PUBLIC LECTURE

We are very honored to have been invited to speak at the School of Visual Arts, as part of the SVA Digital Photography i3 Lecture Series. Our presentation will be provide an insight into the business of the image, from the perspective of a commercial art gallery.

The i3 Lecture Series is also being podcast via iTunes.

Venue: SVA, 136 West 21st Street, Room 418F, New York.
Date: Wednesday, November 16.
Start Time: 7pm (duration approximately one hour).
Free and open to the public.

SPOTLIGHT Simon Roberts

 Blackpool South, from Pierdom series. ©2011 Simon Roberts

We are pleased to announce the release of a new series of photographs, Pierdom, by Simon Roberts. This new series of photographs follows Roberts' acclaimed We English series, that was concerned with the culture of leisure in contemporary English society.

 Eastbourne, from Pierdom series. ©2011 Simon Roberts

With Pierdom, Roberts turns his camera to a specific architectural remnant that bears witness to leisure of the past—not just in England, but around Britain. Mostly built in the 19th Century along the coastline of Britain, these piers were originally constructed as landing docks for pleasure steamers, but progressively catered to the needs of seaside day-trippers, who were escaping the grime and smog of the cities. In their heyday, the 'pleasure piers' incorporated cafes, casinos, theaters and even tramways.

Weston-Super-Mare Grand, from Pierdom series. ©2011 Simon Roberts

The portfolio of 15 photographs will be available to view in the next week and will be uploaded to the gallery website and promoted widely at that time. The quality of the work is outstanding and, based on the strong sales of Roberts' photographs from the We English and Motherland series, we recommend an early purchase.

For a preview of the photographs, please contact the gallery directly.

The Pierdom photographs are available in the following editions:

48" x 60", Edition of 4 + 1 AP
20" x 24", Edition of 7 + 2 AP's
11" x 14" Box Set of 15 Prints, Edition of 9 + 2 AP's

The photographs are C-Types, (Fuji Crystal Archive).
Prices increase as the editions sell.

SPOTLIGHT Max de Esteban

We are delighted to be working with Spanish artist, Max de Esteban, and to present his first solo exhibition in New York with Proposition One: Only The Ephemeral. This is his most recent body of work, that contributes to an overall artistic practice that explores socio-political concepts within visual structures of serialization and repetition.

PO9 from the Proposition One series. ©2011 Max de Esteban

"In constructing this photo-installation my concerns are: the consequences of today's accelerated embracement of new technologies and formats in the art practice; the political implications of technical and functional obsolescence; and the conflicts involved in the concept of progress".— Max de Esteban

PO8 from the Proposition One series. ©2011 Max de Esteban

Through a time-consuming and meticulous process, Max de Esteban disassembles apparatus such as film projectors, 35mm film cameras, VHS tape and record players. Piece-by-piece, the parts are painted white, the machines are then reassembled and photographed at different stages of being re-built. The photographed layers are themselves assembled into a single image, resulting in x-ray-like photographs that are reminiscent of architectural cyanotype plans.

 PO16 from the Proposition One series. ©2011 Max de Esteban

The resulting photographs are exquisite pigment prints that provide us with a rare glimpse into the internal workings of retro technology—at once beautiful for their simplicity and yet ingenuously complex in their design. They bring to mind the idea of a technological taxidermy; not at all nostalgic but certainly a form of embalming that calls references the photograph as memento mori.

Exhibition Dates: October 26th—December 9th.