November 6, 2007
Tuesday Edition: Eric Graham
Unleaded, Unleaded, Premium Unleaded, by Eric Graham
As promised, 20x200 is back with fresh new editions this week. Tuesday is fine art day, and today's edition comes to us from Eric Graham, a Texas-raised, Brooklyn-dwelling painter.
The edition is a reproduction of Unleaded, Unleaded, Premium Unleaded, an original oil on linen painting measuring 36"x48". The print is available in 3 sizes, printed with archival pigment inks on a nice hefty 100% cotton rag matte paper. They'll be available at 20x200 at 2pm EST today:
8.5"x11"
Edition of 200 each $20.
17"x22"
Edition of 20 each $200.
30"x40"
Edition of 2 each $2000.
I found Eric online over the Summer, before 20x200 was something I could show people. I spent many a late night perusing the virtual flat files of arts organizations. White Columns, Artists Space and The Drawing Center registered hundreds of page views from me in the wee hours of the morning. I am an intrepid surfer and am fascinated how emerging artists present their work. I am also an insomniac and have considerable patience for sifting through sand to find gold. I bookmarked artists like mad and sent out a lot of emails saying "Hey, we're working on this thing and it's going to be cool and would you do an edition with us?" The email was considerably more verbose than that, as economy of words is not my forte. (As if you hadn't noticed that by now...) Regardless, Eric was game and I was glad.
Eric explores themes very similar to the vernacular photography I have a love/hate relationship with. If you look on his site you'll see parking lots, dusty small towns, billboards and gas stations. These are subjects I've shown and looked at over and over as photographs.
Seeing them as paintings, specifically Eric's paintings, made them new again. His subjects are adrift, or perhaps engulfed by negative space, rendered in flat, even tones. It's hard to decide whether these places and things are falling back into the abyss or being enshrined, which seems a perfect metaphor for Americans' ambivalence towards the decaying 20th century icons he depicts.
Like Tema's Palm Aire photograph, this gas station makes me nostalgic for a version of the country that I never really lived in. It's a roadside attraction, its decay making it that much more picturesque. But if you look at it long enough, it becomes more, as all good artwork should - my own train of thought takes me from a mom and pop station to a multi-national conglomerate, and the imagined cars the station fuels carry people ever further from the centers of their towns, off into that flat, even abyss Eric's created on the canvas. That's the story I tell myself, Eric's might be different and you are free to create your own.
We're back tomorrow with a photo from another JB favorite - see you then!
November 7, 2007
Modern Art Obsession Reacts to Addition to his Collection
NYC Collector and "total art fanatic by night and weekend":
"[20x200] is wonderfully accessible. Possibly the single best affordable art project we've ever seen! Every artist should do one!
On Kate Bingaman-Burt's, Plattsmouth, Nebraska, Carts #1:
"We bought one immediately, which we got [promptly] last week! It looked even better in person."
Read the full entry on MAO's blog.
November 7, 2007
Wednesday Edition: Joseph O. Holmes
Today's photography edition comes to us from hometown favorite Joseph O. Holmes, a gallery artist, Hey, Hot Shot! Ultra and a member of this year's HHS! panel.
We've created this edition in three sizes. All are printed with archival pigment inks on premium quality matte paper. They'll be available on 20x200 at 2PM (EST) today:
8.5"x11"
Edition of 200 each $20.
17"x22"
Edition of 20 each $200.
30"x40"
Edition of 2 each $2000.
When I look at this photo, I can practically smell wet wool and feel my cheeks flush with cold. This is a good thing - lately it seems like it might never get really cold again, much less snow. I'm a woman who happens to love cozy sweaters and snowball fights, so the thought of a mild snow-free season makes me immeasurably sad. (And worried about the environment, but that's a whole other topic.)
Doing this edition is a snowdance of sorts - if we all look at the image really really hard and visualize snow, maybe it'll happen. Wouldn't it be nice to have a snow day? Or at least a day below freezing? It is nearly mid-November after all. I don't actually believe in the woo-woo, which is my blanket term for all paranormal, quasi-religous and/or new age techniques, but looking at this photo reminds me that a snow blanketed New York City isn't a figment of my imagination.
This isn't just New York, of course - it's Brooklyn, baby! Prospect Park is a glorious place when it snows. Kids and dogs and sleds and friendly neighbors and saying hello to strangers. My favorite snow day ever was more than 10 years ago, and it was spent sledding and snowball fighting in Prospect Park.
Joe captures a different, more solitary snow day moment. It's hard to imagine such an un-peopled expanse of space, sky and treeline in our crowded Metropolis, but there it is. The ominous, lustrous gray sky is something I could look at for hours and I love the brownish orange of the white-tipped branches. And then there's our dog-walking fella, who allows me to insert myself (and my pooch!) in said landscape, flushed cheeks, boots crunching in the snow, cold filling my lungs. It's an alone, but not lonely feeling; this uninhabited pocket Joe's captured is probably just around the corner from kids hurtling down hillsides on garbage can lids.
Pray for snow, I say!
We're back next with two new gorgeous colorful editions - I can't wait to share them with you.
November 8, 2007
Double Dose of Joe in Manhattan User's Guide
MUG on Prospect Park by Joseph O. Holmes:
"This is one of his most captivating images, and that's saying something."
If one is ever short of things to do and even if one is already consumed with mind-numbing activities, I prescribe a daily visit to Joe's NYC, the photoblog of the photographer formally known as Joseph O. Holmes. Joe has captured and documented many-a-fascinating, quirky, wonderful and mundane-made-interesting on his camera.
He has generated a following of addicted visitors to his blog and also a fan base from his daily photograph on Manhattan User's Guide.com. For further reading on Joe, a past feature of the photographer on MUG can be viewed here.
Joe's NYC was launched on February 24, 2004. He has taken a photo everyday since then, which you can view and joyfully get lost in his archives. Here is today's photo, Joe's 1071st :
November 13, 2007
Tuesday Edition: Aili Schmeltz
Greetings from France, which is quite a spiritual distance from Los Angeles, the muse and hometown of this week's artist, Aili Schmeltz.
The edition is a reproduction of Radar, an original mixed media on paper painting measuring 18"x24". The print is available in 3 sizes, printed with archival pigment inks on a nice hefty 100% cotton rag matte paper. The editions are live on the 20x200 homepage at 2pm EST today, but if you're reading this email, step to the head of the line and buy one now:
8.5"x11"
Edition of 200 each $20.
17"x22"
Edition of 20 each $200.
30"x40"
Edition of 2 each $2000.
It's hard for me to write about LA while I'm sitting in a smoky tabac with socks damp from trudging around in the chilly rain looking for Wifi access, but for you people: anything. And it's fun to be thinking about our shiny happy Western frontier having just transported myself to a place where everything is old (and smoky.)
I have a confession to make: I love LA, in spite of certain aspects of it which epitomize everything that's ugly about America. I used to spend a lot of time there, some of my favorite people live there, and it has a really amazing art scene. It' also just so freaking weird and plastic and a reality unto itself. Aili has a similar ambivalence about Los Angeles, considerably more fleshed out and beautifully rendered in her paintings.
Radar is particularly appealing to me, its bright swaths of a nearly florescent orange overwhelming a small amount of greenery and reflecting off of what look to be the modern buildings of LA's skyline. And all of it's afloat amongst some invented geography of strata and stalactites that seem to crowd inward upon the painting's, and perhaps the city's center. It's simultaneously claustrophobic and exuberant, a lot like LA itself.
I am going to keep it brief today - I've got a city to explore and some French people to offend with my own brand of ugly Americanism. Tomorrow I am back with another shot of orange, in the form of a photograph.
Before I go: we continue to enjoy your feedback! I love getting photographs of 20x200 editions in situ and am hoarding them all for a monster blog post about all you budding collectors. And the answers to your most frequently asked questions are yes, yes and yes:
Will we offer framing in the future? Yes. We definitely will, although I'm not quite sure when.
Will we have gift certificates in time for the holidays? Why yes, we certainly will.
Will we be offering subscription programs in the future? Yes indeed, but as with framing, the timeline is a bit fuzzy right now.
'Til tomorrow, mon amis!
November 14, 2007
Wednesday Edition: Mickey Smith
Bonsoir, mes amis. I know that there's some morning left for most of you, but we're heading into evening here in Paris and I'm late for the preview of Paris Photo, which is the whole reason I am here to begin with. Ooh la la!
Speaking of photography, it's time for this week's photo edition, from Minneapolis native Mickey Smith. More Minneapolis - can you believe it? All those artist grants available out there are clearly put to good use!
WORD STUDY is part of Mickey's ongoing series Volume. As you can see on the homepage, it looks fabulous alongside yesterday's edition, Radar, by Aili Schmeltz. Why not bring some WORD STUDY into your own life? Buy it now, our editions are as follows:
8.5"x11"
Edition of 200 each $20.
17"x22"
Edition of 20 each $200.
30"x40"
Edition of 2 each $2000.
I love the whole Volume series, but I was particularly pleased when Mickey suggested this one. I am a word nerd - I subscribe to word of the day emails, go through phases of crossword puzzle addiction and earnestly dig etymology. And all the associations are very neat and tidy - you study at libraries which involves looking at words in books. And wouldn't you know it? WORD STUDY, like all the other photos from the series, is a photo of books in a library. Certainly there are words inside worth studying.
I think that I might sound a bit insane and punchy at the moment, and if I do, it's because I am. I am jet-lagged and exhausted from not being able to communicate with people. I am a communicator, a talker, a language lover by nature.
I could use some WORD STUDY myself. French words to be exact, because I know none of them and it's proving to be rather problematic. (Not to mention embarrassing.) I have spent the past two days walking in a cone of silence which has only been punctured on occasion by comedic exchanges where each party thinks the other will understand if we just. talk. slowly. enough. It's stressful, but in a way I am enjoying how humbling it is, and how the difference in language shifts one's perspective.
Soon I will be off among English speaking photophiles which is sure to be a treat, but first I have to figure out how to tell the taxi driver where to take me. Next week I'll be back home and less punchy. Until then, Enjoy Ms. Smith and all the other great art that's rapidly accumulating in our archives.
November 20, 2007
Tuesday Edition: Jessica Snow
Paradigm Shift, by Jessica Snow
Rainy Tuesday greetings from New York City! I am back at it, but not quite recovered from my trans-Atlantic journey. (Poor little me, exhausted from my Parisian adventure! Cry Me A River, why don't you?)
Today's edition comes to us from painter Jessica Snow, a Northern California native with great senses of color, geometry and humor. Paradigm Shift is based on an original 10"x12" acrylic on paper painting.*
The print is available in three sizes, all printed with archival inks on that substantial, bright white 100% cotton rag paper that 20x200 collectors have come to know and love:
11" x 8.5"
Edition of 200 each $20.
22" x 17"
Edition of 20 each $200.
40" x 30"
Edition of 2 each $2000.
Discovering new artists in media other than photography is one of the things I most enjoy about this 20x200 adventure. I've shown a lot of terrific painters at the gallery since 2003, but by and large photography is the medium that it's best known for.
To be honest, painting was always a little scary for me. When trying to decide whether or not I liked something, or whether it was actually good, I've always felt burdened by everything I don't know about art and its history. Time, experience and a diminishing fear of what other people think have made me bolder. I'm beginning to understand more about what I'm drawn to and why, and starting to see patterns emerge.
Jessica's work contains several characteristics that are becoming reliable draws for me: exuberance, bold colors, a mix of geometry and organic forms, beauty and complexity.
Paradigm Shift is a perfect metaphor for what I'm hoping will come of this day, internally and externally. I'm feeling a little hemmed in by my post-flight haze and the grey rainy day outside. I'm wanting to summon up some brightness that seems a bit buried at the moment.
The geometric planes of the outward edges of Jessica's composition conjure both physical and emotional aspects of my current claustrophobia. The optimist in me sees the flat, cool colors of the perimeter being infiltrated by the light, space and warmth at its center. At the core of the sphere-like form, organic, seemingly uncontainable color pushes heroically upwards into the imposing layers and angles, simultaneously exploding outwards from the broken border at the bottom, messy, bright and unpredictable. It's what I want from the day, and from myself.
As always, you are most welcome to admire Ms. Snow's endeavors however you see fit. Whatever makes you happy, no one's keeping score.
*The original painting is available as well. Email collector AT 20x200 DOT com to inquire.
November 20, 2007
20x200: Snail Mail is Fun Again
Birds of the Rockies by Laura Levine, along with an orange "Live with Art" sticker [they come in 4 different colors + 1 special graphically-inclined edition: collect them all!], certificate of authenticity signed by the artist, and an ungregarious though incredibly protective DO NOT BEND sticker that instills fear and extreme caution to every United States Postal Service Collection Worker and Mail Carrier. Photo by Karen Horton.
Getting ready an edition to go live is an athletic event. Though not dissimilar to a pleasant game of cricket, I would much rather describe the process as full-on contact, no-holds-barred, tackle-even-your-six-year-old-little-sister renegade thug football, complete with rain and mud and more mud. Although we do not sport impressive lean, sinewy calves or massive biceps, we make up for it in our sheer shipping fervor and ardent correspondence with our artists:
"How are you today, Michael?"
"GOOD!!"
With the sound of the war horn, the preparatory work begins with the organizing of the required items, then mailing and printing, and then more emailing and signing, and then mailing and emailing. I think I have a handle on the algorithm by now, though the doubt creeps insidiously in, and I fear something will slip. I have nightmares that art prints will arrive bent to their owners, delivered by a clumsy, heavy-footed, ruthless green-dress wearing ogre. Then there are nights where I have visions that a werewolf will burst into the warehouse and devour all of my shipping supplies: tape, envelopes, plastic sleeves - and crush my cardboard tubes with its claws.
I carry no severe physical injuries of massive bloodstained gashes or brain trauma, or even more subtler signs of distress such as heavy sweating or weight loss. It seems I gravitate towards the complete emergency-room cardiac arrest.
So it's always relieving when you receive word that the art has been delivered in one piece, and even better, someone is satisfied with and appreciates the labor of love. Thank you Karen Horton, most kind, astute, and talented Graphic Designer. Lots of Turkey for you this weekend!! Be sure to also take a look at her Flickr stream. Here is the entry from her Design:Related account, where she lists 20x200 as her design inspiration:
20 x 200 : Snail Mail is Fun Again
Back in October I came across the Jen Bekman project, 20x200. On a whim I purchased a print I liked by Laura Levine for $20 bucks. I forgot about this...until the “Do Not Bend� envelope arrived a week later.
I didn’t have high expectations...I was expecting just a poster for $20.
But my envelope was filled with little surprises: a sticker, an artist statement, and a print number certificate.
I was also told about the paper used for my print:
“You’ve received an archival pigment ink print on Crane Museo Portfolio Rag Paper.�It was a very positive experience and being able to afford beautiful art was rewarding.
Green Truck by Laura Levine, from an ongoing personal series of paintings depicting personal objects atop green stamp collage.
November 23, 2007
Special Black + White Friday Edition: Alison Grippo
Welcome to our special Black + White Friday edition of 20x200. The internet seemed sleepy as everyone prepared for holiday travel earlier this week, so we figured we'd wait and lay this week's photo edition on you today, now that you're back at your keyboards and revving your holiday shopping engines.
Today's edition comes to us from Alison Grippo, a Hot Shot, an Ultra, a gallery artist and one of the people who, with her wicked organizational skills, helped make the 20x200 dream a reality.
We've created this edition in three sizes. All are printed with archival pigment inks on 100% cotton rag paper.
8.5"x11"
Edition of 200 each $20.
17"x22"
Edition of 20 each $200.
30"x40"
Edition of 2 each $2000.
Alison is a native New Yorker in fact and in spirit - she's bold, ambitious and pretty intense. She has pursued her photography with incredible fervor and focus while juggling a million other things, and to good end. She explores a broad range of styles and subjects, but her street photography is what caught the attention of the Hey, Hot Shot! panel last year.
It's hard to be a street shooter in NYC - it requires a level of bravery that I can't muster personally, but apparently lots of people can and have been for years. There's a lot of epic, classic and iconic photography out there straight from the sidewalks of New York. Classics aside, in case you haven't noticed, there are a whole lot of photographers shooting right now and some of them are really freaking great.
I like Alison's street stuff because it's personal and has a warmth to it, without being overly sentimental. (She saves the edgy work for her Friday Night Fights series.) This particular photo appeals to me because it captures Chinatown, a place typically swarming with tourists, in a very non-touristy way. The rain gives everything a sharpening sheen. The street funnels the umbrellas, and the people under them, off into the horizon in a way that feels random and orderly at the same time. It's quintessential New York without being dramatically gritty or cheesy, and that's a pretty great accomplishment. It's a photo you'll enjoy living with, whether you're a New Yorker or not.
We are back with more, more, more next week. The tech elves are hard at work on our gift certificate program, which I am counting on to save my hide this festive season. I have been known to have strokes of brilliance in gift giving, but it's generally something that knots my stomach with anxiety. This year my holiday shopping is shaping up to be quite simple: art for all my friends, without having to make a specific choice they may or may not love. Yay!
Enjoy your leftovers and your long weekend and keep our archives in mind as you start to tackle your holiday shopping.
November 27, 2007
Tuesday Edition: Christina Muraczewski
Tuesday greetings from an unseasonably balmy New York City. It's time for fresh 20x200 art, and yes, those are birds. We love birds. Don't you?
Today's edition, by downtown LA denizen Christina Muraczweski, is a reproduction of Polly, an original mixed media on canvas painting measuring 18"x24". The print is available in three sizes:
8.5"x11"
Edition of 200 each $20.
17"x22"
Edition of 20 each $200.
30"x40"
Edition of 2 each $2000.
20x200 is a small operation, albeit one with big ambitions. I'd like to say that we have a buzzing and efficient nerve-center with a curatorial calendar mapped out well into 2008, but we're not quite there yet. Each week's new editions are a bit of a surprise not only to you, dear readers, but also to the few (and proud!) 20x200 team members.
Noona, our shipping and customer service goddess, prefers that I don't spoil the surprise. Raul on the other hand, would probably enjoy a little more advance notice, as he's the one putting together the pages for our new editions. Instead, we're usually having a conversation over IM in the wee hours of the morning, as .jpgs, bios and links make their way from my Inbox to his. Last night's (well, technically this morning's) conversation went something like this:
Raul: re tomorrow... what's the plan
Jen: I just sent the stuff to your Gmail account...
[pause]
Raul: more birds
Raul: love this one
Jen: We should be planned through the end of the year by this time next week, cannot wait.
[Ed. note: Hopefully not wishful thinking.]
Jen: Last night I had these dreams, actually nightmares, that we had sold so many gift certificates
[Ed. note: Coming soon! Very, very soon!]
Jen: And we didn't have any inventory for people to use them on
Raul: ha
[Ed. note: For the record, we will have inventory aplenty for gift certificate recipients.]
Jen: just forwarded you the new .jpg for Christina.
Raul: and what is the medium of the original?
Jen: "POLLY", 2007, 18"x24", acrylic, marker, and glitter on canvas
Raul: our first edition made with glitter
Jen: haha. I like it.
Raul: [sends a link a preview of the page]
Jen: that is a winner
Jen: BIRDS
Jen: and woodgrain
Raul: with glitter
Raul might be smitten with the glitter, but it's the woodgrain that I love. All three of the pieces that Christina submitted included this element, and that's what caught my eye.
I've always had a thing for faux bois in art, occasionally in housewares and even in clothing. There's actually some more woodgrain goodness coming up in a future 20x200 edition, but like everyone who works with me, you're just going to have to wait and be surprised.
Speaking of woodsy things... Now seems a good time to mention 20x200 artist Beth Dow's fabulous review in this week's New Yorker. About her current exhibition, on view at Jen Bekman Gallery through December 8th, Vince Aletti says: Dow’s images of woods and fields nod to the landscape tradition reaching from Eugène Atget to Robert Adams, and their quiet beauty is underlined by the richness of her platinum-palladium prints...Her pictures of a lone tree in a row of stumps and a pile of smoking stubble under a sad gray sky aren’t just taken; they’re felt.
Tomorrow we're back with some more woodsy goodness. See you then!
November 27, 2007
Wednesday Edition: Ian Baguskas
Kamping Kabins, by Ian Baguskas
It's Wednesday, which means it's time for more photo goodness from 20x200. Today's snowy landscape comes to us from road-tripping Hot Shot Ian Baguskas.
You can buy your Kamping Kabins print now. It's an archival pigment print, printed on 100% cotton rag paper, and it's available in 3 sizes. Surely one is just right for you:
8.5"x11"
Edition of 200 each $20.
17"x22"
Edition of 20 each $200.
30"x40"
Edition of 2 each $2000.
Ian is a 2007 Hey, Hot Shot! Ultra, in the fine company of three other 20x200 artists Kate Bingaman-Burt, Alison Grippo and Joseph O. Holmes. Ian's always on a road trip, or about to leave for one. He's out West right now snapping away, and I've been enjoying his email dispatches from the field.
I share Ian's interest in how we modern American folk pursue leisure and manufacture authentic (*cough*) experiences to connect us with nature, or an idealized version of our history or better yet: both! Kamping Kabins combines of all these concepts in one awfully appealing photograph. Says Ian in his statement:
I photographed them from the edge of a large interstate during a snowstorm. The fact that these cabins are so close to a busy road makes them not as quaint as they seem in the picture. The desire to stay in rustic "Old West" style lodging fascinates me as does the compromise made by staying in ones right next to a road full of cars and trucks speeding by.
This photo triggers and connects a lot of happy associations for me. It's one of those idealized landscapes, almost a Currier & Ives vibe but not really. (And it's hard for me to suspend disbelief, knowing as I do now that the interstate was rumbling behind Ian as he clicked the shutter.) It's a snowy desert, which seems a contradiction in terms to my city self - I always think of relentless heat and tumbleweeds when contemplating the desert. (Clearly I watched too many Road Runner cartoons as a kid.) The desert reminds me of an epic road trip I took through Arizona and New Mexico this past Spring. The color of the cabins reminds me of the Lincoln Logs that I played with when I was a kid. And speaking of my kid-self, it also reminds me of the Laura Ingalls Wilder books I read obsessively throughout grade school.
All of this is to say: This is my kind of photo. Sure, I enjoy it from an aesthetic perspective, but it also gets me thinking.
That's it for this week. I am now going to return my attention to all kinds of other things: Beth Dow's exhibition, the upcoming Hey, Hot Shot! show, my neglected personal blog, travel planning (Paris? Minnesota? Los Angeles?), gift certificates, future editions and the fact that my dog really needs a bath pronto.
See you next week!