Palms, by Ian Baguskas

Not even back in town a week from speaking on a SXSW Interactive panel in Austin, our jetsetting rock star leader Jen Bekman is in Texas again right now—in Houston this time, reviewing portfolios at the 2008 FotoFest Biennial.
While she's away looking at beautiful photographs and eating BBQ, let me update you on what's been going on with some of our favorite people:

Hey, Hot Shot! Ne Plus Ultras Ian Baguskas and Birthe Piontek, both represented by Jen Bekman, were recently named to PDN's 30 for 2008, and are featured in their March 2008 issue as two of this year’s top 30 emerging photographers. Congratulations Ian and Birthe! Ian's NYC solo show debut, Sweet Water, an exhibition of photographs documenting failed oases of the American West, opens at the gallery on Friday, March 21st and will be on show through April 26th. Read more about his show, or just come to the opening reception from 6 to 8 p.m. this Friday!

Prints from Birthe's Untitled (from Sub Rosa) and Ian's Kamping Kabins 20x200 editions are still available, and we're very much pleased and excited to share the news that their fellow 2008 PDN 30s Shen Wei and Daniel Traub (a Spring 2007 Hot Shot) have agreed to do editions with us. Can't wait to see what they'll come up with.

Mickey Smith, a Winter 2007 Hot Shot and nominee for the 2008 Baum Award for Emerging American Photographers, has both the cover and the One2Watch feature in the spring Fine Art Issue of PDNedu. Writer Jessica Gordon says, "Smith’s distinct style is attracting much attention in the fine-art world, and her breakthrough work is her ongoing Volume series, a collection of wall-absorbing, installation prints of library books in their stacks. Each image is graphically clean and includes a certain angle of a cheeky, ironic or symbolic book title, derived from the journals or periodicals it contains. For example, a series of worn, tan books have “Loco” on their spines. Two black books, one imperfectly ripped simply says “Life.” And one of her bestsellers among middle-aged men is a ruddy series of textured, brown books titled “The Metal Worker”; the buyers often say it reminds them of their fathers."

Word Study, Mickey's 20x200 edition from last November, is from the Volume series and is also completely sold out, except for one 30"x40" print that could be hanging on your wall soon—but only if no one beats you to it! Jen wrote about Mickey on her personal blog Personism last year as a perfect example of an artist who's got her eye on the prize; if you're starting out in the art or design worlds and want to know how to best approch galleries or prospective employers with your portfolio, you really need to read how Mickey does her thing and take notes.

Oh, and before I forget: hi! My name is Lia Bulaong, and starting today I'll be posting on the 20x200 blog, helping the incredibly busy Ms Jen keep you updated with news about our artists, editions, and all sorts of other things we think you might be interested in as art lovers and collectors. If my name seems a bit familiar, I've been bouncing around the internet for over a decade; I've been writing my personal blog at cheesedip.com since 2000, and have done stints at Gizmodo and Serious Eats in the past few years.

Some things you can expect to see here on the 20x200 blog soon: feature interviews with artists as well as collectors like yourselves (drop me a line at lia at 20x200.com if you'd like to share!), and the occasional inside look at what life is like at Jen Bekman World Domination HQ. Also the amazing Raul is currently working on enabling comments on the blog so we can have a public dialog in this space, hopefully they'll be good to go soon! has finally enabled comments, we're now good to go. Hoping to hear from you!