Hey, Hot Shot!

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  Second Edition 2012 Hot Shot: Ilona Szwarc

  Posted: 9-February-2013, 3:24pm EST by Carrie Strine

  Lexi, Lindenhurst, NY, 2012 by Ilona Szwarc

  Gillian, New York, NY, 2011 by Ilona Szwarc

  Maya and Leeyla, Northport, NY, 2011 by Ilona Szwarc

  Jenna, Groveland, MA, 2011 by Ilona Szwarc

  Tiffani-Amber, Lido Beach, NY, 2011 by Ilona Szwarc

  Ilona Szwarc

  Website: www.ilonaszwarc.com

  Bio:
  Ilona Szwarc was born and raised in Warsaw, Poland. In 2008, she immigrated to New York City, where she currently lives and works.

  Her work examines gender, identity and beauty in the context of American culture.

  Szwarc has had a solo exhibition at Claude Samuel gallery in Paris and has been shown in group shows internationally - in London, Bilbao and New York. Her work has been featured in numerous publications worldwide including TIME, The Sunday Times Magazine, The Telegraph Magazine, Surface China, PDN. She has won PDN 2012 Annual in the Personal Category and has been awarded Grand Prize in the Fine Art category of the PDNedu 2013 contest. She been selected for American Photography 28.

  Her project "American Girls" has received worldwide recognition, having been highlighted in The New York Times Lens Blog, MSNBC Today.com and The Huffington Post.

  Statement:
  American Girls is a series of portraits of girls in United States who own American Girl dolls. When I first came to US the phenomenon of the American Girl doll immediately caught my attention. Photographically it was a beautiful image - girls with their sculptural representations, their twins, their avatars. I realized that their design embodies contemporary cultural values. They were conceived to be anti-Barbie toys modeled after a body of a nine year old.

  Each doll can be customized to look exactly like its owner, yet all of them really look the same. American Girl dolls offer an illusion of choice therefore an illusion of individuality. Despite they play a crucial role for girls in a moment when they are forming their identity. With a wide variety of miniature accessories, a doll hospital, a doll hair salon with personal stylists they are perhaps the most luxurious toys ever invented.

  American Girl product defines and categorizes American girls - future American women and that fact raises important questions about who gets represented and how. Branding behind the doll perpetuates domesticity and traditional gender roles. I examine how culture and society conditions gender and how it invents childhood. Gender becomes a performance that is again mirrored in the performance of my subjects for the camera.

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  Join Us in Congratulating the Second Edition 2012 Hot Shots!

  Posted: 9-February-2013, 4:22pm EST by Carrie Strine

  

  We are thrilled to announce our Second Edition 2012 Hot Shots! Huge congratulations to:

  David Favrod
  Erin O'Keefe
  Pacifico Silano
  Ilona Szwarc
  Trey Wright

  These five photographers were chosen from hundreds of exceptionally talented entrants. Each is awarded with:

  + A $500 honorarium
  + Participation in the Hey, Hot Shot! group show at Jen Bekman Gallery in downtown New York

  Additionally, each Hot Shot is now in the running to become the Grand Prize–winning Ultra, who will be awarded a $10,000 honorarium, a solo show at Jen Bekman Gallery and two years of representation from the gallery.

  Many thanks to our panel of esteemed photography professionals—Stephen Frailey, Raul Gutierrez, Darius Himes, Jenni Holder, Lesley A. Martin, Nion McEvoy, Paul Moakley and Penelope Umbrico—who joined Jen Bekman, Sara Distin, Carrie Strine and Jeffrey Teuton in dedicating their time, energy and critical eyes to select our last five Hot Shots of 2012.

  We're looking forward to many collaborations with all of the Hot Shots (and the Grand Prize–winning Ultra) at the gallery and on 20x200. Stay up to date with 20x200 to see which Second Edition 2012 photographers will release limited-edition prints.

  Last but not least, we'd like to congratulate all of the Contenders and Honorable Mentions for having submitted exceptional work and raising the bar, making it challenging (but, oh, so worth it) to select this last round of 2012 Hot Shots.

  The Honorable Mentions are:

  Noah Addis
  Matthew Arnold
  Meiko Takechi Arquillos
  Ana Buljan
  Claire Dorn
  Corey Escoto
  Sam Irons
  Shannon Jensen
  Andrew B. Myers
  Steven Paneccasio
  Augustin Rebetez
  Hiroshi Takizawa
  Fabiola Menchelli Tejeda
  Gesche Wurfel
  Xiaoxiao Xu

  Want your shot at the recognition, support and cash?
  In addition to these amazing opportunities, HHS! is the only way to have your work considered to be featured on 20x200. The First Edition 2013 round of competition will be opening very soon. Sign up for our newsletter, follow us on Twitter and like our Facebook page.

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  Join Us in Congratulating the Second Edition 2012 Hot Shots!

  Posted: 22-January-2013, 3:26pm EST by Charlie Fish

  

  We are thrilled to announce our Second Edition 2012 Hot Shots! Huge congratulations to:

  David Favrod
  Erin O'Keefe
  Pacifico Silano
  Ilona Szwarc
  Trey Wright

  These five photographers were chosen from hundreds of exceptionally talented entrants. Each is awarded with:

  + A $500 honorarium
  + Participation in the Hey, Hot Shot! group show at Jen Bekman Gallery in downtown New York

  Additionally, each Hot Shot is now in the running to become the Grand Prize–winning Ultra, who will be awarded a $10,000 honorarium, a solo show at Jen Bekman Gallery and two years of representation from the gallery.

  Many thanks to our panel of esteemed photography professionals—Stephen Frailey, Raul Gutierrez, Darius Himes, Jenni Holder, Lesley A. Martin, Nion McEvoy, Paul Moakley and Penelope Umbrico—who joined Jen Bekman, Sara Distin, Carrie Strine and Jeffrey Teuton in dedicating their time, energy and critical eyes to select our last five Hot Shots of 2012.

  We're looking forward to many collaborations with all of the Hot Shots (and the Grand Prize–winning Ultra) at the gallery and on 20x200. Stay up to date with 20x200 to see which Second Edition 2012 photographers will release limited-edition prints.

  Last but not least, we'd like to congratulate all of the Contenders and Honorable Mentions for having submitted exceptional work and raising the bar, making it challenging (but, oh, so worth it) to select this last round of 2012 Hot Shots.

  The Honorable Mentions are:

  Noah Addis
  Matthew Arnold
  Meiko Takechi Arquillos
  Ana Buljan
  Claire Dorn
  Corey Escoto
  Sam Irons
  Shannon Jensen
  Andrew B. Myers
  Steven Paneccasio
  Augustin Rebetez
  Hiroshi Takizawa
  Fabiola Menchelli Tejeda
  Gesche Wurfel
  Xiaoxiao Xu

  Want your shot at the recognition, support and cash?
  In addition to these amazing opportunities, HHS! is the only way to have your work considered to be featured on 20x200. The First Edition 2013 round of competition will be opening very soon. Sign up for our newsletter, follow us on Twitter and like our Facebook page.

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  Second Edition 2012 Hot Shot: Trey Wright

  Posted: 17-January-2013, 1:48pm EST by Charlie Fish

  Cut/Copy (Maurice), 2012 by Trey Wright

  Cut/Copy (blue and pink), 2012 by Trey Wright

  Cut/Copy (spanish fly), 2012 by Trey Wright

  Cut/Copy (IP), 2012 by Trey Wright

  Cut/Copy (rafflessia), 2012 by Trey Wright

  Trey Wright

  Website: treywright.net

  Bio:
  Trey Wright is an artist based in Dallas, Texas. He attended the University of North Texas and received a degree in fine art in 2009. In addition, he has taken design and photography courses at Collin College in Plano, Texas. He received a DeGolyer Grant from the Dallas Museum of Art in 2008 and a subsequent Kimbrough Grant in 2010, and in 2012 he earned the Golden Artist Color Award from Springfield Museum. In July 2012, he had his debut solo show, Last Day of Magic, at Meme Gallery.

  Statement:
  The photographs I make are a response to the visual culture around me and trying to make sense of it. I often lay the scrap photos out on the table and arrange them like specimens to be examined. I come from a background in painting and art photography, and examining the minute details of a place are particularly important to me. These cuts and pieces act out simple narratives and call into question what entices us into the picture plane.

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  Second Edition 2012 Hot Shot: Ilona Szwarc

  Posted: 17-January-2013, 2:23pm EST by Charlie Fish

  Lariat, TX, 2012 by Ilona Szwarc

  Camree, TX, 2012 by Ilona Szwarc

  Carsen and Cooper, TX, 2012 by Ilona Szwarc

  Dee, TX, 2012 by Ilona Szwarc

  Madalyn, TX, 2012 by Ilona Szwarc

  Ilona Szwarc

  Website: www.ilonaszwarc.com

  Bio:
  Ilona Szwarc was born and raised in Warsaw, Poland. In 2008, she immigrated to New York City, where she currently lives and works. Prior to moving to the U.S. Ilona was working in the film industry. Her credits include working with directors Jonathan Glazer, Roman Polanski and Andrzej Wajda. Ilona has worked for photographers Mary Ellen Mark and Joel Meyerowitz. Szwarc's photographs have been exhibited internationally—in Paris, London, Bilbao and New York. Her work has been published by numerous publications worldwide, including the Telegraph Magazine, the Sunday Times Magazine, Surface China and PDN. Szwarc's work has also received significant exposure online, having been featured in the New York Times Lens Blog, the Huffington Post, MSNBC, Today.com, Feature Shoot and Le Journal de la Photographie.

  Statement:
  Rodeo Girls is a portrait project about young girls who compete in rodeos on a professional level. [In the summer of 2012] I returned to Texas, where I used to live and study as a foreign exchange student from Poland. During my high school years I became fascinated by this culture and wanted to go back to create a body of work about this old fashioned American tradition, which is recently vanishing. The project invesitages a different aspect of American girl culture and documents a different idea of femininity—girls who are strong, tough and competitive and who are involved in activities that traditionally are reserved for men. They are limited in manifesting their femininity—it is often transposed to their animals, which are very pampered. Even though the attire is the same as men's, girls accessorize their jeans and shirts, as well as their horses, to show their girly style. They are athletes who travel from competition to competition all year long. Each one of them owns several horses and trailers. It is a unique lifestyle, where kids are brought up in a very strict and disciplined manner, with emphasis on hard work, respect and cultivation of friendships and family relationships. They are often isolated and secluded, devoting their time to animals and work on farms.

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  Second Edition 2012 Hot Shot: Erin O'Keefe

  Posted: 17-January-2013, 2:44pm EST by Charlie Fish

  Scholar's Rock, 2012 by Erin O'Keefe

  Red Net, 2012 by Erin O'Keefe

  Folded Mirror, 2012 by Erin O'Keefe

  Echo, 2012 by Erin O'Keefe

  Red Box, 2012 by Erin O'Keefe

  Erin O'Keefe

  Website: www.erinokeefe.com

  Bio:
  I am a visual artist based in New York City and New Brunswick, Canada. In addition to my fine art career, I am an Associate Professor of Architecture at the New York Institute of Technology. The trajectory of my art making practice has included architecture, sculpture and photography. My work is concerned with spatial perception and the terrain between two-dimensional representation and three-dimensional space. My work has been featured in solo and group exhibitions in the U.S. and abroad; most recently, I was included in Humble Arts Foundation 31 Women in Art Photography at the Hasted Kraeutler Gallery. I have pieces in museum and corporate collections, including at the San Francisco MOMA and the Progressive Corporation.

  Statement:
  This series of images examines the relationship between object and image. I photograph two-dimensional constructions, which are themselves made from pieces of other photographic images, and rely on the three-dimensionality depicted in these fragments to create the illusion of a sculptural object. The deadpan presentation of the object, and the directness of its construction, are in conflict with the persistent uncertainty of its spatial condition.

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  Second Edition 2012 Hot Shot: Pacifico Silano

  Posted: 17-January-2013, 2:58pm EST by Charlie Fish

  Male Centerfold, 2012 by Pacifico Silano

  Wood Panelling, 2012 by Pacifico Silano

  Keep It Hard, 2012 by Pacifico Silano

  Autograph Session, 2012 by Pacifico Silano

  Al & Casey, 2012 by Pacifico Silano

  Pacifico Silano

  Website: pacificosilano.com

  Bio:
  Pacifico Silano was born in Brooklyn, New York. He received his BFA in photography from Pennsylvania College of Art & Design in 2008. He recently graduated with his MFA in photography, video & related media and is a 2012 recipient of the Aaron Siskind Award. His video installation Where The Boys Are was recently shown in a group exhibition at ClampArt, and he has been chosen to participate in the 2013 Bronx Museum's Artist in The Marketplace Program. As part of the Artist in The Marketplace program, an installation of his work is going to be exhibited in the Bronx Museum's 2nd Biennial in June 2013. His photo and video work is an exploration into LGBTQ history and how it has shaped contemporary gay identity. He has lived in a number of places over the years but is happy to be back in his hometown of Brooklyn, New York.

  Statement:
  My photographic work examines life before the AIDS epidemic. By creating imagery with Al Parker, one of the most famous gay porn stars of the 1970s, I have created an unconventional series of portraits that memorialize and draw attention to a lost generation of gay men. The process of making these new pictures and reworking images from the past has allowed me to catalogue and emphasize a neglected history, one that is imbued with my own fantasies of a place and time that I never lived through.

  Throughout my extensive research of this subject matter I have become infatuated with the persona of Al Parker. His image is the physical embodiment of rugged good looks, gay masculinity and dominance. Using Photoshop, Google's image search and reworked vintage photographs, I have found a way of breathing life into the forgotten, 20 years after his passing due to complications of HIV.

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  Second Edition 2012 Hot Shot: David Favrod

  Posted: 17-January-2013, 3:16pm EST by Charlie Fish

  Autoportrait en poulpe, 2009 by David Favrod

  Le Dôme, 2009 by David Favrod

  Sadako, 2009 by David Favrod
  
  Mishiko, 2012 by David Favrod

  BAOUMMMM, 2012 by David Favrod

  David Favrod

  Website: www.davidfavrod.com

  Bio:
  David Favrod lives and works in Switzerland. He is a graduate of École cantonale d'art de Lausanne with a master's degree in art direction and a bachelor's degree in photography. Other than winning the Aperture Portfolio Prize, Favrod has also been included in reGeneration2, a book and touring exhibition showcasing emerging photographers. His work has been shown in solo and group shows around the world.

  Statement:
  My name is David "Takashi" Favrod. I was born on the 2nd of July, 1982, in Kobe, Japan, to a Japanese mother and a Swiss father. When I was six months old, my parents decided to come and live in Switzerland, more precisely in Vionnaz, a little village in lower Valais. As my father had to travel for his work a lot, I was mainly brought up by my mother, who taught me her principles and her culture. When I was 18, I asked for double nationality at the Japanese embassy, but they refused because it is only given to Japanese women who wish to obtain their husband's nationality. It is from this feeling of rejection and also from a desire to prove that I am as Japanese as I am Swiss that this work was created. Gaijin is a fictional narrative, a tool for my quest for identity, where self-portraits imply an intimate and solitary relationship that I have with myself. The mirror image is frozen in a figurative alter ego that serves as an anchor point. The aim of this work is to create "my own Japan" in Switzerland, from memories of my journeys when I was small, my mother's stories, popular and traditional culture and my grandparents' war narratives. In terms of factual information, I surely appear to be the most well informed person about my own self. But as soon as I need to communicate about who I am, I tend to do it through filters, selecting what I want to communicate and how I wish to do it, in accordance with my interests and sensitivity. So what can be the objective value of the way that I picture my family and my life? How much does it concretely relate to reality or not??

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  You're Invited! Join Us Tomorrow for the Opening of the Hey, Hot Shot! Showcase at Jen Bekman Gallery

  Posted: 10-January-2013, 11:41am EST by Charlie Fish

  Burnout (Perfectly Strange), Auto Club Raceway, Fontana, 2011 by Daniel Handal

  News for the new year: Photography by the First Edition 2012 Hot Shots will be on exhibit at Jen Bekman Gallery in the Hey, Hot Shot! 2012 First Edition Showcase. The group show features work by Heather Cleary, Daniel Handal, Susan Magnus, Muge and Zach Nader. If you're in NYC, head downtown to the gallery at 6 Spring Street for the opening reception TOMORROW, Friday, January 11th, 2013, from 6:00 to 8:00 p.m.

  If you can't join us for the reception, the showcase will be on view Saturday, January 12th, through Sunday, January 27th. The gallery is open Wednesday through Sunday from noon - 6:00 p.m., or by private appointment.

  Jen Bekman Gallery Director Jeffrey Teuton writes of the artists:

  Muge's black and white photographs poetically interpret spirituality and evolving relationships with nature and time. ...Heather Cleary modifies domestic objects such as Styrofoam cups and creates abstractions that... explore the relationship between impartial objects and personal perceptions. Susan Magnus repurposes 4"x6" snapshots she has accumulated of people and places; she paints over and distorts these composed photos to create installations that question symbolic aspects of material culture, reflecting the unreliable nature of photography and memory.

  By removing models and products from fashion-magazine advertisements, Zach Nader interrogates the usefulness of the visual information that remains in asking where an image's value resides... Daniel Handal's Rough Stock explores American ideas of masculinity through the world of motorsports, which are both a modern-day parallel of and a continuation from the idealized cowboys of the past.

  These exceptional photographers won the first round of the 2012 competition, earning a $500 stipend and consideration for the grand prize, in addition to being considered for participation with 20x200.com. From all the 2012 Hot Shots (second round of winners to be announced very soon), one grand prize-winner will be selected for a $10,000 honorarium, a solo exhibition at the gallery and gallery representation for two years. Since its inception in 2005, Hey, Hot Shot! has debuted more than 140 photographers, including 2010 Whitney Biennial artists Nina Berman and Curtis Mann.

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  HHS! Contender: Ilona Szwarc

  Posted: 10-January-2013, 3:04pm EST by Christopher Wegman

  Madalyn, TX, 2012 by Ilona Szwarc

  Warsaw, Poland-born Ilona Szwarc has resided in New York City since 2008, where she works fervently on her portraiture projects. Szwarc also has a background in the film industry, notably working for Andrzej Wajda, Jonathan Glazer and Roman Polanski. Perhaps this is why her photographs of young girls often look very cinematic. Her latest work, Rodeo Girls, are portraits of the young Texas rodeo competitors and their distinct backdrops. Szwarc shows the curious complexities of these unusual people. The photographs celebrate the beauty of the terrain, the oddity of the tradition and the commitment the girls have made—their faces laden with emotions from the demanding lifestyle.
  Dee, TX, 2012 by Ilona Szwarc

  In Rodeo Girls, much like another of her projects, American Girls, Szwarc is focusing on the transference of femininity. Szwarc continues to express this idea in her statement:
  

  Rodeo Girls is a portrait project about young girls who compete in rodeos on a professional level. This summer I returned to Texas, where I used to live and study as a foreign exchange student from Poland. During my high school years I became fascinated by this culture and wanted to go back to create a body of work about this old fashioned American tradition that is recently vanishing. The project investigates a different aspect of American girl culture and documents a different idea of femininity—girls who are strong, tough and competitive and who are involved in activities that traditionally are reserved for men. They are limited in manifesting their femininity—it is often transposed to their animals, which are very pampered. Even though the attire is the same as men's, girls accessorize their jeans and shirts as well as their horses to show their girly style. They are athletes who travel from competition to competition all year long. Each one of them owns several horses and trailers. It is a unique lifestyle, where kids are brought up in a very strict and disciplined manner with emphasis on hard work, respect and cultivation of friendships and family relationships. They are often isolated and secluded, devoting their time to animals and work on farms.

  
  Lariat, TX, 2012 by Ilona Szwarc

  Ilona Szwarc currently attends The School of Visual Arts, with an anticipated completion in 2013. Her work has been published by numerous publications worldwide, including the Telegraph Magazine, the Sunday Times Magazine, Surface China and PDN. She has been exhibited internationally in Paris, London, Bilbao and New York. Szwarc uses a large format Toyo CF 45.

  Camree, TX, 2012 by Ilona Szwarc