2010 Hey, Hot Shot! Grand Prize to $10,000 and extended the deadline for entries until next Tuesday, August 31st. Check out Youngna's post for all the details—then hop to it!

Back to the print that hovers above: Jen introduced the sister edition to ny.10.#03 from Jennifer Sanchez earlier this summer. Her work is well-loved among collectors so we've had more than a couple other opportunities to prattle about her prints—I'd encourage you to click through and do some background reading from editions past.

Like ny.10.#01, ny.10.#03 provides surplus evidence of Jennifer's infectious energy. But, in lieu of adding more words to a well-trod ground, I've picked out a poem to accompany ny.10.#03: At Least by Raymond Carver. Carver's envisioning of early morning hours seems right for the vibrant pinks of Jennifer's palette. Every sunrise brings the promise of what's to come and incites quietly exhilarating optimism for the low hum of all the goodness that surrounds us, whether or not we choose to splash some water in our faces and take notice. Take pause for these gorgeous swirls and stay tuned for work from a new-to-20x200 photographer tomorrow.

At Least

I want to get up early one more morning,
before sunrise. Before the birds, even.
I want to throw cold water on my face
and be at my work table
when the sky lightens and smoke
begins to rise from the chimneys
of the other houses.
I want to see the waves break
on this rocky beach, not just hear them
break as I did all night in my sleep.
I want to see again the ships
that pass through the Strait from every
seafaring country in the world—
old, dirty freighters just barely moving along,
and the swift new cargo vessels
painted every color under the sun
that cut the water as they pass.
I want to keep an eye out for them.
And for the little boat that plies
the water between the ships
and the pilot station near the lighthouse.
I want to see them take a man off the ship
and put another up on board.
I want to spend the day watching this happen
and reach my own conclusions.
I hate to seem greedy—I have so much
to be thankful for already.
But I want to get up early one more morning, at least.
And go to my place with some coffee and wait.
Just wait, to see what's going to happen.

– Raymond Carver

Untitled, Tidal Bore (Surfer) by Chris Ballantyne

Welcome back to Week In Review, a (somewhat) short-and-sweet recap of 20x200 news and links!

20x200 News

• If you've ever wanted to see your photographs on 20x200, enter Hey, Hot Shot!—it's the only way we review photography for editions. The competition closes on Sunday.


• Lisa Congdon is included in the inaugural exhibition at Gallery Hijinks in San Francisco, open through September 10th.


• Jaclyn Mendicov and Kevin Cyr are included in Gimme Shelter at Mixed Greens Gallery in New York through August 20th.


• Ian Baguskas was featured earlier this week on Flak Photo.


• Keith Shore designed a label for a new beer produced by Mikkeller and BrewDog.


• Christina Muraczewski is included in the 2010 Los Angeles Juried Exhibition


• Tamara Thomsen is included in The New Intimists at Nurtureart in Brooklyn slated to open in late October

New Editions

The Bison Constellation by Alexander Beeching	Jacks by Katie Baum

That's it for this week, collectors! See anything we missed? Let us know on Twitter @20x200 or our Facebook!

There's nothing like summer sun, lots of barbecues and hot days on the beach to make one want to kick back with a beer, but we have to admit: we're sick and tired of terrible beer labels with metallic foil that peels off the very instant they get wet.

Fortunately, artist Keith Shore has teamed up with Scotland-based BrewDog + Danish brewery Mikkeller on the labels for their brand new beer collaboration, "I Hardcore You." The beer's name comes from a blend of two of the two breweries' concoctions: BrewDog's Hardcore IPA and Mikkeller's I Beat You. The beers were blended, the brewers added more hops, and came up with a wicked new beverage you see here.

Shore took his identifiable illustration style to the sea green labels, portraying man, woman and beer, all mutually in love. It makes us think beer and art should get together more often.

Browse Keith's other recent projects, including the cover illustration for Citrus County, a McSweeney's publication, an illustration for Dwell and a series of skateboards.

Have you ever wondered how artists get their work considered for 20x200 editions? For photographers, the only way is to apply to Hey, Hot Shot!—our photography competition. Many of the photographers you know and love on 20x200 have been introduced to us through the competition. There will be only one season of competition this year, so don't miss it, submissions close on August 22, 2010 at 8:00 p.m. (EDT).

Panelists
A diverse panel of photography professionals—including founder Jen Bekman, Aperture Foundation publisher Lesley A. Martin, Chronicle Books chairman and CEO Nion McEvoy, a founding editor of Radius Books Darius Himes and photographer Todd Hido—reviews every entry.

5 Hot Shots: $500 + Group Exhibition
+ A $500 honorarium.
+ Participation in the 2010 Hot Shot Exhibition at Jen Bekman Gallery.
+ The opportunity to release an edition on 20x200.
+ A $1,000 credit at Blurb to create your own photography book.

1 Grand Prize: $5000 + Gallery Representation
Jen Bekman will select one of the five 2010 Hot Shots for the Grand Prize and announce the recipient on March 15, 2011. In addition to the honors as a Hot Shot, the grand prize recipient will be awarded:

+ A $5,000 honorarium to support a personal project.
+ A solo exhibition at Jen Bekman Gallery.
+ Representation from Jen Bekman Gallery for two years, commencing with his/her selection.

Curator's Choice Awards
If you apply by this Friday, August 20th, esteemed photographer and Hey, Hot Shot! Guest Curator, Alec Soth will also review your work. Alec will select one artist to receive a "Little Brown Mushroom Love Pack" which includes three amazing books and a screen-printed LBM t-shirt.

Lots of Exposure, Far and Wide
As we mentioned, all entrants are reviewed for participation in 20x200. In addition, we've been featuring one contender each weekday during the competition on the Hey, Hot Shot! blog (and have already written about over 90 photographers this year).

Questions?
Check our FAQ, which we've been updating as we go. If your question hasn't been answered, send us a Direct Message on Twitter to @heyhotshot or an email to hey@heyhotshot.com and we'll get back to you as soon as we can.

West Forty-third Street (Yellow Cabs) by (two-time Hot Shot) Joseph O. Holmes

Jacks by Katie Baum

Greetings, collectors. It's Youngna here today to bring you Jacks, the latest edition from Berkeley-based photographer Katie Baum. Katie, whose three previous editions, Peeps, Gumball Machine and Frozen speak to the inner child in each of us—the kid with sticky fingers, an insatiable sweet tooth and a limitless capacity for imagination—harnesses the quintessence of youth and of summer in this newest edition.

Jacks is a game comprised of six-tipped metal objects and a rubber ball. It is a game that creates champions of playgrounds, queens of summer camp (Jen reports that she was a player of some notoriety back in the day at Mid-Queens Day Camp), and as in Katie's case, rulers of the beach. One imagines leisurely days spent at the water's edge, the ball bouncing astray into the incoming tide and sandy hands gripping the pieces just before they slip into the gray-blue waters.

Katie, like several other photographers whose work we've released here lately— including Thomas Prior and Marion Belanger—are photographers we initially discovered through their entries to Hey, Hot Shot! This year's competition—the final deadline for entries is in four days on Sunday, August 22nd at 8:00 (EDT)—has once again called our attention to the many, many photographers out there tirelessly making challenging, witty and thought-provoking work day after day and week after week.

This year, we're very excited to offer a host of opportunities that embrace every single contender, including the chance to have your work featured here on 20x200. At competition's end, our esteemed panel will select five photographers as the 2010 Hot Shots. Each Hot Shot will be part of a group exhibition at Jen Bekman Gallery, receive a $500 honorarium and receive a $1,000 credit towards the creation of their own book on the self-publishing site Blurb. One of these five photographers will be selected for the Grand Prize, winning, in addition to the aforementioned awards, a $5,000 honorarium, a solo exhibition at JBG and two years of representation by the gallery. (And, bonus: if you apply by Friday, August 20th, you'll be eligible for our final Curator's Choice Award selected by photographer Alec Soth).

The clock is ticking and we hope you'll take the only opportunity this year to submit your photos; we can't wait to see 'em.

Now, before this summer really comes to an end, I'm headed eastward and closer to the beach with the rest of Team JBP for a change of scenery that'll get our creative juices flowing. Jen will be back next week with new editions from a few 20x200 favorites.

The Bison Constellation by Alexander Beeching

Just the other day, a few of us—it's Sara here—realized we missed the peak of Perseids meteor shower. Living under the relentless glow of NYC's twenty-four hours of light and perpetually pink and hazy sky, not one of us had seen a single falling, firey particle. (Unless we can be like Hayley Williams and pretend that airplanes in the night sky are like shooting stars.) The youngest among us admitted that the last time he saw Perseids was THREE YEARS AGO (a travesty!) when he was at a "hippie school," in California. I was pretty sure the only stars that I'd glimpsed from this fair city were actually planets and when I last laid eyes on the Milky Way, I too, was far out West. Our late-summer conversation was apropos to today's edition from Alexander Beeching, The Bison Constellation.

It's kind-of a sad thing, this lack of site-seeing overhead here—one that I think haunts us all, a little bit. The citiest-city-girl I've ever met, Jen, implored the Twitterverse to look at the moon a few nights back. But even then, chances were that you'd only see the luminescent globe if you had roof access or lived near a park. Still, it doesn't keep us from thinking about what else is out there—those thousands of years of dust—and remembering that what we can't see doesn't cease to exist. We strive to define what we can see; we name it and make it our own so that we can take these intangible, and often unfathomable things and somehow make them real. It's how we deal with entities both greater and smaller than we are, those as concrete—as Alex writes in his statement—as tables, and as abstract as constellations.

As he did with his nearly sold-out edition of The Constellation of the Elephant, Alex took a semi-mythological animal and created his own celestial grouping—The Bison Constellation, giving the weighty beast a place in the heavens. In doing so, he took a small, fictional piece of the sky and made it into something we could all live with and look at, wherever we may be.

Untitled, 2009 by Joe Kievitt

Welcome back to Week In Review, a (somewhat) short-and-sweet recap of 20x200 news and links!

20x200 News

• StyledOn talks to Ms. Jen Bekman for their ongoing "Influencer" series about collecting art, bringing art to the masses, and ice cream!
• What's TBDCSPTBSC, you ask? Why, it's the Taco Bell Drawing Club Second Place Tote Bag Stranger Competition! You can win an original Jason Polan drawing by sending him a photo of a stranger with a TBDC Tote.
• Jane Mount's Ideal Bookshelves are featured on ReadyMade.
• Poketo + Target have teamed up to offer stylish goods by Kate Bingaman-Burt, Mike Perry and Lisa Congdon (among others) for a limited time. Get yourself something pretty!
• Kate B-B's awesome book Obsessive Consumption will be going into its second printing. Which means if you haven't got yours yet, you're in luck!
• Paul Octavious's "Books as Art" (which are doubly awesome for LOST fans) are featured in the NY Times.

New Editions

7-sided by Joe Kievitt	crossed by Joe Kievitt	Rift #26 (Heimaey Houses) by Marion Belanger

That's it for this week, collectors! See anything we missed? Let us know on Twitter @20x200 or our Facebook!

What's TBDCSPTBSC, you ask? Why, it's the Taco Bell Drawing Club Second Place Tote Bag Stranger Competition!!, ongoing right this moment. Jason Polan's Taco Bell Drawing Club, an open-membership organization in which you can become a member simply by going to any Taco Bell in the country and drawing, has devoted members far and wide. In fact, if you head to your local Taco Bell today (and there are quite a few to be found), then why not take your pad of paper and a pencil, draw for a while, and wait for a fellow tote-bag carrying member to walk in? You could be the lucky winner of the original giraffe drawings below.

The Taco Bell Drawing Club tote bag

Jason writes in:

A member [of the club] in California recently mentioned how her Taco Bell Drawing Club Tote Bag had been traveling with her all the way up and down the west coast! I thought it would be fun to have a contest to see who could be the first person to spot a stranger carrying one of the bags. Unfortunately, before I could announce the contest a friend emailed to say he saw a stranger with one of the tote bags! We are going to have the contest anyway. Be the second (or third) person to spot a stranger carrying one of the tote bags, let me know, and I will mail you and the other person a page of giraffes (one of the ones attached).

Before you think you're just going to be the next person to get one of these super special giraffe drawings, keep in mind that there are a few rules to this contest:

1. The person you see with the tote bag has to be a stranger.
2. When you email art@jasonpolan.com to let him know you have spotted a stranger with a tote, you must tell him your address, but also the stranger's name and have them email Jason too. As he puts it, "It would be weird to meet a stranger and ask them for their address. It would not be weird to meet a stranger and tell them you are a member of Taco Bell Drawing Club."
3. The sighting can be anywhere except at a Taco Bell Drawing Club meeting.

A Page of Giraffes (the drawing you could win) by Jason Polan

So whether you are looking to satisfy your Taco Bell cravings, practice your drawing skills, meet a stranger or win one of Jason's giraffe drawings, this is a win-win competition to participate in. Now, get off your computer and head to Taco Bell with your eyes wide open.

StyledOn's Influencer Series takes a close look at the tastemakers of today, and interviewed Jen about how 20x200 got started, the most rewarding aspects of the business, advice she has for artists and what pieces are in her personal collection. Writer Emily Kropp for StyledOn asks,

With 20x200, you've done an incredible service to both artists and art collectors alike. What has been the greatest reward for you personally since you started the company?

Jen Bekman: It’s really hard to single out the one thing that’s the most rewarding. There’s a lot of satisfaction in building a good business that’s also a good business – we’re all driven by a somewhat idealistic set of values. I love that the people I work with love their jobs, and strive to create a great place for them to work. I also love sending artists big checks and, on the flip side of that, hearing stories from collectors who thought they’d never collect art and now find themselves running out of wall space.

Jen also offers up her number one collecting tip, "buy a work because you love it and want to live with it," and points to a few artists whose work you'll definitely want to snatch up before they "blow up big time" (or, even bigger time) including Nina Berman, Brian Ulrich, Beth Dow, Brad Moore and Curtis Mann.

Read the full interview with Jen at StyledOn!

Rift #26 (Heimaey Houses) by Marion Belanger

Good day collectors! It's Sara today—like Jen, I've been dreaming of an escape from steamy NYC and not unrelated, I've been long looking forward to releasing our first edition from Hey, Hot Shot! contender and honorable mention Marion Belanger. Somewhat serendipitously, we first came across her work around the same time my interest in Iceland became an obsession. Drawn by a combination of nature and culture—the promise of inimitable open spaces is incredibly persuasive and my list of favorite musicians and artists inspired by or spawned from the country is burgeoning—a visit seems an inevitable eventual.

Rift #26 (Heimaey Houses) is from her project Continental Drift: Iceland/California. Since 2006, Marion's been photographing along the edges of tectonic plates in Iceland and California—places where the earth is ever shifting, sometimes to slight and other times to dramatic effect, an innervating reminder that we're subject to the whims and wiles of the earth and Mother Nature. Marion writes: This geological boundary has no political allegiance, was not determined by wars, by financial interest, or national demarcation. It is a boundary that cannot be controlled or contained by human intervention...

The resulting images are subdued but resilient. The homes in Rift #26 (Heimaey Houses) appear fragile but bright, the crumbling earth dark but distant. The creamy palette that unites the series is a warm contrast to the cool, damp atmosphere—the water in the air is tangible but the work ultimately permeates the interior.

Marion's latest HHS! entry (submitted well before the competition deadline of August 22nd—if you're a photographer, don't delay!) caught the attention of blogger Casey Gollan, who wrote:

What's so exciting about the project (aside from the beauty of the photos themselves) is the spirit of exploration and learning things for yourself which the work embodies. Marion's images reveal the lesser-seen facets of this scientific story, and convey things I once learned in school in a richer way than any textbook could dream of. Looking at these photos, I begin to feel reality.

I would add too, that they help us feel alive.

Since 2003, Los Angeles-based Poketo, (a.k.a the duo of Ted Vadakan and Angie Myung) have been commissioning artists to design wallets, bags, t-shirts and accessories of all sorts. Like the big idea we celebrate here at 20x200 of art being something you should and can live with every single day, Poketo showcases original artwork by turning it into functional and beautiful objects, accessible to everyone.

Their newest project is a limited-edition partnership with Target featuring a roster of artists from around the globe, including a few in the JBP family: Mike Perry, Kate Bingaman-Burt and Lisa Congdon. Target has put together a collection, now in stores of pouches, totes, day bags, luggage tags, wallets, umbrellas, water bottles and other colorful outfit-enhancing accoutrements based on the original artwork of this talented twenty-one.

Water Bottle by Lisa Congdon, Three Pouch Set by Kate Bingaman-Burt and Weekender Bag by Mike Perry

The collection is truly limited, so head to a Target near you to snatch of one of these artists' wares. And, if you're like us New Yorkers, where Target is always painfully crowded or out-of-stock, you can ooh and ahh at the lovely lookbook of the collection photographed by Ye Rin Mok.

7-sided by Joe Kievitt

crossed by Joe Kievitt

Toasty Tuesday greetings collectors! This soupy hot (and, yes, somewhat stinky--we are in NYC, after all) morning has me looking forward to sweater weather. All the months-ahead planning at JBP HQ is flashing me further forward to December's art fairs. By that time, the tropical heat of Miami will be a welcome respite from the teeth-chattering winter weather it's so hard to imagine as I sit here sleeveless and sandal'ed. Miami's flurry of fairs also heralds the warm welcome of art world friends, Joe Kievitt's dealer from New Mexico being one I can count on for the sunniest of greetings.

Today's editions, 7-sided and crossed, are created from the original works that have appeared on the walls of Richard Levy's Albuquerque gallery. Richard and his team were among the most welcoming of colleagues as we learned the ropes of doing fairs in NYC and Miami. Sharing hellos and how are yous, and the occasional nugget of art world gossip with Richard throughout the years has helped me feel more at home. My late arrival to the scene, through a decidedly unconventional path at that, meant that my new-kid-on-the-block jitters were particularly acute. Having a friendly neighbor like Richard to chat with over the proverbial fence smoothed the path considerably and I'll always be grateful for that.

7-sided and crossed are likewise friendly and approachable. Invoking an appreciation for history as well as order and pattern, Joe's works are backed by some serious thought about art-making. Their modesty belies a process that considers the qualities of ink on paper, the effects of colors as they lie beside one another and the significance of lines and shapes and the complicated forms they can make. The cheerful, quilt-like patterns are a result of studied calculations. They are a potent reminder that nothing's as simple as it seems.