Longest Running Art Fair West of New York Celebrates Its 20th Anniversary, Opens January 13

Via The ArtDaily.Org
January 12, 2011

Bill Eppridge, "Robert F. Kennedy campaigns with various aides and friends" former prizefighter Tony Zale and (right of Kennedy) N.F.L. stars Lamar Lundy, Rosey Grier, and Deacon Jones, 1968"

LOS ANGELES.- In recent years, Los Angeles has experienced a rapid growth of contemporary art galleries along with an expansion of local museum programs highlighting emerging art making it a required destination for curators and collectors. As a marketplace for the Arts, it now rivals New York City. Glenn Lowry, Director of MoMA, recently said in the WSJ, “The art world is a very fluid place, but there is no question that L.A. is very hot at the moment.”


photo l.a.XX, celebrating it’s 20th Anniversary, is the longest running art fair west of New York and is the largest photo-based art fair in the country with over 10,000 attendees. It brings together photography dealers from around the globe, displaying the finest contemporary photography, video and multi-media installations along with masterworks from the 19th century. This is the 48th art fair produced by Stephen Cohen, Director of photo l.a. XX including artLA, photo san francisco, photo MIAMI, photo santa fe, photo NY and the first vernacular photography fair in NYC.

artLA was created in 2004 as a public event bringing together a mix of national and international galleries, artists, collectors and curators for a visual dialogue on the current art scene. Its ongoing commitment to presenting the most challenging art being produced today, has led to the creation of artLA projects, an ongoing citywide program of dynamic and innovative installations, exhibitions, seminars and conversations with established and cutting-edge artists in all media.

photo l.a. XX + artLA projects, returns to the historic Santa Monica Civic with an added 7,000 square foot tented canopy entry. This grand entrance provides space for sculpture, installations, book signings and seating. Attendees will enjoy an expansive lobby that includes a Phaidon bookstore, seating area, café, coffee bar and cupcake corner. There is new VIP balcony lounge and video viewing area.

The launch of artLA projects is a prelude to a much larger artLA 2011 that will align with the Los Angeles Contemporary Art Forum, a new art fair in the fall of 2011 created by the team that produces the Armory Show, Art Chicago, Next, Art Toronto and Volta. As the City heads into the Pacific Standard Time era this fall, Los Angeles is the place to be and artLA 2011 will be the satellite fair of new and emerging art that will parallel the energy and excitement of the newest art fair coming to Los Angeles

ON THE ROAD TO PHOTO LA

Ernst Haas: Utah, 1952

We are loading the van and heading west today, next stop Photo LA January 13 - 17. Our Twitter and Facebook updates may  be a bit sparse as we drive across I-40, but we will update as possible. We hope you can visit us in booth A-102!


Related: Photo LA January 13 - 17

THE LONDON ART FAIR: PHOTOGRAPHY DAY

London Art Fair


The London Art Fair presents over 100 galleries featuring the great names of 20th Century British art and exceptional contemporary work from leading figures and emerging talent January 19 - 23.
 
You’ll also find solo shows and curated group displays in our Art Projects section, with galleries drawn from across the world, while Photo50 is a showcase for contemporary photography with 50 works selected by a distinguished panel.

For information on dates, times and tickets for London Art Fair 2011 click here.

Photo50 is our showcase for contemporary photography. Now in its fifth year it will feature 50 works by artists selected by a distinguished panel with both established artists and less well known figures. This year’s panel includes Zelda Cheatle, Curator and Director of the Tosca Fund Photography Collection, Celia Davies, Head of Projects for Photoworks, Sebastien Montabonel, European Senior Specialist of Photographs at Phillips de Pury and Joanna Pitman of The Times. We asked each member of the panel to nominate up to three artists and then introduce their work.

A Photography Focus Day on Wednesday 19 January 2011 will feature a series of discussions and tours dedicated to contemporary photography. Some of the highlights below:

Image Fatigue: Can photographs still be a catalyst for positive social change in a world saturated with images?


In association with PhotoVoice

12.00 – 1.00 Leading photography professionals discuss past and present campaigns that use socially driven imagery and ask whether they still have an impact in today’s media, and if so what makes these images successful in driving social change. The discussion is led by Marc Schlossman (PhotoVoice Trustee and photographer) with Gideon Mendel (Photojournalist) and Jessica Crombie (Film and Photography Manager, Save the Children).

On The Ephemeral in Photography

In association with Hotshoe Gallery and ORDINARY-LIGHT Photography

1.30 – 2.30 A panel discussion considering the etymology and characterisations of the ephemeral in photography and the wider concept of the ephemeral as it appears in culture and the arts. This session will be led by Daniel Campbell Blight (Director, Hotshoe Gallery) with Rut Blees Luxemburg (artist), Julian Stallabrass (Reader, The Courtauld Institute of Art) and Douglas Murphy (author of The Architecture of Failure, forthcoming from Zero Books).

(D)e-materialization and Photography in the Age of Technological Advance

In association with Hotshoe and ORDINARY-LIGHT Photography

3.00 – 4.00 A discussion of the (d)e-materialization of the photographic record in the age of technological advance. Led by Brad Feuerhelm (Director, ORDINARY-LIGHT Photography) , the panel includes Simon Bainbridge (Editor, British Journal of Photography) Charlotte Cotton (Creative Director, London Galleries, National Media Museum ), Jason Evans (artist, writer and lecturer) and Trish Morrisey (artist).

Politics in Photography

In association with Photoworks

4.30 – 5.30 This session focuses on contemporary photography concerned with the current socio-political climate in the UK. It considers the artists position in providing an important commentary on social change, political unrest and challenging political conventions. Speakers include: Anna Fox (artist and Professor of Photography, University of the Creative Arts), Lisa Barnard (artist, exhibiting in Photo50 at London Art Fair) and Steve Edwards (Senior Lecturer in Art History, Open University).

Collecting Contemporary Art

In association with the Contemporary Art Society

6.30 – 7.15 and 7.30 – 8.15 Now celebrating its centenary year, the Contemporary Art Society is the UK's leading authority on contemporary collecting. Over the last 100 years they have purchased the work of seminal artists early in their careers - Paul Gauguin, Pablo Picasso, Francis Bacon and Damien Hirst – and enjoy a unique and enviable reputation for being 'ahead of the curve'. These talks give you an opportunity to draw on their expertise to help you develop your own collection. The talks are led by Henry Little (Public Programmes Manager) and Dida Tait (Head of Membership and Market Development)


Related: The 20th Anniversary Edition of Photo LA January 13 - 17.

EXHIBITIONISM: A peek at what's showing around town features Monroe Gallery's current exhibit

Pasatiempo
The New Mexican's Weekly Magazine of  Arts, Entertainment, and Culture
January 7 - 18, 2011

Shepard Sherbell: Nentsy Family at minus 70 degrees, Siberian Arctic, 1992

White evergreens in Quebec, coal miners in Ukraine, and a young Truman Capote skating in Rockefeller Center - 'Tis The Season, a group show at the Monroe Gallery of Photography (112 Don Gaspar Avenue, 505.992.0800) captures the beauty, mystery, and effects of snow and ice.

Exhibition continues through January 30, 2011.

PHOTO LA January 13 - 17

Monroe Gallery of Photography is delighted to once again exhibit at Photo LA, January 13 - 17, 2011. Photo LA continues to be one of the most prestigious photography fairs in the country, bringing together galleries and private dealers from around the globe. This year the fair celebrates its 20th annual edition, and will be held at the Santa Monica Civic Auditorium. Monroe Gallery is located in booth A102, front and center in the East Wing.

Monroe Gallery of Photography will be exhibiting specially selected work from the gallery's collection: important and historic photojournalism and civil rights photography, including the first-ever exhibits of Grey Villet and White House photographer Eric Draper; new photographs from Stephen Wilkes' acclaimed "Day Into Night" series; and photographs from classic movies of the 1950's by Richard C. Miller. And much more!

Grey Villet: Martin Luther King at Police Headquarters, as he argued to reject bail and serve his sentence for disturbing the peace in Montgomery, Alabama, 1958



Eric Draper: Oval Office, January 26, 2001

Stephen Wilkes: Central Park, Day Into Night, New York, 2010

Richard C. Miller: James Dean taking a break from filming "Giant", Marfa, Texas

The fair opens with a benefit reception for the Wallis Annenberg Photography Department at LACMA
on Thursday, January 13, 2011, 6:00-9:00 p.m. William Eggelston is this year's honorary Guest Host, for more information and tickets click here. Fair hours are 11 - 7 Friday - Sunday, and this year the fair has added an extra day for Monday, Martin Luther King day, 11 - 6. (More here)

Programming information, including lectures, seminars and book-signings may be found here.

Monroe Gallery will feature numerous other renowned photographs in booth A-102. We look forward to welcoming you to our booth at Photo LA!

2010 Photography Auction Summary

The DLK Collection Blog is always on our daily "must read" list. In case you may have missed it, yesterday they posted a highly informative review of 2010's photography auctions. The results were quite astonishing:

"Across the photography auction market for the entire year, the total sale proceeds taken together were $136,948,680, up by more than 83% from last year's total of $74,612,997. These numbers were driven by both higher average selling prices and better sell through."


The article concludes: "Overall, in a year of stabilization and renewed growth, Christie's seems to have taken it to its competitors a bit. The house doubled its total sale proceeds for photography from the previous year, dramatically increased its average selling price per lot (even when diluted by a sale of lower priced photobooks), and took share from the market.


Looking forward, if the economic environment continues to slowly but steadily improve, I think we can expect that 2011 will be another solid year at auction. Big numbers are driven by the quality of material that is consigned and the overall confidence in the marketplace; 2010 had the landmark Penn, Avedon, and Polaroid sales (among others) and the beginnings of forward looking optimism. For 2011 to top 2010, we'll need to see more superlative material come out into the markets, particularly in the realm of photography that is classified as contemporary art, and we'll have to see a continued positive outlook from collectors."

Read the full post here.

Related: Thoughts on the Fall Auctions

             The Trumph of Photography

JANUARY 1, 1892: ELLIS ISLAND OPENS

Stephen Wilkes: Curved Corridor, Isolation Ward, Island 3, Ellis Island

From 1892 to 1954, over twelve million immigrants entered the United States through the portal of Ellis Island, a small island in New York Harbor. Ellis Island is located in the upper bay just off the New Jersey coast, within the shadow of the Statue of Liberty. Through the years, this gateway to the new world was enlarged from its original 3.3 acres to 27.5 acres mostly by landfill obtained from ship ballast and possibly excess earth from the construction of the New York City subway system.

 

Stephen Wilkes: TB Ward, Statue of Liberty, Island 3, Ellis Island

Prior to 1890, the individual states (rather than the Federal government) regulated immigration into the United States. Castle Garden in the Battery (originally known as Castle Clinton) served as the New York State immigration station from 1855 to 1890 and approximately eight million immigrants, mostly from Northern and Western Europe, passed through its doors.

 

Stephen Wilkes: Woman's Ward, Island 2, Ellis Island

It soon became apparent that Castle Garden was ill-equipped and unprepared to handle the growing numbers of immigrants arriving yearly. Unfortunately compounding the problems of the small facility were the corruption and incompetence found to be commonplace at Castle Garden.

The Federal government intervened and constructed a new Federally-operated immigration station on Ellis Island. While the new immigration station on Ellis Island was under construction, the Barge Office at the Battery was used for the processing of immigrants. The new structure on Ellis Island, built of "Georgia pine" opened on January 1, 1892; Annie Moore, a 15 year-old Irish girl, accompanied by her two brothers entered history and a new country as she was the very first immigrant to be processed at Ellis Island on January 2. Over the next 62 years, more than 12 million were to follow through this port of entry.

Source: ellisisland.org

View Stephen Wilkes' full Ellis Island collection here.

Related: American Express Gives $100,000 to Help Ellis Island Group




Ellis Island: "Ghosts of Freedom" is a collection of large format color cibachrome photographs of the abandoned buildings on the southern side of Ellis Island. Photographed over five years (1998 - 2003), "Ellis Island: Ghosts of Freedom" is visual history of the benign neglect of the medical facilities and dormitories of the historic immigration center, which at that time, unlike the Great Hall, had not yet been restored. Wilkes' photographs capture the haunting beauty of this century old building. "Ellis Island: Ghosts of Freedom" is a rich visual tapestry evoking the ghosts of the millions of immigrants who passed through these halls on their first stop in America.

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

Harry Benson: Berlin Kiss, Berlin, 1996



WISHING YOU ALL THE BEST IN 2011!

Alfred Eisenstaedt: Molyneux Model, 1934

To all of our dear clients, friends, followers, and fellow Photography enthusiasts, we wish you All the Very Best in 2011.

Slim Aarons: Clark Gable, Van Heflin, Gary Cooper, and James Stewart  enjoy a joke at a New Year's party held at Romanoff's in Beverly Hills, 1957

Follow the official countdown to 2011 here.

"NO FIREARMS ALLOWED"

Via Joe McNally's Blog:

The show at the Monroe Gallery I mentioned a couple weeks ago went well. You can always tell you’re having an exhibit in New Mexico when you see one of these:



Sorta makes you wish anybody who shows up really likes your work, ya know? More tk…." --Joe McNally



Related: Holiday Book Signing and Exhibit With Joe McNally