Artist Corner - Evgeniy Shaman

Evgeniy Shaman is a Russian photographer. His photos are very cinematic, as they are more like certain fragments from a film. These photos are very emotional, and I can always read many stories from a single photograph. The technique of multiple exposures he uses is especially appealing. Through such multiple layers, he put the figure into several settings in one photograph, and tell the story from different angels. Also, most of his photographs are monochrome. They have strong contrast and a very dark tone. He also published his own works as a book. These cinematic photographs are very fascinating, and extremely unique in style. 

Here are more of his works!

Artist Corner - Dane Shitagi

Again, a photographer! Don't blame me for only talking about photographers, LOL, but as a photographer myself, I am personally obsessed with artists who utilize photography as a medium to to express and explore artistic visions. And they definitely inspire me a lot in artistic practices. I would definitely introduce more contemporary artists who has strengths in other visual art practices.

Okay back to the artist. Dane Shitagi is a photographer whose inspirations and artistic perspective is based on New York City! All of his works tend to depict the relationship between the figures and the city, as each of his photograph would have a subtitle stating the place where it is taken, such as brooklyn bridge, central park, coney island, canal street, washington square, astoria queens, or even a nyc taxi. These titles enrich the meaning of the photographs themselves, and let the audience feel how people are connected to this greatest city in the world (sorry being so pretentious I just love this city).

Another distinctive I believe everyone would notice at the first glance is that most of his works are black and white. As we all know New York City is a place full of its own colors, the light of the Empire, the different colors of the subway line, and the iconic yellow taxis. But the photographer chooses to represent the essence of the city without the wrap of color disguise. And certainly highlight the beauties of this city and the gestures of the figures that we normally neglect under the cover of immense colorfulness.

Here is the collection of his art works. Dane Shitagi has many unique photography projects in the city. All the photographs come from his personal website: http://www.daneshitagi.com/

Artists Corner - Julie Pike

Julie Pike is a photographer based on Oslo, Norway. She does a lot of editorial photography for many magazines. I likes how she approaches these portraits in a very soft and foggy style, and expresses the evocative beauties from these figures. And she always knows how to balance the atmosphere between the figure and the background. The way she utilize the lighting in all of these photographs is especially unique. You can see how the lighting creates a mysterious but a little bit erotic feelings in these photographs. Here is the collection of her editorial photographs. 

Artist Corner - Alex Stoddard

Alex Stoddard is a very young but extremely talented American photographer currently based on LA, California. Similar to Nadia Wicker, his photography career starts with taking his self portraits in his 16.  But he is not only limited to that. His artistic vision is based in surrealistic style. Most of his photograph ideas are very crazy, as he plays the figure's relationship with the surroundings in a very creative way. And most of his photographs have the mysterious and enigmatic beauty, which is also how they draw the audience into them. 

Here is the collection of his fine art photography works.

pictures all come from his personal website, go and check it out!

Exhibitionary - Hendrik Kerstens Photography

This is Hendrik Kerstens's photography exhibit currently in Danziger Gallery. All the images in this collection are photographs of his own daughter. They are all large scale prints that imitates the style of oil paintings. And those photographs are very appealing in a weird way. He uses some unexpected props on his daughter and create some interesting visual effects.

The way he plays with this photography media is very interesting. For example, in photo on the left side, he puts a pile of napkins on her neck that seems like a "bonnet". 

In this photograph, he just puts a plastic bag on her head which looks like a giant medieval hat.

By printing in a particular style, he softens the skin tone and creates very beautiful portraits. I really like the style he makes of these portraits. I especially like the fact that they are very Renaissance portraits looking as the figure is posed in a certain way and is lifted out of the context to be put in a complete monochrome background. But at the same time they all have very novel and creative sides.

Anyway, one more photo of the beautiful sunny chelsea!

Exhibitionary - BEAT MEMORIES Allen Ginsberg

“Without even intending it, there is that little shiver of a moment in time preserved in the crystal cabinet of the mind. A little shiver of eternal space. That’s what I was looking for.” - Allen Ginsberg, 1979

Today, we went to see the Allen Ginsberg’s photographs collection called BEAT MEMORIES, which is currently on exhibit at NYU Grey Art Gallery. As we all know, Allen Ginsberg is the leading figure of the Beat Generation. He is not only known for his poems, but also those valuable black and white photographs that greatly represent the memories of beat generation.

Most of the photographs are the portraits of Ginsberg’s friends, which include many great figures of the Beat Generation ranged from musicians, writers, photographers, to filmmakers. Such as Bob Dylan, Harry Smith, Robert Frank, Gregory Corso, and William Burroughs, just to name a few. What I personally love about these portraits, are the fact that they are not very intended. They are more like daily snapshots under very casual circumstance. A lot of the portraits are taken across a dining table. Some of the photographs are very bold, but in the same time are taken very unintentionally. There are also many his self-portraits. From these beautiful first hand sources, we can see these artists and writers’ life in New York from the 50s to 80s.

If you are in New York, definitely go to NYU Grey Art Gallery and check out this exhibit, plus, it is free! It ends on April 6, 2013. 

Artist Corner - Nadia Wicker

Nadia Wicker is a female French photographer/make-up artist. She is 31 and currently lives in Paris. As both a photographer and a make-up artist, she perfectly balances these two identities and forms her extremely distinctive style.

Nadia Wicker's photographs are mainly self-portraits. She utilizes her own body and face to make art works. They not only serve as her tool to create, but also her inspirations. Her style is very abstract, bizarre, and striking. She is very bold with the putting the make ups together. Sometimes it looks very scary, but the effect is very stunning.

Here are the collections of her art works.