tag:20x200.com,2010:/email//5 2010-10-13T19:11:03Z The 20x200 Newsletter Movable Type 3.38 tag:20x200.com,2010:/email//5.2742 2010-10-13T04:33:30Z 2010-10-13T19:11:03Z

Wednesday greetings to you all, collector friends! Today's edition is a 180 on yesterday's, which had us looking up at the stars and creating constellations of our own. I'm ever-so-pleased to debut 195 Yachts, Barges, Cargo Lines, Tankers, and Other Ships, our first edition from San Francisco-based artist, designer and fellow-obsessive Jenny Odell, who is looking down (albeit virtually) and creating impossible-in-the-real world collations of common structures culled from satellite imagery. I've clocked a lot of hours up in the air over the past several years and the truth is...

sara 195 Yachts, Barges, Cargo Lines, Tankers, and Other Ships, our first edition from San Francisco-based artist, designer and fellow-obsessive Jenny Odell, who is looking down (albeit virtually) and creating impossible-in-the-real world collations of common structures culled from satellite imagery. I've clocked a lot of hours up in the air over the past several years and the truth is that I've never been very good at it. Still, one thrill that never fails me is looking down from above and watching a sprawling city become small; its buildings, roads and cars shrinking down into little bits that I'd need to pick up gingerly between two fingers so as to not break them. It's easy to imagine then, an Alice in Wonderland-type inversion, with a giant Jenny reaching to Australia to pluck the perfect tanker for her palette. Illusions of airborne omnipotence aside, I also find it easy to identify with the hours upon hours of scouring that must have gone in to collecting and arranging all these parts into the glorious whole you see here. (cf. me on Twitter at 1 a.m.). Jenny's speaking my language when she talks of "explor[ing] the (dis-)connection between virtual space and lived experience." I share Jenny's abiding obsession with Google Maps, but I've never put it to such beautiful use. Sara and I deliberated whether the photos in this series should be released as 8x10s. We agreed with a hearty "Si!" as the photos in this series are almost different pictures entirely when viewed at various sizes -- so much so that I can see hanging graduated sizes of the same piece. As the dimensions of the print grow, the fact that the objects in it are sourced from all over the internet moves to the forefront. As some objects soften and pixelate, the shift in appearance puts the focus on her process and the origins of the elements that make the whole. The effect is not unlike Kent Rogowski's Love=Love series. As his images of repurposed puzzles increase in size, so do the gaps between each piece; fine lines, initially a by product of the process become black marks, increasing in their weight and importance. Rearranging and re-using objects and the creation of unexpected order is something wholly satisfying -- and often aesthetically pleasing. Things Organized Neatly, the site via which I discovered Ms. Odell's series, amply illustrates my point. As does our very own Lisa Congdon's amazing, and yes maybe a wee bit obsessive, Collection a Day project, some of which will appear on this very site as editions in the not-too-distant future. Plus, as I said above, 195 Yachts, Barges, Cargo Lines, Tankers, and Other Ships is the first edition from Jenny's series -- you can look forward to seeing more of them here before year's end. (Did I just talk about the end of 2010? Already. Egad!) There's plenty of other great art queued and waiting between now and then. Speaking of which! Set your phone/computer/alarm clock and/or put the butler on notice for Monday, October 18th at 11a.m. (Eastern time, y'all) for our hotly anticipated David Byrne to benefit Creative Time debut. ]]> tag:20x200.com,2010:/email//5.2737 2010-10-11T15:07:43Z 2010-10-12T18:39:31Z

Temperate Tuesday greetings, collector friends. Today's clear skies are a welcome change after last night's freaky-deaky NYC weather: thunder! lightning! ba-zonkers hail! (No, seriously: hail.) Turns out it's not only the weather that's been unpredictable 'round these parts as of late; I've been dealing with some freaky-deaky back stuff that's kept me from sitting down and away from writing for a few weeks, so being back in front of the keyboard is also a welcome change. Plus: there's so much goodness to share! Today, we cast our eyes towards the...

sara hail.) Turns out it's not only the weather that's been unpredictable 'round these parts as of late; I've been dealing with some freaky-deaky back stuff that's kept me from sitting down and away from writing for a few weeks, so being back in front of the keyboard is also a welcome change. Plus: there's so much goodness to share! Today, we cast our eyes towards the stars, and next week: superstars! Before I get into today's celestial doings, I want you to mark your calendars for next Monday, October 18th at 11 a.m. sharp. That's when we'll be introducing an edition by none other than David Byrne, to benefit our fabulous friends at Creative Time. Once you're done reading about today's edition, head on over to the 20x200 blog for the scoop on his Tree Drawings print. Today's edition--Momento Vitae--our fourth from Brit Alexander Beeching, was proofed and queued months ago, with Halloween and one or two of my skull-obsessed friends in mind. It joins our two other editions from his Constellation series: The Constellation of the Elephant and The Bison Constellation, which was introduced by a star-struck Sara in the waning days of our recently past (sniff!) summer. I was off at the beach back then, where the night sky got dark enough to allow for some cosmos contemplation. Trying to remember the constellations as taught to me as a child was relatively fruitless--I think I got as far as the Big and Little Dipper--but it did afford me the opportunity to recall that feeling of being young and curious and safe against the inky darkness with a grown-up beside me who knew practically everything. And even then, like our Mr. Beeching, I had the urge to connect those dots to create a mythology of my very own. I haven't met Alex in person yet, so I've been connecting the dots to conjure up an image of him as well. With each new edition I get a clearer picture of who he might be--creative of course, and what with his star-gazing ways and all, a bit of dreamer--and based on his choice of phrase for this edition, momento vitae rather than the more familiar momento mori, I think of him as a glass-half-full sort of fellow. With momento vitae the exhortation is to remember you're alive, which is really a far more encouraging take on the "we're all going to die" message of momento mori, wouldn't you say? Beeching isn't the first dreamer to give the heave-ho to others' ideas about the heavens. Walt Whitman cast a gimlet eye upon the learn'd astronomers of yore, way back in the 1800s. I'll leave you (till tomorrow!) with his witty words: When I Heard the Learn'd Astronomer When I heard the learn'd astronomer, When the proofs, the figures, were ranged in columns before me, When I was shown the charts and diagrams, to add, divide, and measure them, When I sitting heard the astronomer where he lectured with much applause in the lecture-room, How soon unaccountable I became tired and sick, Till rising and gliding out I wander'd off by myself, In the mystical moist night-air, and from time to time, Look'd up in perfect silence at the stars. --Walt Whitman]]> tag:20x200.com,2010:/email//5.2728 2010-10-06T13:54:09Z 2010-10-06T17:28:36Z

Hello collector friends, it's Sara. Jen had the best intentions to be here today but some unfortunate aches and pains are keeping her away. But as promised, I have lots of exciting news to share. First, today's edition! Balloons (Midtown, Manhattan) is our fourth from JBP superstar--producer/photographer/writer/editor/foodie/bride-to-be--Youngna Park. Its red and pink balloons infused with light and just barely contained by the windows of a Midtown office are apropos of hushed anticipation--we've got lots to celebrate. Not the least among our reasons for cheer: Youngna's getting married this weekend! In...

sara Balloons (Midtown, Manhattan) is our fourth from JBP superstar--producer/photographer/writer/editor/foodie/bride-to-be--Youngna Park. Its red and pink balloons infused with light and just barely contained by the windows of a Midtown office are apropos of hushed anticipation--we've got lots to celebrate. Not the least among our reasons for cheer: Youngna's getting married this weekend! In work, play and wedding planning, no detail goes unnoticed; Youngna's careful contemplation is ever unfettered. Jen and I have oft talked about her particular way of paying attention to the everyday. It's something we agree not only makes her own life richer but ours as well. Her ability to share with us is burnished by her words and pictures; evidence lies in her previous editions, Salmon Hole (Chico, California), Winter Flags (East Village, New York) and the sold-out Brooklyn Morning. Her cleverly crafted wedding invites, which are winning accolades all over the web, are also due a mention. With three cheers for love, balloons, light and little details, we're sending Youngna and her fiancee Jacob off with warmest wishes--may "The Best Time Of The Day" be your everyday together. There's still more for us to rejoice: We're putting together a benefit edition with our friends at Creative Time! We've long been huge fans of the work they do: commissioning, producing and presenting incredible installations, events and art interventions, engaging millions of people all over the city and supporting artists' biggest and boldest ideas. We're über excited to have this opportunity to support them and think you'll be thrilled too when you find out just whose work we'll be presenting to you--he's a multi-talented superstar artist who's always been very (very!) high on Jen's list of dream collaborators. Creative Time will make the official announcement in their newsletter on Monday. Sign up for the scoop! Once you're hooked, I recommend you one-up yourself and become a member. You'll get insider access to their projects, fabulous events, artist meet and greets, a tax deduction, and so much more. Most importantly, your membership directly supports artists' dream projects. Join here. While we'll be heading up to Connecticut for Youngna's wedding over the weekend, we'll keep one eye and ear on the web. We'll be up to our usual shenanigans on Twitter, Tumblr and Facebook and keeping an eye on Creative Time's Livestream broadcast of their *sold out* event, The Creative Time Summit. Salut! ]]> tag:20x200.com,2010:/email//5.2722 2010-10-05T03:48:54Z 2010-10-05T17:16:31Z

Good morning collector friends, it's Sara. prettymaps (nyc) is finally here! We toured around the West Coast before arriving home sweet home with today's third edition by Aaron Straup Cope from Stamen Design. Succeeded by the dizzying brilliance of prettymaps (sfba) and prettymaps (la), the prettymap of the city nearest and dearest to us (though SF is a close second!) does not disappoint. Manhattan appears, as I think Aaron was aiming for, to shimmer between the Hudson and East Rivers, nestled next to Long Island, its bounds most visible from...

sara prettymaps (nyc) is finally here! We toured around the West Coast before arriving home sweet home with today's third edition by Aaron Straup Cope from Stamen Design. Succeeded by the dizzying brilliance of prettymaps (sfba) and prettymaps (la), the prettymap of the city nearest and dearest to us (though SF is a close second!) does not disappoint. Manhattan appears, as I think Aaron was aiming for, to shimmer between the Hudson and East Rivers, nestled next to Long Island, its bounds most visible from great heights. Flying above and wandering among the streets below provide two disparate views of the city and somehow this map, cleverly, manages to capture both. There aren't many things that compare with circling the five boroughs in a plane at dusk. Golden light arrows across landmarks as skyscrapers illuminate and pierce the horizon. As you near the ground the stillness breaks--tiny trucks, cars and boats motor about like ants and tadpoles--evidence of the nine million plus people that populate the city. All these inhabitants make NYC so great--friends and most-often friendly strangers--and the encounters with all sorts--secret societies, scoundrels and smiling subway riders. Our trodden paths, where we go everyday, and where we've traveled to take pictures--commemorating occasions and documenting our small space in a vast polis--are highlighted in prettymaps (nyc), glowing in memory as much as in archival inks on smooth paper. All this information was culled and organized with the help of the good people at OSM. So good are the efforts of these folks that Aaron and Stamen are offering up their share of proceeds from all three of the prettymaps editions to the humanitarian arm of OSM. The good deeds of good people abound! The West Coast certainly has no lock on good, whether in people or in deed. We were happy to see many of you good people at the Affordable Art Fair last weekend. We can't wait to see the good things you do with the great art you acquired from us, so do send pics once you've decked your walls. We'd love to see your prints in-situ. We're also cooking up a good-deed edition with one of NYC's more prominent denizens. More on that next week, but I have a feeling that Jen might drop a hint or two when she's back tomorrow with a new print from a 20x200 photographer much beloved--till then! ]]> tag:20x200.com,2010:/email//5.2706 2010-09-29T14:48:40Z 2010-09-30T17:02:59Z

Autumn in New York greetings, collector friends! Travel and our prettymaps editions have had me focused on the Western frontier recently, but I'll always be an East Coast girl at heart. It's almost-but-not-quite sweater weather in today's New York, and its sunshine-y sky is a welcome respite from the soupy heat and rain that's been hanging around since my return from SF over the weekend. The change in atmosphere is a fine companion to the city's bustle, and is making this week's out-and-about-ness exponentially more pleasant. And what a week...

raul http://www.20x200.com prettymaps editions have had me focused on the Western frontier recently, but I'll always be an East Coast girl at heart. It's almost-but-not-quite sweater weather in today's New York, and its sunshine-y sky is a welcome respite from the soupy heat and rain that's been hanging around since my return from SF over the weekend. The change in atmosphere is a fine companion to the city's bustle, and is making this week's out-and-about-ness exponentially more pleasant. And what a week it's shaping up to be! Sara and I have had a couple of downright spectacular studio visits with artists about upcoming editions, everyone's been pitching in on the feverish preparations for tonight's Affordable Art Fair preview and all the other fair-related events coming up this weekend, and it seems like everyone I know from somewhere else is visiting this week. To top it all off, I have the great pleasure of being able to introduce our thirteenth (!) edition from a favorite member of the JBP clan, Joseph O. Holmes. I laughed as I read Joe's statement for Central Park South. Like him, I'm utterly smitten with New York City. In fact, I'm on record as saying "I really, really, really love New York." and wouldn't you know it, Joe was among the first to second that emotion. I'm prone to express my New York State of Mind in words, but to our great benefit, Mr. Holmes does so with pictures. He's always got an eye out for what's interesting and beautiful about New York, whether he's exploring its boroughs, roaming the corridors of its great institutions or looking down on it from above. Today's not-quite-bird's-eye view takes us just far enough away to see how our fair city, even on the dreariest of days, can be an elegant backdrop for the glimpses of greenery that our great parks provide. There's something incongruous about how vibrant and lush the trees are, set against the seemingly inhospitable streets and buildings of NYC. But it's kind of like NYers in a way: brusque and businesslike, maybe even hard-edged at the surface, but infinitely and unexpectedly various once you pass through its gates. ]]> tag:20x200.com,2010:/email//5.2702 2010-09-28T23:26:00Z 2010-09-28T17:55:28Z

California dreaming greetings, friends! It's Sara with our second edition from the prettymaps series, prettymaps (la) by Aaron Straup Cope from Stamen Design. Jen introduced the first in the series last week, prettymaps (sfba), and there's more to come for you East Coasters out there, next week... and this weekend: we'll be at the Affordable Art Fair in NYC! More details below. For now, let's set our eyes West, on L.A. County. Like prettymaps (sfba), prettymaps (la) is derived from all sorts of information, from all over the internet. Its...

raul http://www.20x200.com prettymaps series, prettymaps (la) by Aaron Straup Cope from Stamen Design. Jen introduced the first in the series last week, prettymaps (sfba), and there's more to come for you East Coasters out there, next week... and this weekend: we'll be at the Affordable Art Fair in NYC! More details below. For now, let's set our eyes West, on L.A. County. Like prettymaps (sfba), prettymaps (la) is derived from all sorts of information, from all over the internet. Its translucent layers illuminate information we're used to relying on maps for--the green lines are OSM roads and paths, and orange marks urban areas as defined by Natural Earth. They also highlight what's often not seen--the white areas show where people on Flickr have taken pictures. It's an inverse of a kind of memory-making--a record of where people were looking from instead of what they were looking at, as they sought to remember a specific place and time. I've never been to L.A.--my ideas about the city have been shaped by songs and other people's pictures. That this map is made up of information that might otherwise be unseen is fitting. L.A. exists here as it does for me in my own head, a glowing mass of color that looks like refracted light--it's a comforting representation of something unknown. I'll admit that there's a lot out there that I haven't seen, don't know and don't understand, including a lot of things that prettymaps's creator, Aaron, knows lots about. A lunch shared with him, and JBPers Raul and David was peppered with talk about art, and the internet, of course, as well as programming and APIs, which I won't pretend to understand. But that there are people out there, like Aaron, Raul and David who do know about all of these things and are using these tools for the benefit of rest of us is reassuring. These maps are just one of those things. Also affirming: looking at art in person. You'll find 20x200 at the Affordable Art Fair, tomorrow through Saturday, October 2nd and Sunday, October 3rd. We'll be manning the project space in Booth E-200. 20x200 friends and family (that's you) can pick up a discounted ($15, regularly $20) ticket here, then stop by and say hello. We'll have lots going on--talks, tips, a pop-up frame shop,* art (of course!) and more--full details can be found on the blog. Hope to see you there! *Keep in mind that the Pop-Up Frame Shop is by appointment only. We're almost fully booked, so if you've got some 20x200 art to frame, reserve your spot right now. ]]> tag:20x200.com,2010:/email//5.2687 2010-09-22T14:36:38Z 2010-09-27T21:18:32Z

We've been obsessing about Derek Henderson's photographs since he entered Hey, Hot Shot! in 2008, winning a spot in the group exhibition that year. After the show, Kevin Simmons, Leanne Hema and Troy Burton, Reid's Farm hung in our then teeny-tiny office, attracting everyone's attention and affection. Unable to get the work out of our heads and hearts, Jen, Jeffrey and I began plotting Derek's NYC solo debut, meeting with him over the winter, gushing over Mercy Mercer, the book, in its solemn, gray, linen-bound glory, and charting the dates....

sara Derek Henderson's photographs since he entered Hey, Hot Shot! in 2008, winning a spot in the group exhibition that year. After the show, Kevin Simmons, Leanne Hema and Troy Burton, Reid's Farm hung in our then teeny-tiny office, attracting everyone's attention and affection. Unable to get the work out of our heads and hearts, Jen, Jeffrey and I began plotting Derek's NYC solo debut, meeting with him over the winter, gushing over Mercy Mercer, the book, in its solemn, gray, linen-bound glory, and charting the dates. Two Fridays ago, Mercy Mercer, the exhibition featuring twelve color photographs, opened amid friends and fans at the JBG. And finally, today, I (it's Sara) have the pleasure of introducing all of you to Hamish Eli Adlam, Reid's Farm and Motukakaho Island. Our celebration is in full swing! Both images are from the book (Motukakaho Island is also on view at the gallery). It opens with a series of landscapes and interiors; the first person we are introduced to is a blind girl. Without gloating, without being unkind or crass, the portrait suggests the good fortune we have to be gazing at these photos, and in a larger sense, at the world in general. It's closely sequenced with the sister image to Motukakaho Island, an almost overwhelming, crowded frame of fragrant hydrangeas, serving (I think) as a reminder that looking at these photographs engages all of the senses--sight does not operate alone. On seeing it, I was terribly disappointed that I either couldn't remember or didn't know what hydrangeas smelled like--even after spending four years in the Pacific Northwest where they are abundant--but the image embedded itself, a rich replacement for my lack of memory. Other scents are rife throughout the book: woodsmoke, drifting from campfires--or in Hamish Eli Adlam, Reid's Farm, a stove--and the smell of damp, mossy air. The water--as it dissolves above the river, cools wading feet, condenses on grass, mists over edges and sparkles through narrow passages, is omnipresent. In a way, it echoes Derek--or maybe it's the other way around--Derek follows the water's lead, as a sort of unobtrusive narrator. It imparts the feeling that the narrator is omniscient, presenting everything, all the details, for us to absorb through sight, sound, smell, touch and taste--as if taking these photos too, was a task for all of Derek's senses. With that I'll leave you till next week. We'll be back with more news about the quickly approaching Affordable Art Fair in NYC. As Jen mentioned, we have lots of good stuff in store for all of you who are in dire need of getting your art up on your walls. Mark your calendars for the following Saturday and Sunday, October 2nd and 3rd--more details soon! ]]> tag:20x200.com,2010:/email//5.2655 2010-09-21T15:48:00Z 2010-09-21T20:08:24Z

Greetings from the West, collector friends! I write to you from my second city of San Francisco, which is fitting, considering it's both the subject of today's edition and the happy home of its makers. As long-time subscribers know, I spend a lot of time in the Bay Area and like it that way. Living here in the 90s was formative and it's a place that continues to inspire the tech-centric entrepreneurial side of my Jekyl & Hyde / art & tech existence. Its community of creative technologists is dismantling...

raul http://www.20x200.com prettymaps (sfba) by Aaron Straup Cope, produced in association with Stamen, an innovative studio founded by my long-time friend (and high school classmate!) Eric Rodenbeck. We live in a time of big (huge!) data; Stamen was among the first to recognize that all this data can be beautiful and has made a name for itself by creating stunning, often interactive, visualizations of complex datasets. Their vision was endorsed by MoMA, when Paola Antonelli included Cabspotting in their history-making Design and the Elastic Mind exhibition. As Stamen was making a name for itself in the art and tech worlds, Aaron was making some ground-breaking of his own in the engineering group at Flickr, doing amazing things with photographs and mapping data. prettymaps is the product of the convergence of not just data, but talent and what a beautiful result! With beauty comes understanding—by making data beautiful, a path is cleared into an overwhelming and often intimidating barrage of information. This edition is particularly exciting to me because it's a MAP and maps are something that we're really nuts about.* What exactly are prettymaps made of? They're made of you! When you visit prettymaps.stamen.com, what you're seeing is an amalgamation of community-generated data. It draws from things like Flickr Shapefiles, which are Flickr's geo-tagged photos plotted out (there are lots and lots, like, tens of millions) and road, highway and path data collected by Open Street Map. Today's SF map is the first in a series from Aaron. You can count on seeing prints documenting our favorite cities released in the coming weeks, and that's just the start of it! Our editions past also evidence our affections for making sense, and sometimes nonsense, of information: Stefanie Posavec's dismantling of Walter Benjamin, Chad Hagen's Nonsensical Infographics and even Wendy MacNaughton's attempt to turn emotions into parse-able pieces. We're information junkies when it comes down to it, and our aesthetic addiction is well-evidenced in the editions we're queuing up for the balance of the year. Tomorrow, we'll turn our attention back to what's happening in my ancestral home of NYC, with a pair of editions by Derek Henderson, whose gorgeous exhibition Mercy Mercer is currently on view at JBG. We'll also have news of some upcoming excitement that'll help all of you living near art—the sort that's unframed and sitting in envelopes—to start living with it, framed and up on your walls! *We've been drooling over The Map as Art at 20x200 HQ. The book features the work of more than a couple artists we're crazy about, including a not-to-be-named (yet!) legendary artist/designer we're working with to bring editions to you. ]]> tag:20x200.com,2009:/email//5.2654 2010-09-16T15:47:00Z 2010-09-30T21:27:13Z

raul http://www.20x200.com Tierney Gearon Thursday collectors! It's Sara today, presenting Grassy Girl. Grab your print now! I highly recommend you pick up at least an 11"x14"—there's a lot going on in this image and it's evermore present, tangible, as the picture gets bigger. You all had a chance to check out her story yesterday. Discovered by a European modeling scout early on, jet-setting around the world, and eventually launching into art-stardom—Tierney is spinning and glowing, unstoppable. From the outside in, it all sounds terribly glamorous. But beneath that seeming perfection is someone whose creativity has been shaped by challenges and disappointments and who is also refreshingly forthcoming about the lows that shadow the highs—falling in love and the subsequent heart-breaking divorce, the joy of being a parent and the difficulty of doing it on her own (with no small amount of noise from the peanut gallery), and confronting her manic-depressive, schizophrenic mother—Tierney is human. Vulnerable but buoyant and resilient, she's moved through all of this, creating critically-acclaimed and often controversial work: I Am a Camera, which features her children, The Mother Project, a frank exploration of her emotional journey with her own mother, and Explosure. One part reality, two parts fantasy, Explosure is created with in-camera double exposures; the images carry Tierney's bright colors and chaos, conflating people—lovers, mothers and offspring—and places—implying travel while putting here and there on the same plane. Children become adults, adults become children, the organic and man-made collide. The images, ephemeral and surreal, are, as she says, "a celebration of a world that is crashing and blossoming at the same time." The edges of this world are raw and salted, sometimes sharply disturbing. But they exist in the embrace that everything is always changing, we are covering great distances—geographic, psychological and emotional—between the people we love the most, and most often misunderstand, perpetually unsettled in time, place and state. Grassy Girl is a modern day Dorothy, brazen and confident, basking—there's no place like here.]]> tag:20x200.com,2010:/email//5.2665 2010-09-15T15:04:47Z 2010-09-15T17:30:09Z

sara Twitter might have noticed a long, unusual and somewhat unsettling silence yesterday. We experienced near-apocalyptic technical devastation: we were without internet for MORE THAN SIX HOURS. Most demoralizing: our inability to share our excitement and bits and thoughts about the newest addition to the ever-glowing, ever-growing roster of 20x200 artists: Tierney Gearon. We'll nourish you (and ourselves!) with a steady drip of good linkage. Consider yourselves prepared for tomorrow's 11:00 a.m. *sharp* release of Tierney's edition. Be a good friend and let your pals know too, they should be ready, like you! Without further delay: + The ballet-dancer-turned-model-turned-photographer is known for her photographs of her family. + Tierney's 2001 exhibition, I am a Camera, at London's Saatchi Gallery caused quite a stir. The Guardian and the BBC picked up the story. + Likewise, The Mother Project, which opened at Yossi Milo Gallery in 2006, drew acclaim and controversy. The documentary film of the same name sought to address the scandals. See the trailer on Vimeo. + Her Explosure series—stunning, saturated in-camera double exposures—seduced everyone when it debuted at Phillips de Pury last year. Slightly anemic as we are today, these tasty bits are restoring and revitalizing. We'll be back to 110% with the release of new work from Tierney Gearon tomorrow. Not to be a tease.. but till then!]]> tag:20x200.com,2010:/email//5.2653 2010-09-14T15:46:00Z 2010-09-14T16:51:48Z

raul http://www.20x200.com Robert Garcia. Today, we're following up with its sibling print: Primos. Like We Are Who We Are, writing and thinking about Primos surfaces sweet nostalgia—for seemingly endless days spent running around outside, in various stages of costume, dress or undress, whatever the game of the moment called for. And also, slightly unsettling muddles—where were we? Why did we think that? What exactly were we doing? Like my own memories, the details in Robert's paintings are limited but specific. Colors, items of clothing and individuals are rendered but the environment in which the events of the day took place, as well as whatever is about to happen, or has happened, is unclear. What we choose to remember and what we choose to forget are both augmented and disputed by who was there with us—cousins, siblings, friends. Robert's works are alternately bright and sharp and dull and soft, fusing both the present and the past—the people documented the most precisely. The rest of the information falls off at the periphery, following the same panoramic sweep of the eyelids. The invented and imagined, the real and fabricated, the stuff that becomes myths and legends is documented and somehow remembered, retold and shared. Like Bert Teunissen's quest to record the light of his childhood home and preserve, on film, the architecture of pre-WWII Europe and Clare Grill's recognition that what was can never be again, and her paintings of what was in spite of that, this looking back might be what keeps us moving forward. ]]> tag:20x200.com,2010:/email//5.2647 2010-09-09T15:03:49Z 2010-09-09T17:20:00Z

sara Otter and I have spent the last couple of weeks filing sunset reports from the storm swept shores of Amagansett, surrounded by the people we love. Fortunately, there's much goodness to return to, including tomorrow night's opening of Derek Henderson's Mercy Mercer at the gallery—from 6:00 to 8:00 p.m., be there!—and today's edition from my favorite dashing Dutchman, Bert Teunissen. Azaruja #1, 23/7/2001 11:58 is our third release from Bert's ambitious and ongoing Domestic Landscapes series. As Sara wrote yesterday, Bert's covered over 50,000 kilometers of road to document the dwindling populations of rural European residents in their homes. Aperture, publisher of Bert's gorgeous monograph, describes the spaces as "built before the World Wars, before electricity was a standard feature, a time when sunlight played a pivotal role in the conception of architecture." While people are present in all of the photographs, the images that Bert creates are primarily portraits of the places that they occupy—each one an ode to natural daylight, and to a time when its illumination dictated the way a space was built, used and decorated. The images are heavy with age, the air seemingly infused with a certain thickness. It's easy to imagine the light holding little bits of dust aloft, and in that dust a certain smell: of cooking, of things of dwindling use, of the past. And while it's certainly sad, there is something comforting in its solidity and in the fact that Bert has traveled so long and so far to be sure that what is important and real and disappearing isn't forgotten. This color work is beloved by both critics and fellow photographers, garnering international acclaim. It stands in stark contrast to the also adored, grainy, black and white editions we introduced yesterday, which are more diaristic. Over the years, Bert has become a good friend, each of us having a chance to show off the hometowns we're so proud of. Whether in tucked-away cafes in NYC or brilliant bookshops in Amsterdam, I've always found time spent with him to be energizing and inspiring. Knowing him as I do, I often try to imagine him at work, in these rooms that he makes portraits of, or traveling on the roads that connect them to each other. The on the road part is a bit easier to imagine—as @OcularOctopus described: "the 'open road' shot is like a photographic 'jazz standard.'" And as Sara wrote, the tradition is thick with the works of Lange, Winogrand, Frank and Hido—also noteworthy are Lee Friedlander's cleverly organized mirrors and windows on view at The Whitney right now. But Bert's pictures have a scrapbook quality—they're more personal and more about him and the process that gets him to the places where he takes these pictures. With that, I'm going to hit the road myself—see you next week, when we'll be back with new work from two West Coast artists. ]]> tag:20x200.com,2010:/email//5.2641 2010-09-08T14:24:45Z 2010-09-08T19:01:21Z

Hi collectors! It's Sara, filling in for a sad-not-to-be-here Jen. These editions have been on the books for what seems like ages and we've been eagerly anticipating their release amidst winding three-way, long-distance conversations. Jen and I have both been out of the city for a bit and our respective returns are appropriate to these works from Bert Teunissen. Bert's long sought and documented the day-lit interiors of his childhood home for his series Domestic Landscapes. As he's been seeking these spaces, he's covered over 50,000 kilometers of road. Two...

sara Bert Teunissen. Bert's long sought and documented the day-lit interiors of his childhood home for his series Domestic Landscapes. As he's been seeking these spaces, he's covered over 50,000 kilometers of road. Two slivers of these infinite stretches are stilled in BG-0006-25A and BG-0004-5, both from his book On the Road. These photos are definitely Bert's own and closely linked to his other work in Domestic Landscapes—of which we've featured two—Saugnac et Muret #1, 27/12/2005 11:27 and LA ALBERCA #6 1/3/2005 12:56. Jen will be back with a third edition (!) from this series and more about the links between the two, tomorrow. At once silky and rough, warm and isolate, sunlit and spattered, BG-0006-25A and BG-0004-5 (and the title of his book) are also part of a long tradition. Dorothea Lange photographed The Road West. Garry Winogrand shot through his dirty, dusty windshield. Todd Hido, whose work we brought to you a few months back, is also one to give into the road's sirens and whims; he writes: "I drive and drive and I mostly don't find anything that is interesting to me. But then, something calls out." There is possibly no more famous on-the-road photographer than Robert Frank of The Americans who partnered with On the Road writer Jack Kerouac, who wrote the intro to that seminal book. Why is is that we find these photographers photographing roads again and again and again? The answer, I think, is that they are just like us. And that the road is full of promise—of both lightness and weight—as it brings us simultaneously farther and possibly closer to where we want to be. As Bert writes, "[The road] is both the bridge and the barrier between me and my destiny. It is inviting and defiant at the same time." During his travels, Frank picks up two mean looking strangers and lets them drive, proving, sharing, affirming, that most of us are more alike than we think—"all [we] want to do is arrow on down the road and get back to the sack." (Jack Kerouac, introduction to Robert Frank's The Americans.) Home, we all want to get home. ]]> tag:20x200.com,2010:/email//5.2635 2010-09-07T13:17:36Z 2010-09-07T17:43:33Z

sara the party's over and it's the second week of September. And while the celebrating's been nice—thanks to all of you who joined us along the way!—we couldn't be more excited about what's to come. As we sometimes do when looking forward, today it makes sense to look back a little too. Holden is the fifth edition we've released by Atlanta-based artist Jacob Escobedo. Like the fine, furry and feathered friends of prints past, Holden is called so for the boy who likes the slithery-est sort of snakes the best. Elephant Sophie, Kerry the bat, crow Brandon and Jake the wolf, carry the names of the friends that chose these animals as their favorites. Jacob's meticulous maps of the scales and finer details of small creatures, like this snake, have been fodder for rich discussions about the nature of animals and our most personal relationships to them. Jen has pleaded for her own drawing of an otter, after Ollie the Otter, who is in fact a dog. She also outlined a very appropriate excerpt from Walt Whitman's Leaves of Grass, that I'll leave you with again today: 32 I think I could turn and live with animals, they're so placid and self contain'd, I stand and look at them long and long. They do not sweat and whine about their condition, They do not lie awake in the dark and weep for their sins, They do not make me sick discussing their duty to God, Not one is dissatisfied, not one is demented with the mania of owning things, Not one kneels to another, nor to his kind that lived thousands of years ago, Not one is respectable or unhappy over the earth. And so we set forth this serpent into the 20x200 menagerie. ]]> tag:20x200.com,2010:/email//5.2625 2010-09-01T13:33:25Z 2010-09-01T17:30:29Z

sara 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: $3 FLAT RATE shipping on 8"x10" + 11"x14" prints NOW till Monday at midnight EDT!* 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. ]]>