Friday, September 11, 2009

Browsing the Archives of 20x200

The staff at Jen Bekman recently asked me to browse the archives of 20x200 and select some of my favorite works for their blog - which was lots of fun. Here's what I came up with: Browsing the Archives with Tema Stauffer

Rachel Hulin has already selected two of my all-time favorite 20x200 pieces, the haunting Untitled (LA20070805) by Noah Kalina and No. 13. 3/11/2006 (plane lifted by men) by William Lamson. But I also love Lamson's other photograph from his enigmatic sublunar series.


No. 6. 8/6/2005 (plane) by William Lamson

A German photographer who similarly mystifies me with her control of light in her nighttime scenes is Juliane Eirich. I saw some of her gorgeous prints at the Scope Art Fair last March and have since poured through her website. I am awed and jealous to say the least.


Bus by Juliane Eirich

Also very mysterious and sexy is a portrait by Shen Wei. The image brought to mind the pensive, lonely, intensely sexual films by Taiwanese director, Tsai Ming-liang - the mood, the setting, the isolated subject, the sense of desire and longing...


Yi, Beijing by Shen Wei

This quirky image by Kelly Shimoda, an early addition to 20x200, uses light beautifully to make kitschy pink and blue balloons strangely seductive.


Untitled (Hanoi no.2) by Kelly Shimoda

Then, of course, I must mention the two prints I purchased from 20x200, Eric Graham's, Unleaded, Unleaded, Premium Unleaded, and Justin James Reed's iconic western scene, Idaho Springs, Colorado, both of which are hanging in my apartment.


Unleaded, Unleaded, Premium Unleaded by Eric Graham


Idaho Springs, Colorado by Justin James Reed

Kevin J. Miyazaki's work seems to be influenced by the same tradition of exploring the American vernacular, and I like his understated contributions from his Fast Food series.


Jones Boulevard Location, #1 by Kevin J. Miyazaki

And Katie Baum's cool photograph of a gumball machine might have been painted by a Photo-realist in the 1970s ...


Gumball Machine by Katie Baum

So yes, I confess, I love this kind of stuff.

Finally, is there any artist out there who can't relate to the sentiment captured by Clifton Burt? I think that pretty much sums it up.


think-make-think by Clifton Burt

2 comments:

Daniel said...

Great post Tema. A pleasure to look at the work and read your thoughts on the selections you made. It seems photography is in a wild place right now. So much work doing so many things from so many ages. I overheard a teenager a few days ago say, "I love photography, even though it's consider the new thing now." Ah, fresh eyes.

Jon Vander Plas said...

20x200 is great! Check out wozofoto.com - a similar concept, with a daily deal on fine art photography. 8x10s are only $10.