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Helen Sear's Sightlines

Sightlines is an extraordinary series, consisting of 21 small-scale photographs that confound our expectations. 

Sightlines ©2011 Helen Sear

Each photograph depicts the portrait of a woman, whose face is obscured by a mass-produced, but hand-painted figurine of a bird. Through obscuring the face of the woman in each image, Sear interrupts the gaze of both sitter and observer.

Sightlines, Untitled 21 ©2011 Helen Sear

The final photograph is applied with an application of several layers of white acrylic gesso, which calls to our attention the physical space of the photograph. Helen Sear presents a sophisticated use of the photograph as object, illustrating a highly developed understanding and treatment of how we look at and engage with art.

 Sightlines, Untitled 21 (DETAIL) ©2011 Helen Sear

Sightlines was completed in 2011, making their debut at the London Art Fair in January 2012. With Edition 1 already sold as a complete set and Edition 3 also being offered only as a set, the 2nd edition effectively becomes the only opportunity to acquire these artworks as individual pieces. Additionally, with the application of acrylic gesso, each of the Sightlines photographs are unique - albeit in a variant of three. 

This is an excellent opportunity to acquire artwork, by an artist who is recognized as one of the UK's most important contemporary artists working today.

Edition: 3 + 1 AP (AP nfs)
Size: 7.25" x 7.25"
Medium: Pigment Print on Hahnemühle Photo Rag & Acrylic Gesso
Year: 2011

 

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Helen Sear's Pastoral Monuments

Each of my working days is spent surrounded by impeccably made, conceptually strong and visually rich fine art photographs. As I write, I have in my view the Pastoral Monuments series by Helen Sear.

Pastoral Monument 11,  Fumaria Bastardii ©Helen Sear

These compelling photographs are Helen Sear's most recent body of work. Her process of making is long and complex. They are straight photographs, but she has handled them and evidence of that handling is integral in the final art object—a photograph of a photograph.

 Pastoral Monument 1,  Myosotis Arvensis ©Helen Sear

The remarkable aspect of this work visually, is Sear's success in maintaining a sense of volume within the flat surface of the photograph. The suggestion of texture across the smooth surface of the image, also transforms the photographed space and subjects onto—or into—one visual plane. In some of the photographs, the solid vessel containing the flowers, appears transparent. Many visitors to the gallery have commented on them being like a  trompe l'eoil.

Pastoral Monument 1,  Myosotis Arvensis (DETAIL) ©Helen Sear

Inspired by the photographs of Mary Dillwyn—a 19th Century Botanist and Photographer—Sear brings the practice of photographing flowers, within a still life context, right up-to-date. The flowers are not the well bred, manicured specimens we would normally see. They represent a carefully selected few, from more than eighty varieties of wild flower, growing in a single field in Wales—frequented daily by the artist.

These normally ignored flowers are elevated to a position of beauty and admiration. Sear causes us to look at and study them. She skillfully turns our attention to the photographic object itself, creating a space of scrutiny that stops us in our track and forces us to 'not take the photograph for granted'. She does all of this through an accomplished body of work that continues her career-long pre-occupation with the materiality of the object and the cognitive and physical experience of perception.

In my mind, this is work by an established artist of great merit. The pricing on Pastoral Monuments is very conservative and a reflection of the current economy.  Thus making their purchase, at this time, a very good deal indeed!

The Pastoral Monuments series is available as follows:

Edition: 3 + 2 AP's (AP1 nfs)
Size: 27.5" x 27.5"
Medium: Pigment Print on Hahnemühle Photo Rag
Year: 2012

FIVE!

We're celebrating our FIFTH anniversary.

10.03.08 Set 1 from Doppelgänger II ©Cornelia Hediger

We opened our doors on October 24th, 2007, with the now widely acclaimed, Motherland series, by British artist Simon Roberts. Since then, we've grown our artist roster to include 28 fine artists from around the globe – United Kingdom, United States, Spain, Czech Republic, The Netherlands, Canada and Australia.

Our exhibitions and artists have been widely reviewed in publications including The New Yorker, Art Review, Wall Street Journal, PDN, Modern Painters, The Guardian, Foto8, The Independent and New York Magazine amongst others.

We've placed work into numerous public and private collections, with our clients located as close to the  gallery as across the street, to as far afield as Tokyo in Japan.

We can now lay claim, to being the longest-standing commercial gallery in the Dumbo neighborhood of Brooklyn; a quick and convenient subway ride from the Chelsea and LES art districts in Manhattan.

We're very excited to be moving into our sixth year of business and look forward to continuing our close collaborations with artists, collectors, advisers, consultants and curators.

AIPAD Membership

We are delighted to announce our membership of the Association of International Photography Art Dealers (AIPAD).

With members in the United States, Australia, Canada, Europe and Japan, the Association has become a unifying force in the field of photography. AIPAD is dedicated to creating and maintaining high standards in the business of exhibiting, buying and selling photographs as art.

Acting as the collective voice of the art photography dealers that make up its membership, AIPAD maintains ethical standards, promotes communication within the photographic community, encourages public appreciation of photography as art, concerns itself with the rights of photographers and collectors, and works to enhance the confidence of the public in responsible photography. 

AIPAD members provide a wide range of services to the public, such as exhibitions, appraisals, expert opinions and consultations and agree to a Code of Ethics.

The association is well known for its annual Photography Show in New York, one of the most important international photography art events. The next show will be April 4-7, 2013 when more than 75 of the world's leading photography art galleries will present a wide range of museum-quality work, including contemporary, modern and nineteenth-century photographs, as well as photo-based art, video, and new media, at the historic Park Avenue Armory in New York City's Upper East Side.

To learn more about AIPAD, visit the website here.

JIM NAUGHTEN

2012 AOP Awards

Congratulations to our artist, Jim Naughten, who has been awarded a best in category award for a non-commissioned portrait series by the Association of Photographers (AOP).

The award is given for his series Hereros. We'll be exhibiting this striking body of photographs at the gallery in Spring 2013.

More details will follow, but in the meantime, here's a preview.

From Hereros ©Jim Naughten

From Hereros ©Jim Naughten

From Hereros ©Jim Naughten