March 2009 Archives

Reflect, 2003 by Todd St. John

20x200 artist, Todd St. John, was interviewed for the art and design blog, My Computerlove. Todd "indulges his fascination with the tension between the manmade and natural worlds" in his creative endeavors, of which there are many. The industrious St. John teaches at Yale in addition to being a designer, animator, and filmmaker. Read the interview here.

Wave Scaffold, 2007, by Todd St. John

Watch Todd's Emmy nominated video, Circle Squared:

We still have prints of Todd's super stylish 20x200 edition Untitled (Black Blocks) available in all sizes.

Todd's sites:
http://www.toddstjohn.com/
http://www.huntergatherer.net/
http://www.greenlady.com/
http://www.iglooshop.com/

Detail of a drawing of the entire inventory of P&S by Jason Polan

20x200 artist Jason Polan is past prolific. I'm sure he's finishing up at least 75 new projects before you will finish reading this sentence. Jason recently made a drawing of every object inside the Partners & Spade shop in NYC. Of course this project is similar in every excellent way to his The Every Piece Of Art in The Museum Of Modern Art Book.

Interior shot of the P&S shop

I'm looking forward to visiting as soon as the snow stops falling!

In other Jason news: McSweeney's Issue 30 boasts a drawing by Jason on almost every page! According to Jason, that amounts to "approximately 198 drawings".

But wait! There's more!

The above illustration was made by Jason for the New York Times last week to illustrate the letters section entitled, Can We Spend Our Way to Recovery?.

Jason, you're the inspiration.

Jason Polan's 20x200 editions:
Insects and Myriapods at The American Museum of Natural History
Sea Creatures at The American Museum of Natural History
Dinosaurs at The American Museum of Natural History
132 Birds at The American Museum of Natural History
Every Person in New York
Hand Project

Jason Polan's sites:
Jason Polan
The Drawing Project
Every Person in New York
The 53rd Street Biological Society

If you were in the crowd at Ignite NYC III last Monday night, you would have heard Jen Bekman's talk about why "crowdsourcing is ruining everything." Well, maybe not everything. Last Thursday Jen tried an experiment. What would happen if she asked her 20x200 twitter followers to recommend an artist they would like to see on 20x200? Which artists would they recommend? How far and how quickly would the tweet spread?

The responses came in fast and furious. We're thrilled to now know which artists you're hankering for. Here is a run down of how it all went down:

Last Thursday morning, Jen tweets, "Crowd-sourced curation alert: Name an artist/photog who you'd love to see on our site. #20x200".

@kathleenlosche is the first to reply. She recommends Lisa Solomon, Aurora Robson, Rachel Salomon, and Catherine Ryan.

Charlie's Piece by Rachel Salomon

Minutes later, @its_amber chimes in with Matt Furie and Clare Grill. Two more great suggestions.

Secrets, 2007, by Clare Grill

Very quickly, the retweeting (RTs) began! @artcity, Mary Louise Schumacher, the art & architecture critic for the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, jumps in and retweets before offering her own suggestion--the photographic duo of J. Shimon and J. Lindemann.

@SarahM, Sarah Milstein of TweetReport, quickly picks up the 20x200 tweet and passes along word of crowd-curated art to the wider twitter-verse.

@ntmce, Nion McEvoy, CEO of Chronicle Books, owner of SPIN magazine, and a fellow panelist of Jen's at SXSW, RTs and spreads the word even further.

Barry Hoggard, @bhoggard of ArtCal, offers a vote for photographer Meredith Allen.

8.02.06, 2006, by Meredith Allen

@MorenoM is the first to respond by suggesting himself. (You can always apply to Hey, Hot Shot!)

@whileseated2 aka Michael David Murphy--photographer and blogger extraordinaire--of 2point8 and UNphotographable, offers four fabulous suggestions:Julie Mehretu, Tacita Dean, Mark Steinmetz, and Mark Alor Powell.

Studia II, 2004, by Julie Mehretu

Florida-based photographer John Loomis, @jlpfl, adds a vote for Matt Black and Andres Gonzalez.

Brother and sister play near their home. Teviston, California, by Matt Black

The expert eye behind Modern Art Notes, @TylerGreenDC, piques our fancy with the mention of Kathleen Schafer.

Image by Kathleen Shafer

Gary Dauphin, @ebogjonson, spots the tweet and suggests Carolyn Castano. @felixsalmon, blogger and journalist for Portfolio likes the photojournalism of Sebastian Meyer.

Image by Sebastian Meyer

@luxlotus, who we know as Lauren Cerand, part of the JB family, offers Wanda Ewing and Caroline Falby to the growing list.

Former JB intern @peterzimmerman, current intern for Paddy Johnson of Art Fag City (a SXSW co-panelist on Curating the Crowdsourced World) gives a shout out to Aline Smithson and Amy Stein.

Watering Hole by Amy Stein

@edlynne names Erwin Olaf, Fred Muram, Kanako Sasaki, Asako Narahashi, and Jamie Campbell.

Image by Asako Narahashi

@gokari recommends Marc Johns, Ryan Hancock, John Counts, Douglas Wilson, and William Hundley.

Image by Douglas Wilson

Hot Shot contender and photoblogger Dalton Rooney, @robot_operator, shouts out illustrator Kristiana Parn and photographer Timothy Briner.

The lovely photographer Liz Kuball (@lizkuball) throws out Paul Ryding and Muzi Quawson.

Kabbadi by Paul Ryding

Moments later @sadkids, Geoff Ellis, photographer and founder of the zine Sad Kids, mentions Ms. Kuball herself! He also names S. Britt, Timothy Briner.

@camdenhardy then mentions both Dalton (@robot_operator) and Liz (above)!

Image by Liz Kuball

@skwidd adds Jesse Burke and the most-adored, NY Times illustration-blogging, Maira Kalman to the mix.

Illustration by Maira Kalman

@jmoneta suggests Jennifer Loeber, then @longrally aka WFMU DJ Scott McDowell makes mention of Maya Pindyck and Robbie Guertin.

@clairemazur offers Mike Monteiro and Michael Bilsborough to the ever-growing pot before Lane Collins (@lane), photographer, blogger, and HHS! contender wows us with eight more names: Brea Souders, Thomas Prior, Liz Kuball (again!), Tierney Gearon, Shawn Records, Corey Arnold, Fall 2006 Hot Shot Juliana Beasley, and Will Steacy.

Image by Corey Arnold

@rachsyme, Rachel Syme, the Culture Editor for The Daily Beast seconds Corey Arnold.

Artist Ariel Aberg-Riger, @figure1 offers another handful of nominations including her own work, Shaun Sundholm, Sophie Kern, Morgan Blair, Ryan Robinson, and Bob London.

Work by Shaun Sundholm

Lisa Solomon, an early suggestion, is also named by @polaroidgirl and then @actionchrist, representing the fantastic BAM (with whom 20x200 is currently doing a Greg Lindquist benefit edition) rounds out the replies by pointing us towards his brother, painter Matthew Tusciuk.

So here we are, many artists smarter, thanks to all your collective brainpower. Keep sending us suggestions for the artists you love @20x200 or submit your own work through Hey, Hot Shot! -- the next round of competition is opening very, very soon. We work with past and present Hot Shots on new editions all the time.

Bags, 2007, by Beth Dow

Follow the gang at 20x200 (@20x200), Hey Hot Shot (@heyhotshot), the Jen Bekman Gallery (@jenbekman) and Jen herself (@jenbee) on twitter for the latest coming from Jen Bekman Projects. This week we'll be showing off Beth Dow's work at Pulse, so come stop by our booth and say hello if you're in the New York area. Thanks to everyone who re-tweeted, responded, or otherwise spread the word. You help us find even more really great art.

White Consultation Chair, Upper East Side, 2006, by Cara Phillips

Tomorrow, Tuesday, March 3, from 8-10pm, The Camera Club of New York will host a free panel discussion, “Collecting Contemporary Photography (Emphasis on Emerging)” at the School of Visual Arts. Photo dealers, collectors and photographers will all hold court, among them recent Hey, Hot Shot! Winner, Cara Phillips. Art dealers Daniel Cooney and Michael Mazzeo will be part of the mix, and curiously both have, or will soon have, shows with artists you know via 20x200 and Hey, Hot Shot!, proving that, yes, we do have our finger on the emerging photography pulse.

Daniel Cooney Fine Art is currently showing work from Tema Stauffer, and Michael Mazzeo Gallery will be showing Juliana Beasley as part of his Art!Fair which will open this Wednesday.

Seating for tomorrow's event is limited, so be sure to RSVP to info@cameraclubny.org or call Emile Dubuisson at 212-260-9927.

“Collecting Contemporary Photography (Emphasis on Emerging)”
School of Visual Arts
Amphitheater
209 E. 23rd St.
3rd Floor
Tuesday, March 3, 8-10pm

Amit Gupta publishes an "insanely great" weekly newsletter about photography called Photojojo. This week 20x200 got some sunny praise in their 20 Photographers Whose Work You Can Actually Afford email. Half of the twenty highlighted were from our extraordinary set of artists! Clearly the Photojojo folks have superior taste!

Here's a recap:


Untitled, Swamp #2
by Dorthe Alstrup
Buy one now

Untitled 5 (wallpaper)
by Dan Boardman
Buy one now

The Pinetum, Wakehurst Place
by Beth Dow
Buy one now

Balloons
by Juliane Eirich
Buy one now

amnh #10
by Joseph O. Holmes
Buy one now

Resting on a Bush
by Yijun (Pixy) Liao
Buy one now

Untitled (Geese, London)
by Dana Miller
Buy one now

Dutch Club, Anaheim, California
by Brad Moore
Buy one now

Nastya Before Class, St. Petersburg, Russia
by Rachel Papo
Buy one now

Untitled (Blue Lagoon, Reykjavik, Iceland)
by Carlo Van de Roer
Buy one now

Surely you're sufficiently inspired now!
Check out Photojojo here. One of my favorite things is their TimeCapsule feature. If you're a flickr fan you won't want to miss it!

Flood by Jaclyn Mednicov

Stacked Upon by Jaclyn Mednicov

8.5" x 11" ($20): Flood | Stacked Upon

16" x 20" ($200): Flood | Stacked Upon

30" x 40" ($2,000): Flood | Stacked Upon

These prints are created using archival inks on 100% cotton rag paper. Our editions are supervised by the artist and each one comes with a signed certificate of authenticity.
--
Panic-after-the-storm Tuesday greetings collectors! Yesterday was a snow day for most New Yorkers, but JBP HQ was abuzz with preparations for a very busy March. The city is art fair central this week, and Jen Bekman Gallery is proud to be a part of it. We're exhibiting Beth Dow's stunning Fieldwork series at PULSE. We're also hosting an artist talk with Sarah McKenzie on Saturday, the 7th, from 10am-noon. Breakfast treats and mimosas, served up along with Ms. McKenzie's insights on her Building Code paintings, will fortify collectors in mind and body before they head for the fairs. We'll also have day passes on hand for PULSE, so come on by! In addition to all this fun, we've fresh editions to bring you today and tomorrow. Let's get on with that show, shall we?

Today's editions, Flood and Stacked Upon, are by Brooklyn-based painter Jaclyn Mednicov. Jaclyn's delicate depictions, which focus their attention on nature's persistence amid decaying urban landscapes, offer an interesting counterpoint to our other editions from urban explorers like Greg Lindquist, Kevin Cyr and Amy Park.

Fine pen-and-ink lines and colorful washes give her urban landscapes a vulnerability and softness, quite a contrast to the fortress-like strength of Park's weighty Bridge or Cyr's decidedly inorganic Berry. Her delicate vines and leaves seem rooted in different soil than the otherworldy foliage taking root along the waterfront of Lindquist's Decay of Industry. Here's what Jaclyn had to say about her distinctive point of view:

My recent work is the expression of how nature responds to the man-made structures in our urban surroundings. I observe as nature crawls its way to the surface of the sidewalks, train tracks, and brick walls that comprise New York City. Inspired by the imagery of my daily life, I create deserted landscapes, produced primarily with pen, ink, and washes of paint. These spaces serve as a witness to abandoned human activity. I intend to record the moment when decay begins, or when something new, something different is to be born.

I'm not the only one intrigued by the work of Ms. Mednicov. The editors at New American Paintings included her in their current Northeast edition. Incidentally, that's a terrific publication to peruse if you're interested in taking in a broad array of emerging American artists, so get yourselves to your local bookstore a pick up a copy!

I'm back tomorrow with another edition and more news about upcoming events. Look for me then.

Untitled #10 by Kent Rogowski

Untitled #10 by Kent Rogowski:
8"x10" | edition of 200 | $20
11"x14" | edition of 500 | $50
16"x20 | edition of 20 | $200
30"x40" | edition of 2 | $2000

These prints are created using archival inks on 100% cotton rag paper. Our editions are supervised by the artist and each one comes with a signed certificate of authenticity.
--

Greetings collectors! I am typing to you from the lower very west side of Manhattan — Pier 40 to be exact — on site at the Jen Bekman Gallery booth at PULSE New York Contemporary Art Fair. Jeffrey, Lee and I just got done arranging Beth Dow's gorgeous Fieldwork prints. Now that the fellas are occupied with measuring, hammering and organizing all the other fantastic artwork we've got on hand for the show, I can turn my attention to my friends on the interwebs. Beth is the headliner here in Booth I-12, but we've got work from a lot of other artists available too, many of whom are surely familiar to all of you 20x200 collectors. Kent Rogowski — the puzzle-mad mixologist responsible for today's Untitled #10 — is one of them.

Untitled #10 is our third 20x200 edition from Kent's fantastic series, Love=Love. His earlier releases from the series, Untitled #5 and Untitled #9 were heartily embraced by this crowd. As of this typing, there are only two 30"x40" prints of #5 left! We've gotten a lot of requests to do another edition from the series, and I'm most happy to oblige you all with today's delightful addition to our editions. What's especially great is that they're available as 11"x14" prints — more room for flowers to bloom and foals to frolic!

I wrote my newsletter introducing Kent's #9 at the gallery, while the crew was putting the finishing touches on his exhibition, which opened last May. Nice to see what I said about the work then stands up close to a year later!

Kent's project really pushes the topic of object vs. document. He's taking objects made from photographs, deconstructing them, reassembling them, documenting those reassembled objects and then to top it all off, these documents become different objects entirely when you present them at different sizes... Doing a 20x200 edition is the meta-est manifestation of the concept; the effect of the grid-like fault lines of the puzzles varies enormously depending on the dimensions of the print.

Aside from continuing to construct his puzzling deconstructions, Kent's been plenty busy with other cool projects. He's served twice on the panel for Hey, Hot Shot! (and will do so again in 2009, lucky us! and he's also launched a non-profit called Scaffold. That Scaffold offers fellowships for emerging and mid-career artists in inherently awesome, but what kicks it up to visionary is its structure. As it says on their site, "Scaffold is run by artists. The funding for our fellowships will come from the community being served, through small contributions and applications fees. And as the number of applications increases, the amount and/or number of individual grants will increase proportionally."

In addition to all the fun at the fair, we're hosting a pretty swell event at the gallery this weekend. Join us for mimosas, pastries and sparkling conversation @ Jen Bekman Gallery this Saturday, March 7, 2009, from 10 a.m. to 12 p.m. — before the fairs!

Painter Sarah McKenzie and Eva Hagberg, editor of the architecture and design blog Edificial, will discuss McKenzie's practice, influences, and current exhibition, Building Code, on view through April 4, 2009. Read Eva's recent interview with Sarah here.

After the talk, we'll send you off with a complimentary PULSE day pass. Head over to Booth I-12 at PULSE — opening at noon on Saturday — see Beth Dow's platinum palladium prints from her series, Fieldwork. Also on hand is work from these artists: Ian Baguskas, Mara Bodis Wollner, Christian Chaize, Gregory Krum, Holly Lynton, Carrie Marill, Brad Moore, Hosang Park, Jason Polan, Kent Rogowski, and Carlo Van de Roer.

Artist Talk with Sarah McKenzie + Eva Hagberg, Saturday, March 7, 2009, 10 a.m. to 12 p.m at:

Jen Bekman Gallery
6 Spring Street
New York, NY 10012
Between Elizabeth + Bowery

Space and complimentary PULSE day passes are limited, please RSVP to: info@jenbekman.com

Big Bambú (detail) 5 x 15 ft (overall), by Doug + Mike Starn

A rare chance to catch a glimpse of the construction and deconstruction of Doug + Mike Starn's Big Bambú will be offered by Wetterling Gallery at the Armory Show this week.

The exhibition offers a keyhole view of the monumental architectural performance they are constructing at their Beacon studio –the former Tallix Foundry. In a constant act of building and dismantling, Big Bambú is erected from 2000 bamboo poles lashed together by a team of several rock-climbers under the direction of the artists. 2 large-scale video wall-projections and a 3D computer generated rendering will show the ongoing construction of the first bamboo tower and its continuous rhizome-like growth.

A series of close-up photographs in various sizes accompany this larger artwork.

Studio image of Big Bambú

The Armory Show
Piers 92 & 94
Twelfth Avenue at 55th Street
New York City
Thursday, March 5 - Saturday, March 7
Noon to 8 pm
Sunday, March 8 Noon to 7 pm

Doug and Mike Starn's edition prints:
Structure of Thought 6b
Structure of Thought 6a

Starn Studio site

Newfoundland 7
by Carrie Marill

Ciao, collectors!
Jen Bekman will be exhibiting work from 20x200, Hey, Hot Shot! and gallery represented artists at PULSE Contemporary Art Fair this Thursday, March 5 - Sunday, March 8, 2009.
Featured artists:
Carlo Van de Roer
Beth Dow
Ian Baguskas
Mara Bodis Wollner
Christian Chaize
Gregory Krum
Holly Lynton
Carrie Marill
Brad Moore
Hosang Park
Jason Polan
and
Kent Rogowski

Come visit us @ Booth I-12
PULSE New York
Pier 40
353 West Street @ West Houston

Minds/Mines Don't Care-Daisy Chain of Pipe bombs with self detonator, by Rebecca Loyche

Congratulations to 20x200 artist, Rebecca Loyche, who is currently showing work in a group show, (re)terrain, at vertexList in Brooklyn. (re)terrain will remain on view through April 5th.

From the press release:

(re)terrain examines spaces and places of the heavily urbanized and conflicted world we live in. The exhibition looks at the social production of space as well as the malleable and volatile nature of public space. The works in the exhibition ask us to (re)consider the complex nature of the world we inhabit and the very ground we stand on.

Rebecca Loyche depicts the violent nature of terrain with several large photograms of homemade land-mines and explosive devices. In addition, she delineates the gallery space with blast-kill radiuses of those devices painted directly on the gallery floor- placing the viewer directly in her work.

(re)terrain | March 6th-April 5th
vertexList
138 Bayard Street
Brooklyn, NY

Rebecca's 20x200 edition print:
The Office
Rebecca's site

Untitled, Swamp #2, by Dorthe Alstrup (Fall 2005 Hot Shot)

Jen Bekman Projects, Inc. is now accepting entries for Hey, Hot Shot! 2009.

What is Hey, Hot Shot!?
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 entering its fifth year, the international competition has been lauded by curators, critics, educators and journalists.

We are also pleased to announce that photographer and former Creative Director of Colors magazine, Stefan Ruiz, has joined ranks with our seasoned panelists, Jen Bekman, Christine Collins, Dana Faconti, Caterina Fake, Stephen Frailey, Raul Gutierrez, Darius Himes, Jenni Holder, Julia Leach, Nion McEvoy, Lesley A. Martin and Kent Rogowski.

Stefan is just one of many exceptional additions + surprises we have in store. As Hey, Hot Shot! is becoming, increasingly, well, competitive, we're working hard to ensure that it continues to bring photographers — at all stages of their careers — the exposure, recognition, and support they deserve. Stay tuned for more details!

five hot shots x NYC exhibition + (20x200) = incomparable exposure
Our panel will select five Hot Shots to exhibit their work in a two-week show @ Jen Bekman Gallery. In conjunction with the exhibition, 20x200 editions of each photographer's work are released online.

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

ultras go solo
One photographer of the five Hot Shots will be selected selected as an Ultra. Each Ultra is represented by Jen Bekman Gallery and slated for a solo exhibition.

in it to win it
As always, we'll select contenders to feature daily on the Hey, Hot Shot! blog throughout the entry period. Contenders and honorable mentions will also be considered for 20x200, Jen Bekman Projects' online endeavor which offers limited edition prints at affordable prices.

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

Not quite ready to apply? Join our mailing list to keep up to date.

We only accept submissions online, via this website.

The deadline for entries is Friday, May 1st, 2009 @ 8pm (EDT).

Hot Shots will be announced on Thursday, May 28th, 2009.

There is a $60 handling fee for your entry.
Submissions are open to everyone, from anywhere in the world!
The competition is open.

Questions?

Check out our informative and frequently updated FAQ, follow us on Twitter, or find us on Facebook.

Apply Now!

Construction 5, by Sarah McKenzie

Did you hear the news? You're invited to join us for mimosas, pastries and sparkling conversation @ Jen Bekman Gallery this Saturday, March 7, 2009, from 10 a.m. to 12 p.m. — before the fairs!

Painter Sarah McKenzie and Eva Hagberg, editor of the architecture and design blog Edificial, will discuss McKenzie's practice, influences, and current exhibition, Building Code, on view through April 4, 2009.

Read Eva's recent interview with Sarah here.

After the talk, we'll send you off with a complimentary PULSE day pass. Head over to Booth I-12 at PULSE — opening at noon on Saturday — to see Beth Dow's platinum palladium prints from her series, Fieldwork.

Artist Talk with Sarah McKenzie + Eva Hagberg, Saturday, March 7, 2009, 10 a.m. to 12 p.m at:

Jen Bekman Gallery
6 Spring Street
New York, NY 10012
Between Elizabeth + Bowery

Space and complimentary PULSE day passes are limited, please RSVP to: info@jenbekman.com

Todd Heisler/The New York Times

20x200 photographer, Coke Wisdom O'Neal, was featured in the Times this week. The article did not appear in the Arts section, as you might imagine, but rather the Home & Garden section. Coke is succinctly described as "a fine art photographer who builds 22-foot-high wood boxes and shoots people standing inside them," yet the article is focused on the spaciousness and rotating cast of lodgers in his apartment. Coke enjoys an uncommon and enviable home life that reminds me immediately of The Royal Tenenbaums. You see, he lives in an Upper West Side vestige, the Apthorp, with his parents, his son, his son's mother (from whom he is split) a parrot, a dog, and two cats. Now what do you think of that?

Todd Heisler/The New York Times

Watch Coke's mother narrate a slide show tour through their home.
Read Tenants of a Vanishing World here.

Coke's 20x200 edition prints:
Needle-Needle-Nee
Close Call
See more of Coke's work here.

Embers of the Maritime by Greg Lindquist

Brooklyn-based painter, Greg Lindquist, who released a 20x200 double edition of pieces Embers of the Marine and Industry of Decay, Decay of Industry in late February, opens a solo show titled Brooklyn Industry at the BAM Peter Jay Sharp Building on Wednesday, March 11th. The show combines several new works created for BAM in addition to a selection of paintings previously exhibited in a solo show, Remembrance of Things Past.

From the press release:

Within his haunting urban landscapes, the dilapidated manufacturing plants and warehouses, abandoned docks, and new construction sites, all the more frequently seen along the waterfront, are quietly silhouetted against hazy, silvery skies.

It is here that these become symbolic spaces that simultaneously capture the possibilities and probabilities of Brooklyn’s future as well as its lingering, often romanticized past, converging themes and images of destruction and renewal, rapid redevelopment and inevitable decay.

The exhibition will be on view through April 26.

Opening Reception: Wed, March 11th, 6-8pm
Natman Room
BAM Peter Jay Sharp Building

Greg Linquist's website
Buy Embers of the Maritime and Decay of Industry, Industry of Decay at 20x200.

Katarina by Karolina Karlic

Let's not be "Missed Connections," stop by and say hello when Ms. Jen Bekman and other members of team 20x200 are in San Francisco, in just a few short weeks. We're hoping that if you're in the area, you'll visit with us, other 20x200 collectors, and some Cali-based 20x200 artists.

We'll be hosting friends (yes, that means you) with our friends over at Chronicle Books:
680 Second Street, San Francisco, CA, on Monday, April 6th, from 6-8 p.m.

Consider it the West Coast, 2.0 version of the Collector's Confab. More details to follow — mark your calendars!

Snezhana Backstage, St. Petersburg, Russia, 2007 by Rachel Papo

On the train going home, Tel Aviv, Israel, 2006 by Rachel Papo

Last month Jen introduced you to the work of Rachel Papo. This month Clamp Art is showing work from two of her series, Desperately Perfect and Serial No. 3817131 through March 14th. Her two edition prints, Nastya Before Class, and Waiting for hand grenade practice, are still available here on your beloved source for excellent and affordable art.

Deperately Perfect and Serial No. 3817131
Clamp Art
521-531 West 25th street
Ground Floor
NY, NY
through March 14, 2009

20x200 artist and Summer '05 Hot Shot, Noah Kalina, recently launched an eponymously titled magazine, Kalina Magazine. Each issue will feature new work from Kalina's photography projects.

Issue #1, Why Won't You Love Me, is available now.

See more of Noah's work here and here.

Noah's 20x200 edition print has limited quantities available: Untitled (LA20070805)

Prospect Park #2 by Joseph O. Holmes

Tuesday greetings, collectors! I am going to keep it short and sweet with today's introduction as I have about a zillion things to do before leaving on Thursday morning for South by Southwest. More on that later, after I introduce today's edition from local hero Joseph O. Holmes.

Prospect Park #2 is a kissing cousin to our very first edition from Joe, the totally sold-out — not to mention frequently inquired about — Prospect Park. With this new edition, we're pleased to be able to offer a broader range of editions for the art-addicted. In addition to our familiar 8"x10" ($20) and 16"x20" ($200) sizes, we're also offering 11"x14" prints, along with absolutely dazzling 24"x30" prints ($1000).

When contemplating how to introduce this photograph earlier today, I found myself thinking about the smell of wet wool, the rare pleasure of enjoying an un-peopled moment in our fair metropolis and a long-ago snowball fight with one of my favorite people on the planet, Omar Wasow. Imagine my amusement then, when I summoned up my original newsletter about our first edition from Joe and discovered that those were exactly the things I wrote about way back when 20x200 was barely two months old.

On the one hand, I feel like a predictable hack, but on the other... I'm in awe of the way that these images infiltrate the lizard part of my brain, connecting me so directly to very fond memories and summoning a visceral recollection in such a satisfying way. Behold, my friends, the power of art! It's that power that makes me so fanatical about spreading the Live with Art gospel. Feeling connected to place and memory and emotion really enriches your day-to-day life. Art can function as a grounding touchstone or escape-hatch, depending on what it is your psyche is in need of; we all need one or the other, at different times.

I myself, unfortunately need to escape at the moment — into the world of Keynote (Egad!) — I have to get my deck figured out for tomorrow night's lecture, The Curators. I'm appearing on an intimidatingly impressive roster alongside Nicholas Felton, Rebekah Hodgson and Jason Kottke. Hopefully my words will amply compensate for my slides, which are unlikely to be on par with the ones produced by these highly accomplished designers.

Once that's done, I'll move on to prepping for the slide show I'm putting together for our SXSW panel, Curating the Crowd-Sourced World. Lots of slides and talking, and yes, more art's in store for you too! Wait'll you see what's on tap for tomorrow. It's awesome. (hint) Also awesome: Thursday's bonus edition. (hint) Can't wait to tell you about all of it!

20x200 artists Megan Whitmarsh and Mike Perry have teamed up with 24 artists to collaborate on an Animal Alphabet poster to benefit Unicef. Each of the 26 artists created one letter formed as a real or imagined animal.
Check this site for each letter to be released as a single limited edition poster.

Megan Whitmarsh's 20x200 edition prints:
Trash Mountain
Color Work Station
Mike Perry's edition print:
Optical-01

Among a slew of seventeen stellar websites, 20x200 received accolades from Booooooom. The 20x200 blog, in particular was noted as: "a great cross-section of artists." All of the websites listed are certainly read worthy. We're particularly fond of My Love For You is a Stampede of Horses, a trove of art and design goodness in 2D and 3D (ofter wearable) varieties and The Selby, which features portraits of creative people and their spaces.

Bookmark the pages yourself and try, just try, to not get stuck in TED's archives of great talks.

Untitled (We are going to make it through this year if it kills us) by Mike Monteiro

Untitled (Let's make better mistakes tomorrow) by Mike Monteiro

Untitled (I told my therapist about you) by Mike Monteiro

Untitled (I’m an island of such great complexity) by Mike Monteiro

Merry and hurried Wednesday greetings collectors! I have been looking forward to today's editions for weeks; the timing of them is perfect, yet, I am quickly running out of time for this newsletter! As I write, the lovely host for this evening's Dot Dot Dot lecture, Liz Danzico, is patiently awaiting my very late slides that Youngna Park is hard at work on now. Youngna and I just got done mapping out the talk and I'm very excited!

Tonight's lecture, entitled The Curators, has me feeling very connected to the time in my life when I wasn't a curator at ALL. It was also a time when I thought of today's artist, Mike Monteiro, primarily as a designer not as an artist. Now, I'm pleased to feature four smart and sportive editions from Mike: Untitled (I told my therapist about you), Untitled (I'm an island of such great complexity), Untitled (Let's make better mistakes tomorrow), and Untitled (We are going to make it through this year if it kills us). They comprise our first 20x200 AAA since the holidays.

Mike and I met in San Francisco during the web 1.0 boom that subsequently busted in a manner that seems like child's play when compared to the Current Economic Climate (heretofore known as the "CEC"). We've stayed in touch over the course of a good number of years, thanks in large part to the wonders of the interwebs. We connected, in person, last year at SXSW, so heading there (bright and early tomorrow morning!) makes me think of Mike too. I was looking forward to seeing him THIS year because the last time around, he was mad at me; anyone who knows and loves Mike like I do knows that is an uncomfortable thing indeed. (Maybe if we sell lots of his prints he'll change his mind and come! Let's go people.)

Anyway, Mike's long headed up his design studio, Mule Design, but I was really excited when he started making art again and I LOVE his first edition with us. I have a print of it hanging right by my front door and it still makes me laugh. It's a print I've enjoyed sending, on occasion, to some of the most exasperating yet beloved people in my life.

What I love about these new prints is that they're so essentially Mike — they're heartfelt sentiments that are barely concealed beneath a layer of snarkery. Mike's humor is biting and occasionally downright obnoxious (forgive me for saying that Mike, but c'mon: ADMIT IT). As with a lot of humor of this nature though, it's an attempt to put some armor over someone who has the soul of an artist. It was really hard to choose which paintings to do editions with because there are SO MANY that I love. But, I'm really happy to be presenting these four because they're a good representation of the work overall and each one has its own special resonance, whether it's making plain something that's totally true but rarely said out loud, Untitled (I told my therapist about you); providing us with a mantra to help us face the CEC, Untitled (We are going to make it through this year if it kills us); reminiscent of a lyric that we love, Untitled (I'm an island of such great complexity); or offering some optimistic advice with words that, at first blush, seem sort of negative, Untitled (Let's make better mistakes tomorrow).

As I must prepare for tomorrow, not to mention for today's later events, I'll leave you with these words for thought. But not before I remind you about Greg Lindquist's opening for Brooklyn Industry tonight, at BAMart, which I will sadly miss since I'm so behind on preparing for the aforementioned Dot Dot Dot lecture. Jeffrey Teuton, Associate Director of the JB Gallery will be there to see Greg's gorgeous and monumental paintings in person. And you should too! I'll have news on a few more upcoming events, including our San Fran Collector's Confab, the gallery's six year anniversary (!), and a bonus edition, tomorrow! Till then!

Dear Collectors heading to SXSW,
Please don't miss Curating the Crowd-Sourced World, Jen's panel discussion with Paddy Johnson, Nion McEvoy, Dustin Hostetler, and Gina Trapani. The distinguished panelists will wrangle with the topic of "good filters" and "who's best-suited to determine what's best, curators or the crowd?".

SXSW
Austin Convention Center | Saturday March 14 |11:30am - 12:30pm

Fairy Ring by Amy Ross

20x200 darling, and Jen Bekman Gallery artist, Amy Ross, will have work in an all female group show, Fata Morgana: The New Female Fantasists, opening this Saturday, March 14th in Brooklyn.

From the press release:

Each artist in this show is a sorceress in her own right. Endowed with fecund imaginations and masterful craftsmanship, their work transforms the viewer: we become spellbound, bearing witness to their attempts to reconcile the desire for a diurnal beauty with the lure of a lush and riotous inner wilderness. The fantastical is counterpoint to the ferocious, the monstrous to the marvelous. Allusions to myth and metamorphosis abound, as these works channel their own heroine spirits and tell their own secret tales. Here, frame is magic threshold, bidding us to take a breath, and cross over.

Read the entire press release and view more images from the show here.

Fata Morgana: The New Female Fantasists
March 15th-April 12th
Dabora Gallery
1080 Manhattan Ave.
Greenpoint, Brooklyn

I'm shocked to discover that we still have 4 large prints of Amy's two 20x200 editions available:
Manshroom, and Duck Magnolia.

See images from Amy's solo show, anima mundi, at Jen Bekman Gallery.

Trucks, Seattle by Tommy Perman
Buy one now

Ciao collectors! If you are heading to SXSW (surely you're already planning to see Jen Bekman and friends) try and check out 20x200 artist Tommy Perman. Tommy will be performing four shows with his band, Found. Details here.

Tommy's websites are numerous, but start here, I know from past experience that one could spend the better part of a day exploring his projects.

Howon-dong by Hosang Park

Uman-dong by Hosang Park

Howon-dong
11"x14" ($50) | 20"x24" ($500) | 30"x40" ($2000) | 40"x50" ($5000)
and
Uman-dong
11"x14"($50) | 20"x24" ($500) | 30"x40" ($2000) | 40"x50" ($5000)
by
Hosang Park

En-route-to-Austin-after-a-fabulous-Wednesday Thursday greetings, collectors! The Dot Dot Dot lecture last night was a blast, in large part due to Liz Danzico's expert stewardship. I left White Rabbit quite enamored with the way she's structured the series — a generous amount of time for cocktails and mingling beforehand, followed by a lean schedule of four ten-minute talks, their midpoint punctuated with a just-long-enough intermission — resulting in a decidedly un-fidgety and attentive audience.

Included in the good-listening — not to mention good-lookin' — crowd were Design Notes author Michael Surtees, the blogosphere's favorite Swiss Miss, Tina Roth-Eisenberg, designer Jason Santa Maria and the fabulous Emily Gordon, Editor-in-Chief of Print Magazine, who's been at the top of my people-I-want-to-meet list for a while now.

Thanks to the genius scheduling of Liz, I also had ample time to chat with my fellow presenters, grid-loving Bek Hodgson, datalicious Nicholas Felton and the content-pirating Jason Kottke, who stole the show with the final presentation of the evening. This was a great warm-up for our SXSW panel, which is next on my list after introducing today's editions. Let's get on with the show, shall we?

A crafted-in-midair edition announcement is utterly apropos for Hosang Park's striking photographs, Howon-dong and Uman-dong. In anticipation of writing this newsletter, I made certain to take notice of the landscape spreading out beneath us as we took flight a few hours ago. Comparing the very familiar terrain of Manhattan to Hosang's otherworldly-to-me densities of Korean cities is a satisfying endeavor on its own. Viewed from a distance their grids and verticality create a tenuous kinship between my view and his vision, making his world seem a bit less alien.

Looking at the view from here, or from there, or elsewhere, I start to wonder about the view from above. Is it omnipotent or utterly banal? Prior to the ubiquity of air travel, it was a rareified view indeed. I'd argue that a surge of majesty is instinctual when surveying the planet from such a remove, or at least a sense of being closer to God, if you happen to believe that he's inhabiting the heavens. And yet, frequent and increasingly beleaguered flyers that we are, majesty might not be the first thing that comes to mind when taking in the view from coach. It's easy to feel a sense of isolation and anonymity more akin to Hopper than a beatitude a la Michelangelo when you're eating cereal out of a plastic container from a plastic spoon, with the rest of the world far away and the jet engine's din numbing you to your closest, probably too close, neighbor.

The answer isn't simple of course, and I'd imagine that there are plenty of more scholarly art aficionados who've given this question more consideration than the three hours this flight has allowed me. For now, I can say confidently that it's a little bit of both. There's a lot to worry about when looking at the world from way up here, but it's foolish to shut yourself off to the wonder: of nature, and of man and of what man has made.

The Fasten Your Seatbelts sign is on, and my battery's running down, so with that deep thought for you to ponder, I'll take my leave till next week. I'll be back on Tuesday with Texas tales and inspiring art. Look for me then.

Lonesome Ghost, 2008 by William Crump

Californian collectors! 20x200 artist, William Crump, will open a solo show, Lonesome Ghosts, at LA's LittleBird Gallery this Saturday, March 14th. If you're in the vicinity do swing by and say hello.

Reception, Saturday, March 14th, 7-10pm
March 14-April 8, 2009
LittleBird Gallery
3195 Glendale Blvd.
LA, CA

William's two 20x200 edition prints, The Mountain of Westward Expansion, and The Mountain of Tomorrow's Sunrise, are still available in all three sizes.

The one and only Jason Polan will be drawing live at Partners & Spade today Saturday, March 14th. Everything you need to know about the event is spelled out for you in the darling drawing above by Mr. Polan. The folks behind P&S are clearly clever--I'm already busy thinking about what I'll request Jason to draw for me. I'm also looking forward to seeing what the shop has to offer. Jason's drawing of their complete inventory has me quite intrigued.

See you there, or rather, here:
Partners & Spade
40 Great Jones Street
NYC

Painting from the Camper-bike Project by Kevin Cyr

Work from 20x200 artist Kevin Cyr will be in a group show opening this Wednesday, March 18th, at Greene Contemporary in the Lower East Side. The show, Welcome to My World, was curated by Jonathan Greene, and will include work by Andrew Junge, Billy Maker, Shawn Pettersen and Jean-Pierre Roy.

From the press release:

The artists in Welcome to My World share similar approaches to their process, inspired by imagination to reinvent personal experiences, cultural identity, and fantasies into a visual language. The ad hoc combination of references and materials invites the viewer to enter both miniature and grandiose imaginary environments and situations, setting off on a journey of their own.

The show will continue through April 19th.

Welcome to My World
Greene Contemporary
9 Clinton Street
New York, NY

Kevin's two 20x200 edition prints, Koolman and Berry are still available in very limited quantities, so hop to it!

Urban Storm, 2008 by Aili Schmeltz

"Visual mashups" is how Aili Schmetz's work is described in one of the three group exhibitions she is in at this very moment. I love a good mashup, and cannot think of a better way to describe the way her work operates. Presently, Aili is in three shows--two in NY, at Satori in Manhattan and Lumenhouse in Brooklyn, and one in San Francisco at Gallery Arcane. All three shows continue through March 29th.

Invisible Duct Tape
Satori Gallery
164 Stanton Street
New York, New York

Abstractions and Contractions
Lumenhouse
47 Beaver Street
Brooklyn, New York

Sweet & Low: Optimism in a Pessimistic Age
Gallery Arcane
575 Sutter Street
San Francisco, CA

Aili's two 20x200 edition prints, Embedded, and Radar, are available in small supply.

The Constellation of the Elephant by Alexander Beeching

Greetings from Austin, collectors! Today's the last day of South by Southwest and I must admit that I'm sad that things are winding down here. The conference programming has been terrific and it's been great catching up with friends from all over the country. Plus: BBQ! I have an impossibly ambitious list of things I want to squeeze in before I go, so I'm hoping to extend my stay and enjoy Austin as a tourist rather than a conference attendee. Alas, that's still very much up in the air, so today's edition announcement will be ever-so-brief.

The Constellation of the Elephant is our second edition from British illustrator Alexander Beeching. His Dandy Gorilla has been in our midst since last August and I'm very pleased to add his celestial pachyderms to the 20x200 menagerie. As I mentioned when introducing Don Hamerman's Elephant and Jacob Escobedo's Sophie, elephants are my favorite animals; I must say that Alexander's depiction of them is downright stellar.

You might not be surprised to hear that my efforts to find a poem that included mentions of the stars above and elephants proved fruitless. I did, however, discover a Robert Frost poem — On Looking up by Chance at the Constellations — which is quite great, even if it doesn't mention elephants:

You'll wait a long, long time for anything much
To happen in heaven beyond the floats of cloud
And the Northern Lights that run like tingling nerves.
The sun and moon get crossed, but they never touch,
Nor strike out fire from each other nor crash out loud.
The planets seem to interfere in their curves
But nothing ever happens, no harm is done.
We may as well go patiently on with our life,
And look elsewhere than to stars and moon and sun
For the shocks and changes we need to keep us sane.
It is true the longest drouth will end in rain,
The longest peace in China will end in strife.
Still it wouldn't reward the watcher to stay awake
In hopes of seeing the calm of heaven break
On his particular time and personal sight.
That calm seems certainly safe to last to-night.

With the constellations ably described by Frost's words and Beeching's vision, I'll take my leave for the day. I'll be back tomorrow with a pair of images from a photographer who takes his inspiration from what falls to earth.

Mark Ulriksen for Golf Digest

Just when you thought painting was dead, and photography was ruling the world quite comfortably, I come around to tell you some excellent (and contrary) news. 20x200 artist Mark Ulriksen was sent on assignment to paint images of the Masters tournament in Georgia. Now, eight of his paintings appear in the current issue of Golf Digest. On the outside chance you are not a subscriber, here are some paintings for you to enjoy:

Mark Ulriksen for Golf Digest

Mark Ulriksen for Golf Digest

Mark Ulriksen for Golf Digest

Mark has three brilliant edition prints with 20x200:
The Babe in the Negro Leagues, Stars and Stripes, and Monk.

Breath Portrait (pink drop) by Ann Tarantino

20x200 artist Ann Tarantino and collaborator Kate McGraw are working on an "improvisational wall drawing and video installation" at Flashpoint in DC. The piece will be on view from March 19 to April 17.

From the press release:

Having collaborated on works on paper for the past two years, the artists will now explore the interaction of their work with an architectural space by working directly on the gallery walls. With its focus on process and impermanence, Workbook marks a turning point in their collaboration, while transforming the gallery into a temporary studio. Using techniques both planned and improvised, the artists will engage in a mark-making exchange that will run the entire length of the gallery. Each artist will make marks familiar to her own stylistic vocabulary, but will also borrow materials and stylistic conventions from the other artist. The final, mammoth artwork will stretch across the gallery walls like a book, a nonlinear narrative waiting to be read and experienced by the audience.

Images of Kate and Ann in action

Kate McGraw & Ann Tarantino: Workbook
March 19 – April 17, 2009
Opening reception: Thursday, March 19: 6-8pm
Video Launch: Saturday, March 28: 6-9pm
Gallery at Flashpoint
916 G Street, NW
Washington, DC

Images from the collaboration in progress can be viewed here on Kate's site.

If you missed the lively interview I posted with Ann, read it here.

Ann's 20x200 print: Breath Portrait (favorite colors) has limited quantities available in medium and large edition sizes.

Prospect Park #9 by Scott Whittle

Prospect Park #11 by Scott Whittle

Wednesday Editions: Scott Whittle

Prospect Park #9
8.5"x11" ($20) | 17"x22" ($200) | 30"x40" ($2000)
and
Prospect Park #11
8.5"x11" ($20) | 17"x22" ($200) | 30"x40" ($2000)
by
Scott Whittle

As foreshadowed in my previous newsletter, I love the way the timing of this week's editions has worked out so far — yesterday we were looking at the stars, and today we're turning our gaze downward to what falls to earth. As for me, I'll be airborne in a few short hours, heading back to NYC after an amazing visit here in Austin, Texas. Once I'm done with this dispatch, I'm hoping to catch Birth of the Cool at the Blanton Museum before I head for the airport, and if there's no time for that I'm hoping to squeeze in a quick visit to Domy instead.

Alas, I fear that I'm leaving Austin with the same worn boots I rode in on — I made two trips to Allen's but was unable to make a decision. (If you've seen all the boots lining the shelves there you'd understand why.) While I'm on the topic of local shops, I'll tell you about a few other places in Austin that made me happy during my visit. Yesterday we stopped into this really great little shop called IF+D and acquired some Enron memo pads which espoused their company values in bold type along the bottom, (Integrity, honesty and respect, in case you were wondering). IF+D is right near milk + honey where I got a transcendentally relaxing pedicure upon my arrival here last week. Right now I am typing from the convivial Jo's, which has been my morning haunt for the past week.

What I've liked about this year's Texas sojourn is that I've been in Austin long enough to get to know the place a little. In spite of the fact that I travel all the time, I'm actually kind-of a bad traveler. In part it's because I'm a creature of habit, but mostly it's because I am much more interested in how a place IS rather than how it seems. And you only get to know how a place really is by spending time there.

It might seem like a stretch, but this feeling of understanding Austin a little more makes a lot of sense to me in relation to today's editions, Prospect Park #9 and Prospect Park #11 by Brooklyn-based photographer Scott Whittle. First of all, I did meet Scott in Texas — at Fotofest, almost a year ago to the day. Scott's gotten to know Brooklyn — Prospect Park specifically — over the course of years, not days. And while a lot of the things he captures are the kinds of things that you might find at a park in a city setting, knowing what his process has been makes me understand that he is knowing a place in the way that we all get to know the places that we live in. His practice might be meditative and solitary, in process at least, but there's something about it that makes me think of connectedness as well. The human trace, I suppose.

I am also thinking about him in relation to this amazing dinner that I had last night, at a place called Ranch 616, with the Kitchen Sisters, following the party celebrating the release of their new Blurb book, Hidden Kitchens, Texas. Davia and Nikki are finding stuff that no one might see otherwise too, exploring the world of hidden kitchens and sharing them with the world on NPR. I heard SO many great stories about Texas at the dinner, affirming my belief that one of the things that artists do best is help us see things in the world that we wouldn't notice (or perhaps even know about!) otherwise.

At dinner we were surrounded by an amazing array of people — the owner, the chef, a musician named Cindy Cashdollar, a cowboy actor (for real!) and a woman who works for the Texas Attorney General. For the past 17 years, she's been speaking about crime prevention all over the state and she promised to send me some speaking tips via email. I have a feeling she'll school me in speaking better than any professional PR coach might ever be able to do! By the time dinner was done, I knew Texas a whole lot better and am curious to learn more.

That's exactly what I'm going to do right this second, as the clock is ticking. I'll be back tomorrow, writing from the East Coast to introduce you to this week's bonus fine art edition. Look for me then!

Secret Language 3 by Valerie Roybal

Well-being 2 by Valerie Roybal

Thursday Edition: Valerie Roybal

Rainy Thursday greetings from NYC, my collector friends! I'm glad to be back home and have been enjoying some quality time with the best mutt in the universe, Ollie Otter. I've got lots to catch up on and look forward to, so today's introduction will be brief and constructed from recycled ingredients. It's an approach befitting the work of southwestern artist Valerie Roybal, who is herself a scavenger of bits and pieces with a brilliant talent for assembling them just so.

Secret Language 3 and Well-being 2 have much in common with our first edition from Valerie, Secret Language 1. When introducing that edition, here's what I had to say:

Valerie's choice of materials for the Secret Language series speaks to my bookish tendencies, my penchant for wandering through thrift stores and flea markets, and my predilection for proper penmanship. (Alliteration alert!) Aside from the obvious visual allure of her layered constructions, their texture and presence ignite other senses and memories that I fondly associate with all these activities. The snippets of fine calligraphy remind me of lazy comfort of curling up with a well-worn copy of Jane Eyre or Pride and Prejudice. Her color palette wanders across the entire range of shades I find so appealing in the vintage items that always catch my eye, whether they're water-stained snapshots or fire-red Pyrex bowls, happily transporting me to the cluttered chaos of an upstate Salvation Army, with creaky floorboards, dusty air and undiscovered treasures.

Such nice memories to spend time with! Not to sound like a cheeseball, but that's one of the things I most enjoy about living with art. Everything that I have on my walls is the seed for some sort of story or memory, giving me ample opportunity to indulge in some escapism. My here and now is pretty great, but it's nice to be able to go elsewhere once in a while.

It's also pretty great to come home again, and I'm going to be sure to make the most of it since I won't be here for long. As mentioned previously, April is a busy month! One of the month's highlights is sure to be the San Francisco 20x200 Collectors Confab, hosted by the fine folks at Chronicle Books. I'll be back next week with more details on that event, and more great art. See you then.

Sheila E., 2009, by Fernanda Cohen

Happy Friday, collectors! Spring sprung with snow in NYC today, but I've got some sunshine for you in the form of Fernanda Cohen! I love catching up with Fernanda, especially when Miss Sheila E. is involved! Impossibly Sheila E. has been the topic of more than one conversation of mine this week. Something good must be going on! Fernada made the above illustration of the eternally foxy drumming goddess for the Cut to the Drummer opening in Canada last month.

"Screaming Friends," is from a personal project,"Dog's Best Friend," which earned Fernanda an Honorable Mention from the Society of Illustrators of Los Angeles IW 47 competition.

This illustration was recently completed for Glamour, Germany:

Fernanda has also illustrated a tote bag for the Brooklyn art collective Third Ward:

Presently Miss Fernanda is hard at work designing 4 t-shirts for Gap (PRODUCT) RED. I'll keep you posted on that. In the meanwhile, visit her site for more brilliant, bold and playful illustrations.

Fernanda's 20x200 edition: Hot Dog and I is available to you here in all three sizes.

Matthew, Main Street, Binghamton NY, 2008 by Tema Stauffer

Hello NYC collectors! I know I've mentioned it before, but somewhere between now and April 18th you should find time to check out Tema Stauffer and Francesca Romeo's show at DCFA. The show is garnering a lot of praise, including a review by Vince Aletti in The New Yorker this week:

These two young photographers approach portraiture from very different angles, but because their pictures are similarly fraught, complex, and compelling they complement each other nicely. Romeo, whose subjects are mostly friends and lovers on New York’s bohemian fringe, combines intimacy and theatricality in pictures that make the most of available light, dark shadows, and tattooed flesh. Stauffer photographs strangers—young men she meets on the street of Binghamton, New York, who appear at once rebellious and vulnerable. This volatile combination is kicked up a notch by erotic tension, but Stauffer is tender rather than confrontational, and her work looks beyond the boys’ cool affect to something warmer.

Daniel Cooney Fine Art
511 West 25th Street, #506
NYC

View images from Tema's 2004 show, American Stills, at Jen Bekman Gallery over here, read
Tema's blog, and see more of her images on her site.
Purchase Tema's 20x200 edition prints:
Palm Aire
White Ice

Image from Winter 2007 Hot Shot Kirby Pilcher

Happy Monday!
Jen Bekman Projects, Inc. has been accepting entries for Hey, Hot Shot! 2009 for a few weeks now, and as the deadline looms I wanted to urge you apply now!

What is Hey, Hot Shot!?
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 entering its fifth year, the international competition has been lauded by curators, critics, educators and journalists.

We are also pleased to announce that photographer and former Creative Director of Colors magazine, Stefan Ruiz, has joined ranks with our seasoned panelists, Jen Bekman, Christine Collins, Dana Faconti, Caterina Fake, Stephen Frailey, Raul Gutierrez, Darius Himes, Jenni Holder, Julia Leach, Nion McEvoy, Lesley A. Martin and Kent Rogowski.

Stefan is just one of many exceptional additions + surprises we have in store. As Hey, Hot Shot! is becoming, increasingly, well, competitive, we're working hard to ensure that it continues to bring photographers — at all stages of their careers — the exposure, recognition, and support they deserve. Stay tuned for more details!

five hot shots x NYC exhibition + (20x200) = incomparable exposure
Our panel will select five Hot Shots to exhibit their work in a two-week show @ Jen Bekman Gallery. In conjunction with the exhibition, 20x200 editions of each photographer's work are released online.

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

ultras go solo
One photographer of the five Hot Shots will be selected selected as an Ultra. Each Ultra is represented by Jen Bekman Gallery and slated for a solo exhibition.

in it to win it
As always, we'll select contenders to feature daily on the Hey, Hot Shot! blog throughout the entry period. Contenders and honorable mentions will also be considered for 20x200, Jen Bekman Projects' online endeavor which offers limited edition prints at affordable prices.

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

Not quite ready to apply? Join our mailing list to keep up to date.

We only accept submissions online, via this website.

The deadline for entries is Friday, May 1st, 2009 @ 8pm (EDT).

Hot Shots will be announced on Thursday, May 28th, 2009.

There is a $60 handling fee for your entry.
Submissions are open to everyone, from anywhere in the world!
The competition is open.

Questions?

Check out our informative and frequently updated FAQ, follow us on Twitter, or find us on Facebook.

Apply Now!

Now hear this.
20x200 artist Tommy Perman is also a musician in the Scottish collective / experimental pop band, FOUND. Tommy and his bandmates are on a short US tour, and will be performing two dates in NYC this week. Tuesday, Mach 24th @ Fontana’s, and Wednesday, March 25th @ Rockwood Music Hall. I've been listening to their new EP, The Fidelities, all afternoon and I cannot stop. I invite you to do the same here, or even better at one of their shows. Have a look at their scruffy Scottish adorableness on their flickr stream, then add them as facebook friends.

Tommy also has a 20x200 edition print available for you: Trucks, Seattle

Prensa 1 by Carol Padberg

Verlag 3 by Carol Padberg

Tuesday Edition: Carol Padberg

Tuesday greetings, fine collector folk. The weather is brisk, but there is evidence in our midst that spring is about to be sprung. The sun is shining brighter and closer, and lingering longer. During evening strolls, Ollie and I have admired the nubbly tips of crocuses and daffodils on our soon-to-be-leafy block. (She's only allowed to sniff. Eating, or worse, is strictly verboten.) One particularly perfect warm evening in Austin last week gave me a tantalizing taste of the season's promise, and I've been woozy with Spring Fever ever since. Also making me woozy — with delight — are today's editions from painter Carol Padberg.

Prensa 1 and Verlag 3 speak to the typography nerd in me. That I love typography shouldn't be a surprise to anyone — this is the stuff that words are made of! Anything related to language pretty much slays me — books, words, typography, etymology, poetry, spelling bees, dictionaries, Scrabble, crossword puzzles, Bartlett's quotations, letterpress — all of it! Love. I've also had an enduring fascination with Modernism in all its forms — poetry, design, architecture, etc. And you know I love The Art. What all this means is that Carol's abstract interpretations of Modernist typography work for me on lots of levels.

As Roger Catlin said when reviewing Carol's recent Real Art Ways exhibition, Face Value, most of us don't consider what the words we write (or read) are made from. Writing for the Hartford Count, he poetically described fonts as the things "that march our ideas along, line by line, day in and day out, in column inches. There's little time to consider the spurs, tails and eyes of the letters: the neat little shoes of the serif or the sleeker simplicity of the sans-serif."

Carol's works are examinations of arts and letters in equal parts. In her statement she describes her practice as "using the 'modernist DNA' of typography fonts [to] create visual improvisations. I use fragments of found typography to take apart and put back together language."

And now, having used the language of others to describe Carol's paintings, I'll take my leave till tomorrow. I've got some gorgeous black & white photography editions to share with you, so look for me then.

Live With Art by Little Jacket

Hot on the heels of the inaugural success of the NYC version of the Collectors Confab, we cordially invite you beloved West Coast collectors to step out and join us next month for more art and fun.

Jen Bekman and the 20x200 team are looking forward to meeting Bay Area collectors on Monday April 6th, from 6-8pm. We'll be serving up some wine, along with a surprise or two. We hope you'll join us!

Space is limited, so please be sure to RSVP — rsvp AT 20x200 DOT com.

Who: Bay Area Collectors & Team 20x200
What: Collectors Confab
When: Monday, April 6th, from 6-8 p.m
Where: Chronicle Books | 680 Second Street, San Francisco, CA

Frank's Nursery, Grand Rapids, Michigan 2008, by Brian Ulrich

20x200 photographer Brian Ulrich has a photo essay, Stores That Are No More, on TIME magazine's website this month. His documentary images "explore the haunted shells of America's devastated retail landscape," and immediately remind me of a youth spent traveling past strip mall after strip mall of abandoned Caldor's, Acme's and Boscov's.

Brian is presently in a group show, Worlds Away: New Suburban Landscapes, at the Yale School of Architecture which will remain on view through May 10th.

Untitled #10 by Kent Rogowski

Not-quite-what-you-expected-but-trust-us-it's-great Wednesday greetings, collectors! It turns out that the editions we had scheduled for today are not perfect just yet, so we're going to hold off on releasing them until they are. We've got plenty of other excitement to share: a 10% discount on purchases today, our upcoming Collectors Confab and a few other bits of news. Read on for all the juicy details.

In honor of our commitment to enabling your art addiction, we've pulled together a 24-hour special just for you. Enter the code 10x100 and you'll get 10% off of your 20x200 purchase of $100 or more. There's not much time: hop to it! The code will expire in just 24 short hours, at 2:00 p.m. tomorrow, March 26th. So dive into our archives and get your art on, why don't you?

New additions to your collection are always great fodder for cocktail party conversation, no? We hope to hear all about yours at the upcoming San Francisco Collectors Confab, so please join me and team 20x200 as we hit the West Coast! We're looking forward to meeting and mingling with 20x200 collectors and artists and our friends at Chronicle Books.

20x200 San Francisco Collectors Confab

20x200 + Chronicle Books are hosting a 20x200 Collectors Confab
Monday, April 6th | 6:00 - 8:00 p.m.

Join us for cocktails, chatter and cheer!
Chronicle Books is at 680 Second Street (between Brannan + Townsend)
San Francisco, CA

Space is limited, so please RSVP! Let us know you'll be there via Facebook or Upcoming or just send a good old-fashioned email to rsvp@20x200.com

In honor of these upcoming festivities, we've organized 20x200 editions with two amazing artists who have published books with Chronicle. Keep your eyes on your inbox for upcoming editions from Stuart Klipper's The Antarctic: From the Circle to the Pole and Mark Richard's Core Memory.

The party is definitely going to be the highlight of our West Coast sojourn, but as per usual, I've gone and signed up for a bunch of other stuff too. I've got a couple of panels and presentations lined up, and would surely be thrilled to have some 20x200 collectors in the crowd. So mark your calendars for these events too:

IgniteSF @ Web 2.0

IgniteSF | Wednesday, April 1st

If you had five minutes on stage what would you say? What if you only got 20 slides and they rotated automatically after 15 seconds? Around the world, geeks have been putting together Ignite nights to show their answers. Join us for another Ignite San Francisco, the official kick-off event for Web 2.0 Expo.

My talk will be a reprise of my IgniteNYC performance. If you missed it there, now's your chance to see it here!

Ignite SF is free and open to the public and will take place at the Mezzanine | 444 Jessie Street, San Francisco
Doors open at 7:30 with priority access given to Web 2.0 Expo Conference Pass and Expo Plus Pass attendees. At 8:15, pending venue capacity, access will be made available to Expo Only Pass Attendees & the general public.

Corralling the Crowdsourced Community @ Web 2.0 Expo

Corralling the Crowdsourced Community
Friday, April 3rd | 2:40 - 3:30 p.m. | Moscone Center | Room 2006

Moderator: Jennifer Pahlka (TechWeb)
Panelists: Jen Bekman (20x200 | Jen Bekman Projects, Inc.), Matt Stinchcomb (Etsy, Inc.), Jeffrey Kalmikoff (Threadless) will discuss Corralling the Crowdsourced Community at this year's Web 2.0 San Francisco Expo

If you're attending this year's Web 2.0 Expo in San Francisco, be sure to see this panel on crowdsourcing, curation, creativity, and constraints.

So there you have it — as you can see, there are lots of opportunities to see us in SF. We'll be seeing you in your inbox much sooner however — next Tuesday in fact — when I'll be back to announce new editions.

Linzie Hunter's Lettering Sketchbook

When was the last time you sang your ABC's? It's likely to have been decades ago unless you have young children or work as a preschool art teacher, like me. I'm sure I've sung my ABC's dozens of times since the start of the year, and I never ever tire of viewing Linzie Hunter's visual rendition of them. I want to sing them aloud now, much to the bewilderment of the small dog resting on my lap. Typography Served scanned all of Linzie's letters up-close for you to ogle here.

Shockingly we still have a small quantity of two of her edition prints available, Boundless and Say Goodbye.

High Lonesome, 2007 by William Crump

Ciao collectors! Not so long ago I let you Californian denizens know that 20x200 artist, William Crump, opened a solo show, Lonesome Ghosts, at LA's LittleBird Gallery. You might say a line could be drawn from William's exposure here on 20x200, and the attention of the curator at Little Bird. We're pleased to have reccomended him, and yesterday the LA Times did the same:

Crump’s work feels vaguely anachronistic, like the so-called antiquarian avant-garde photographers who favor obsolete techniques but whose images often contain contemporary references. Mainly, the New York-based artist’s L.A. debut reads as a thoughtful meditation on the discrepancies between external and internal journeys, the real and the ideal.

Read the full review here, and if you're in the neighborhood do drop in.

Lonesome Ghosts
March 14-April 8, 2009
LittleBird Gallery
3195 Glendale Blvd.
LA, CA

William's two 20x200 edition prints, The Mountain of Westward Expansion, and The Mountain of Tomorrow's Sunrise, are still available in all three sizes.

Industrial Part 1 by Christine Berrie

Industrial Part 2 by Christine Berrie

Tuesday Editions: Christine Berrie

Industrious Tuesday greetings, collector friends! I write to you from sunny San Francisco, where I'm happily ensconced in a very hip apartment that's situated in the ground floor of a former milk-bottling factory. It's all post-industrial chic with poured concrete and raw steel beams juxtaposed with vast slabs of marble serving as counter tops and a wall of ribbed glass that lets the light shine in. It's stylish and cozy, but would be that much more so if it had a bit more art on its walls. Today's editions by the talented illustrator Christine Berrie would be just the thing.

Industrial Part 1 and Industrial Part 2 are what I imagine the pages of a thick Global Industrial catalog might look like were it handed off to J. Peterman's people. What a catalog that would be!

Christine has a lot in common with the architects who designed the loft I'm typing from — a reverence for the simple beauty of nuts & bolts, wires, junction boxes, cinderblocks and steel beams. I share their enthusiasm for the unexpected aesthetic pleasures to be discovered under the hood or behind the drywall. The aforementioned architects decided to forego the drywall entirely; instead the walls are clad in bare plywood, and the pipes that convey heat and water to the floors above are in full view, providing an oddly soothing soundtrack to my days.

There's something kind of stirring and mysterious about this stuff, and also sentimental. My dad worked at ConEd for his entire career, and some of my most thrilling childhood memories come from visits to the control room where the engineers monitored the grid and kept the lights on. It was like something from Star Trek: a wall of interconnected lights with a bank of control panels, riddled with complicated buttons and nobs, that my dad and the other engineers sat in front of and studied during their shifts. As with Christine's drawings and my current digs, the complexity of the grid before them arose from the interconnectedness of all these simple parts which, when considered apart from one and other, are easily understood.

Christine's drawings diagram and document the humble appeal of designs that were conceived with clear (and often critical) communication as their goal. I love the way the parts flow into each other within the frame and beyond. The points of connection between Industrial Part 1 and Industrial Part 2 are clear, giving us a legend with which we might be able to imagine the paths of their other circuits as they travel off the page towards connections with other unknown systems.

Speaking of connections, unknowns and the unraveling of complex systems... I'm very pleased to call your attention to our new jobs page. We're currently in search of a half-time Staff Accountant and an Office Intern to work with us at 20x200's World Headquarters on Chrystie St. We'll be adding additional listings soon, which we'll be posting there and telling you about here.

I'm back tomorrow with another duo of images that honor industriousness, plus more details on our upcoming 20x200 Collectors Confab, hosted by our generous friends at Chronicle Books. Look for me then.