SANTA MONICA, CA.- ROSEGALLERY presents the second installment of Her First Meteorite. A selection of process based photographs that feature the work of seven artists: Dirk Braeckman, James Gallagher, Melinda Gibson, Ken Graves, Yoko Kanayama, Summer Mann Sebastian Riemer, accompanied by a selection of Civil War tintypes. The exhibition is on view from 12 December 2015 through 13 February 2016.
From experimenting with light sensitive, unconventional photographic papers, to repurposing salvaged negatives, the use of secondary processes within Her First Meteorite, Volume II, challenges the boundaries of the medium of photography. By allowing the works to enter the world of the surreal, this exhibition invites the viewer to question the identity of the visuals presented.
Through the use of experimental paper based images, pigment prints and temporal processes, Dirk Braeckman, James Gallagher, Sebastian Riemer, and the Civil War tintypes, utilize photographic abstraction to call attention to the dynamism of the human identity. While Gallagher, Riemer and the tintypes apply a traditional portrait image, the temporal component intrinsic to the tintype process, as well as the application of pigment and collage to the image, mirrors Braeckman’s time sensitive light processes. Through exploring time intensive, alternate uses of the medium’s essential components, Braeckman, Gallagher, Riemer and the tintypes work together to create an active and layered human narrative.
By stepping outside traditional processes to rediscover the photographic medium, Melinda Gibson, Kenneth Graves, Yoko Kanayama, and Summer Mann, utilize secondary processes and photographic collage in order to blur the boundaries of selfidentity and complicate the understanding of contemporary cultures. By focusing on the use of details and multiple layers within the photographic process, Gibson, Graves, Kanayama and Mann bring to light the socio-cultural narratives within the historical and contemporary urban landscape.
While revealing the processes behind its creation, Her First Meteorite, Volume II, works to deconstruct and complicate the universal “truth” of the photograph and challenge traditional forms of representation.
Dirk Braeckman, born in Eeklo, Belgium, was educated at the Koninklijke Academie voor Schone Kunsten, Ghent, with a focus in photography and film. Upon graduation in 1982, Braeckman co- founded the Ghent based Galerie and photomagazine, XYZ. Commissioned by the Royal Palace of Brussels, Braeckman has received considerable acclaim for his portraits of the Belgian king, Albert II and Queen Paola. In addition to his photographic work, Braeckman creates site-specific installations, such as the recently permanent installation of his work “H.S.-N.Y.-94-99”, within the Concert Hall of Bruges. In 2002, he was granted the cultural award of the University of Louvain and received the Cultural Prize of the Flemish Community, Section Fine Arts in 2005. Braeckman’s work has appeared in numerous books, magazine and catalogues, and was most recently featured in the Photo Art book and published by Dumont, Thames & Hudson and Aperture. He currently works and resides in Ghent, Belgium.
James Gallagher moved to New York from Michigan to attend the School of Visual Arts, where he studies Graphic Design and Illustration. With his experience in various media, he has worked on many projects from magazines and books to street apparel and pillowcases. Gallagher often combines images from found books, magazines and manuals to create surreal collages. His art has been shown in American Illustration, Communication Arts, Society of Publication Designers, and numerous Die Gestallen Publications. In addition to his art, he is also the curator of the Cutters exhibition, which toured New York, Berlin, and Ireland. Gallagher currently resides in Brooklyn and oversees the bi-monthly publication, Secret Behavior.
Melinda Gibson was born in in the UK in 1985, and currently lives and works in London. She received a BA in Photography from the London College of Communication in 2006. While developing her own work, Gibson assisted various photographers, including Martin Parr and Wolfgang Tillmans. In 2010, both FOAM magazine and the Magenta Foundation noted and awarded Gibson as an emerging artist. Gibson was nominated for the Foam Paul Huf Award in 2014 and is exhibited and published internationally. She has published three books, including “The Photograph As Contemporary Art”, which was awarded Best Books of 2012 by Photo-eye. As she collages, Gibson reaches photography through more intimate means. The playful and poignant collages stare deeper into the photograph through focusing and emphasizing certain areas while placing them into new contexts.
Kenneth Graves received his B.F.A. and M.F.A. from the San Francisco Art Institute in the 1960s. From 1977 through 2009, Graves taught photography at Pennsylvania State University, where his work transitioned from traditional documentary style photography, to a more controlled, studio- based process. Both his photographs and photographic collages are collected and exhibited in major museums around the world, including, the New York and San Francisco Museums of Modern Art, Brooklyn Museum, the George Eastman House and the National Library in Paris. Kenneth Graves is a recipient of the Guggenheim Fellowship (2001) and currently resides in the San Francisco Bay area.
Yoko Kanayama received her B.F.A. in Photography from Otis College of Art and Design, and her M.F.A. in Photography from the California Institute of the Arts. Born and raised in Kyoto, Japan, Kanayama moved to the United States in 1991 and soon after received the National Graduate Seminar Fellowship from NYU Tisch School of Arts in 1999. She has exhibited throughout the United Sates, Spain and the U.K. and in 2002, participated in Light Work’s Artist-in-Residence program.
Sebastian Riemer received his M.F.A. in Photography at the Kunstakademie Düsseldorf, where he studied for two years under Thomas Ruff. Born in Oberhausen, Germany, Riemer has exhibited extensively throughout Germany, Russia, Poland and Istanbul. His work utilizes the manipulation of the photographic image, and has garnered him international acclaim, earning him the Audi Art Award Neue Fotografie (2012), as well as the German Youth Photoprice (2014). Riemer holds permanent photographic collections at the Kunstpalast Düsseldorf, as well as the City Museum Düsseldorf. He currently lives and works in Düsseldorf, Germany.
Summer Mann earned an undergraduate degree from the University of Iowa before studying fine art at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, as well as the California Institute of the Arts, Los Angeles. Mann’s work details the interplay between photographic documentation of reality and the constructed viewpoints of her painted world. Mann has exhibited throughout the United States and currently lives and works in Los Angeles, California.
