MENTORS @ SVA -4/14/09

Photo-Sean Gutowski, Burning Ship, 2009, inkjet print.






















ARTmostfierce plans to be here also. check it out!
A majority of the most talented artists had attended SVA(School of Visual Arts).

From Gregory Crewdson to Amy Elkins...you name it!

See more info below:




NEW YORK.- School of Visual Arts (SVA) presents “Mentors,” an exhibition of work by BFA Photography Department students inspired by their year-long mentorship with key figures in the New York arts community. Drawn from the ranks of city’s best-known photographers, curators, art directors, publishers, art dealers, critics and writers, the mentors are paired with students based upon their field of expertise and the student’s area of concentration. The 2008 – 2009 mentors include creative director Fabien Baron, cinematographer and SVA alumnus Harris Savides, New York Times writer Philip Gefter, and photographers Ari Marcoupolis, Sally Gall and Gregory Crewdson, among others. The exhibition will be on view through April 25 at the Visual Arts Gallery, 601 West 26 Street, 15th Floor, New York City.

Established in 1992, the Mentors program at SVA was designed to cultivate relationships between established and emerging artists and to introduce new talent to the New York arts community. Stephen Frailey, chair of the BFA Photography Department and curator of the exhibition, explains, “We are always seeking to provide our students with opportunities that support their growth as professional artists. Working with these mentors offers our students an invaluable learning experience, one that inspires them to take their work further.”

The BFA Photography Department at SVA offers students a full range of options in the study of photography: commercial, fine art, fashion and documentary. The department is equipped with state-of-the-art technical facilities; a faculty of nearly 100 members, including not only working photographers but photo editors, critics, publishers and photography dealers; and a curriculum that integrates photographic genres, identities and ambitions. SVA’s diversity in curriculum and the faculty’s professional experience offer students the freedom and support to explore different directions in photography.

School of Visual Arts (SVA) in New York City is an established leader and innovator in the education of artists. From its inception in 1947, the faculty has been comprised of professionals working in the arts and art-related fields. SVA provides an environment that nurtures creativity, inventiveness and experimentation, enabling students to develop a strong sense of identity and a clear direction of purpose.

The Visual Arts Gallery, located at 601 West 26th Street between 11th and 12th Avenues, 15th floor, is open Monday through Saturday, 10am to 6pm; closed on Sundays and public holidays. The exhibition is free and open to the public. The gallery is accessible by wheelchair. For further information, please call 212.592.2145.

Gregory Crewdson @ Luhring Augustine

Photos courtesy of: Luhring Augustine Gallery and Ruben Natal-San Miguel



This show is a must see!

Gregory Crewdson is one of the most talented photographers of our time.His photos in my opinion are the closest you can achieve to resemble paintings.They have such an ethereal, sublime and reflective quality !

This is the last of his body of work series called Beneath The Roses.

The photographs were sponsored by Epson  America. Aperture Foundation has a wonderful online Photo documentary about Crewdson(see link below) in which you can take a peek behind the scenes, giving and idea of the vision , process and brilliance of how this masterpiece photographs are created. 

 The 15 photos in this show are all the same size and in an edition of 6 you can have one for a cool $75,000.00 each. Do the math! Most of the show was already sold out before it even opened (who said recession?).

In his latest body of work, made over the last three years, the artist continues his exploration of the fertile edges of the American vernacular. The photos are quite reminiscent of the paintings of the great Edward Hooper , which  the theme of voyeurism is expressed in a before and after situation.The viewer is seduced and left with its own conclusions. Its all about the moment of  and its consequences. There is a strong and latent sense of solitude, meditation and displacement. For some of us these are the kind of feelings and thoughts  experienced at times when  living or coming from small towns with no future to strive for. Also when  the environment and its surroundings turn into suffocation and anxiety (God knows I was one of those people).

 The photos also have a strong message as if when taking  action or  making decisions it may  have its consequences . Capturing that precise  moment of when that crucial and life changing decision is about to be made. 

In addition, published by Harry N. Abrams the book tilted Beneath The Roses was available for sale for $60.00. ARTmostfierce and his posse happen to be there when Gregory Crewdson was present at the gallery for a book signing. Not being the best kind of bookkeeper at home, even ARTmostfierce got his skinny butt (maybe not so skinny!) and bought the signed book. Crewdson was extremely polite and pleasant considering all the art fanatics and some vultures buying his book and looking at his art on the walls. It was quite a mob scene. 

Also I  had been noticing lately  (last week Ryan McGinley's opening show and this show)  that there is a very... very young generation of kids sometimes too young for college present at these shows looking seriously at the art and buying the books. Finally the... ME generation is looking around to others other than themselves. It was refreshing to observe their fascination and curiosity. I love when an artist work is so powerful that moves people in  large droves. It was a mob scene of the civilized kind.

                      

                                                                                          ARTmostfierce kept snooping around and also managed to obtain a poster of the show (great image) for $10.00 and got  Gregory Crewdson to sign it as well...sweet!

So after I salivated looking at these great photos  way out of my $$$ mula reach at least, I got to take home a signed book and poster. We are so fortunate to live here and be able to experience all these first hand.

I really think that even to  the most untrained eye will enjoy looking at this body of work.

It runs from April 5-May 3, 2008. Go and see it!

www.luhringaugustine.com/index.php?mode=artists&object_id=66

www.aperture.org/crewdson/