Untitled (Let's Get Lost) by Shaun Sundholm

[Ed. note: Ms. Jen B. + Lesley A. Martin, Publisher at Aperture Books, spent some time chatting last week about Lesley's picks as a guest curator browsing the 20x200 archives. Part of the conversation was excerpted in today's newsletter. The entire artful conversation is published below!]

Lesley: Hola!
Jen: Hi there, long time no IM, or talk at all! How are you? I was really pleased by your selection because it was totally unexpected.
Lesley: Really?
Jen: I mean I did expect the Umbricos, of course. But I love the other selections you made and how they look together.
Lesley: I'm glad. I thought the selections might be somewhat expected but I couldn't help it—they all fell together pretty naturally and followed a nice thread—in my mind in any case.
Jen: I'm curious about the Let's Get Lost inclusion.
Lesley: That image resonates for me on several levels. First of all, I really, really wouldn't mind a few more sunny beautiful "lost days" before this summer ends. Second of all, how can I resist the Chet Baker reference? It's slightly paraphrased, but still... And well, in this case, it's a nice double layering of places where jazz and photography overlap. The Bruce Weber film, Chet Baker and a cool image that kinda brings these things together in a way that makes me think: yes, please, why DON'T we just get lost. It is the jumping off point for the rest of the selection.
Jen: You jazzy lady, you. That is true. What I really love, and what reinforces my feeling about it being a good idea for CURATORS to make selections from our archives, is the rosy glow you coaxed out of them. I know I'm hopelessly in the thrall of the color green but I'd never draw a rosy thread through the archives my own self. (Which isn't to say I'm not a Pollyanna, because I so totally am!)
Lesley: Yeah, rosy! It did turn out to be a bit pinkish in hue, didn't it? I thought I'd gotten that out of my system—if you look at the Aperture Spring '09 catalog, you'll see we had a bit of a pink and purple binge when it came to the covers of that list. I'm really not a pink person, truth be told—but yes, the Hassink, the Crane, the Abstraction book, even the MP3 are all in a pink and purple mood.
Jen: It took me some time to figure out my green problem. So now when I'm attracted to something and it's green, I stop myself and say "Do you love it because it's green or because it's GOOD." It's knowing what you're naturally drawn to and being able to account for your instincts in good ways and bad.
Lesley: Right. Right. You have to know when you're drawn to something just because it's one of those usual suspects. But I think it's also important to allow yourself to go toward something that you think you ought not to like, but you do despite yourself.

Shill by David Corbett

Jen: Let's talk about the non-photo selections.
Lesley: Sure.
Jen: So Gary Petersen—who is a super nice guy by the way—and David Corbett: they're both working in/out of strong traditions, building on abstract-expressionism and minimalism. But also, there's a really clever interplay between the two and in an odd way, now that I look at it, Jeff Lewis's work is sort of alike.
Lesley: I love the way David Corbett uses the frame.
Jen: The gooey centers of it all... not just ONE center either, lots.
Lesley: Oh yeah, gooey—but also both really dynamic. One is pushing toward the center, the other is pushing to the edge. And then Jeff Lewis just scatters that focus across the frame. Popcorn.
Jen: They all have that curvature in common, and yet: three totally different treatments of the surface. I gotta say, and I'm not flattering you because you're my friend, or because I think you have wonderful taste generally speaking, both things are true, but man, the selection is growing on me. There is a LOT going on!
Lesley: Curvy and roundness, yes—but the motion within each pulls the eye in unique ways.
Jen: I moved ahead in my head, and started looking at all the orbs. Jeff leading me to Rachel, and back around to Penelope’s, and then putting Chad's piece in there.
Lesley: I got into it. Really, the theme is, in fact, escape. But yeah, the orbs were a key factor. This is one of those things that I had to work against, truth be told. A little like you and the color GREEN.
Jen: You have an orb thing, I have a green thing.
Lesley: Yup. Or birds ... no?
Jen: Yes, birds too, but they are an easier weakness in a lot of ways. Part of why I love birds is because I know how much they delight other people.
Lesley: We all have wished to be a bird at some point, no?
Jen: Flying dreams are always disappointing to wake up from.
Lesley: I love my flying dreams.
Jen: Well, this imagery is certainly celestial, literally and figuratively. But the inclusion of Chad makes it about light rather than shape, in my mind, maybe light AND shape, but when I start or end with him, it's more about that—light.

The Drive with Christine by Chad Muthard

Lesley: What I like about the mix of the photos and the other mediums, is that the non-photographic material contributes movement and dynamism—the shape and motion thing. And then, for me, the photo-based work contributed an underlying narrative. It truly is about escape.
Jen: Dreamy and kinetic—all at once. You're a freaking GENIUS I say!
Lesley: Aw shucks, I just like to read the tea leaves.
Jen: Yeah, it's a little weird for me to ask people to go through what I've selected and re-sift them.
Lesley: It felt really good to me, to be able to manifest a particular mood based on the possibilities. There are a lot of possibilities for interpretation—I could have gone in several different directions. I started out thinking along the lines of a tech-driven theme—Mark Richards, for example.
Jen: Right. I like that you went for something abstract, and I like how every time I look at it, I notice some different interplay.
Lesley: Yay! I'll also add that some of my favorites, the Rogowski and the Mann, were on the blog last week, so I didn't pick them. But they're my two favorites not within my theme of inter-planetary escape!
Jen: Perfect. Oooh! I have a question: SOUNDTRACK. Aside from Chet Baker.
[Ed. note: J + L simultaneously typing here]
Lesley: Also—I have two requests for a soundtrack to listen to while enjoying this selection...
Jen + Lesley: HEY!
Jen: So, what do we listen to on the intergalactic Lesley Martin trip? Any particular track or album?
Lesley: Sun Ra! Sun Ra Visits Planet Earth + Interstellar Low Ways.
Jen: Nice.
Lesley: Space is The Place. Ok. Back to reality though. This was fun!