Justin James Reed

Idaho Springs, Colorado
copyright Justin James Reed

Like a lot of people right now, I am struggling in a major way with getting enough work and figuring out how to pay the rent and coming up with creative solutions for Christmas presents this year. Being a freelance artist and photographer in Gotham City post market crash feels pretty anxious and scary a whole lot of the time ... but lest I add to the doom and gloom we hear on the radio just about every day, I will say, I scraped up $20 plus shipping for my favorite cause: emerging artists.

Last year, around this time just before I left for Texas - a trip I am making again on Sunday thanks to credit cards - I bought a small print of Eric Graham's Unleaded, Unleaded, Premium Unleaded from Jen Bekman's 20x200 project. This year, I fell for Justin James Reed's Idaho Springs, Colorado image, which is jam packed with just about everything I love: snow, space, a motel, a diner, mountains, a big sky, gorgeous light and a sense of what makes the American West so irresistibly romantic and sublime. It's on my wall next to Eric's gas station, and the two make a perfect pair.

And Justin James Reed ... what a cool name ... like a pioneer or a president or an outlaw, and he even lived in Minnesota.

Revisiting America

Untitled
from Boonville project
copyright Timothy Briner


Joanna
from Boonville project
copyright Timothy Briner

This Wednesday, an exciting and timely show opens at the Bond Street Gallery curated by the gallery's new director, Amani Olu. In light of our current political and economic climate, Revisiting America aptly draws from work by a number of talented American photographers who have examined relevant themes of consumerism, corporate development, technology, manufactured landscapes and what remains of small town America.

One of the photographers whose work is included in the show is both my friend and current teaching assistant at the ICP, Timothy Briner. I have been avidly following Tim's Boonville blog since he set off last summer to explore small towns called Boonville across the country for nearly a year. Part of what makes Tim's blog so compelling is the combination of his passion and sincerity, as well as his ability to share the internal and emotional process of making a body of work. Five prints from his Boonville project will be exhibited for the first time on Wednesday, and I am excited to see some of the fantastic results of his labor.

The opening of Revisiting America falls on the night of the final debate between McCain and Obama, so I plan to get there early to begin a long night of absorbing the complex and unsettling state of American life. I noticed in the last debate that Barack Obama quoted George Bush after 9/11 encouraging Americans to shop, a sinister statement also noted by another participating photographer, Brian Ulrich, when he talks about the motivations behind his series, Copia/Retail, which depicts zombie-like shoppers in big-box stores.

Other participating artists in the show include Jon Feinstein, Justin James Reed, Mathhew Gambler, Angie Smith and Michael Vahrenwald.

Revisiting America
Opening Reception: Wednesday, October 15th, 6-9pm

Bond Street Gallery
297 Bond Street
Brooklyn, NY