Wednesday Edition: Mike Sinclair
Rodeo Stars, Strong City, Kansas
8"x10"($20) | 11"x14"($50) | 16"x20" ($200) | 24"x30" ($1000)
by
Mike Sinclair
Chilly Wednesday greetings, collectors! It's Youngna here on this brisk but sunny day in NYC, excited to bring you today's edition, Rodeo Stars, Strong City, Kansas by Hot Shot! Mike Sinclair. Jen, though she can't be here writing to you today, is also extra thrilled to bring you Mike's edition. It is part of a body of work she describes as "satisfying my idyllic image of America in a way that doesn't feel contrived" and adds that his images depict an "America I didn't grow up in" as a born and bred New Yorker, but still evoke a strong nostalgia. She associates his work with photographers like Justin James Reed and the American photography legends who captured the domestic national landscape in Where We Live, a book that accompanied the exhibition at the Getty Center.
Mike is one of the photographers who stopped our own Raul Gutierrez—also a Hey, Hot Shot! panelist—in his tracks during last round's review. Mike's selection as a Hot Shot has elicited excited reaction amongst the rest of the JBP-team and gallery visitors alike. His brilliant portraits of sun-dappled barbecues, fairgrounds, group fishing extravaganzas and street parades hit the hearts and minds of viewers who find dual comfort and wonderment in his images of these loosely organized forms of mass congregation. Seeking out quintessentially American celebrations and rituals in his Midwestern stomping grounds, Mike finds himself in crowds where he is often staring at the spectacle that everyone else is immersed in.
So, it is only fitting that in Rodeo Stars, Strong City, Kansas, we find ourselves gazing into the eyes (as seen by Mike) of the Roberts family: E.C. and three of his children—Gerald, Margie and Ken—all world champion rodeo riders. The billboard of these painted local heroes sits outside the rodeo grounds in Strong City, a grand and celebratory entrance to an annual event which welcomes visitors from far and wide.
Mike's edition is another in a series of recent 20x200 releases by our Hot Shots. Last week's West Nineteenth Street (Yellow Dress) comes from two-time Hot Shot and 2006 Ultra Joe Holmes, and two other First Edition Hot Shots, Michelle Arcila and Kurt Tong, have also recently graced your inboxes with their editions Kind Intruder, Eivind, Gosling Lake and RAF Vulcan XL-361. You can look forward to upcoming editions by two more of our 2009 Hot Shots, Parsley Steinweiss and Daniel Cheek, on 20x200 very soon.
One of the best parts of working with Hot Shots is we get to meet many of them in person, see their work on the walls of the gallery and collaborate with them on 20x200 editions like Mike's here today.
On this note, we want to remind you that the deadline to apply to the 2009 Second Edition of Hey, Hot Shot! is next Friday, October 23rd @ 8 p.m (EDT)! All entrants have their work reviewed by our top-shelf panelists and enjoy the potential to be promoted online, selected for 20x200, and exhibited at the gallery. Entering the competition is the only opportunity for photographers to have their work considered for 20x200, so we hope you'll submit your images!
To apply: submit three photographs from a single body of work using the online upload tool, with an entry fee of $60.
Our panel will select five Hot Shots for inclusion in a two-week group show at Jen Bekman Gallery in January 2010 and, in conjunction with the exhibition, editions of each photographer's work will be released on 20x200! If that weren't enough, each Hot Shot is awarded a $500 honorarium. At year's end, two Ultras are selected from 2009's ten Hot Shots. The Ultras are represented by Jen Bekman Gallery and slated for solo exhibitions.
A Square, the United States solo debut of Hot Shot Hosang Park is currently on view at the gallery through Saturday, November 7th, so if you are in New York, we hope you'll stop by to see his prints in person.
Apply here and see some of this round's contenders on our Flickr and Facebook pages. Have questions? Check out our FAQ page.
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Browse the remaining editions: $20, $50, $200, $500, $1000, $2000
These editions are almost sold out: Grab them now!
Jen Bekman Projects is hiring!....
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