Seen and Found: A stARTup LA 2020 Photography Preview
Feature by Content Curator Mica England
2019 was a strong year for photography at stARTup Art Fair, with LA 2019’s new media theme, BAPC at SF 2019, and a strong black and white presence from our Houston 2019 photographers.
stARTup LA 2020 continues our mission to promote innovative photo-based work from vastly different emerging artists, some of which we’ve highlighted below. Here’s a preview of some of what you will find at The Kinney Venice Beach February 14-16, 2020.
In Room 304 Barton Lewis combines the gritty and decorous with opulent decay. His most recent works include photography of visually arresting surfaces in an urban setting — building facades, construction fences, doors and mailboxes — and of wall cuts in the New York City transit system.
in theaters, Elmhurst Ave., IND Queens Blvd. Line, by Barton Lewis, 2018
In Room 304 Barton will recreate this iconic subway system where these print ads are displayed. For him, the tearing of paper by subway artists creates collage-like effects. Here the passage of time and organic processes of decay create arresting “found” images with bold and striking gestures, delicate and layered effects, and a wide range of colors, textures, and patterns. In many cases, they look like intentional, finished works of art.
287-163, Flushing Ave., IND Crosstown Line, by Barton Lewis, 2018
Xan Blood Walker in Room 316 remembers as a child “seeing an image of a person looking through a keyhole. I always imagined there was something fascinating, interesting, just out of sight. When I read the book The Secret Garden this added to this sense of mystery on the other side. And then came The Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe and worlds opened up.”
A Window to Windows by Xan Blood Walker, 31 x 25 in., 2012
Xan is still fascinated with doors, windows, and other secret passages. Searching for the magic on the “other side,” her lens peers through broken glass and graffiti, chain-link fence and concrete, wood and steel.
Beautiful Destruction by Xan Blood Walker, 26 x 30 in., 2013
And like in the photo above, “The harsh truth of the camera eye” informs her Bay Area urban landscapes, like Barton’s found and urban collages.
Xan will be exhibiting alongside Bree Zay in Room 316.
Charles Edwards will also be exhibiting with wife Zofia Kostyrko-Edwards in Room 220.
Julie by Charles Edwards, Silver print, 16 x 20", 2003
Charles is heavily inspired by the early 20th century art movements of Precisionism and Surrealism, as well as the work and solutions developed by 19th century photographic pioneers. With these “it is my ambition to combine the convincing nature of photography with the nimble play of imagination to create images that can, possibly, liberate the viewers minds from the laws of gravity and the restraints of the universe.”
A Breezy Day by Charles Edwards, Digital print and copper leaf, 13 x 18 in., 2019
I’m particularly taken with these prints, which remind me of the earlier works of fellow stARTup artist Camila Magrane — also inspired by Man Ray, Hannah Höch, and other Surrealist and Dadaists. Perhaps I’ll have to pick up one of these for my collection too!
In Room 207 Anne M Bray is more new media in her approach to the urban and suburban landscape.
Into Darkness, US101, CA by Anne M Bray, Digital watercolor on aluminum, 7 x 5 in., 2019
Anne is inspired by the American Road Trip. Her On The Edge: US project started in 2014, with Anne driving solo and counterclockwise on US Highways and Interstates as close to the edge of the country as possible while capturing images on her journey. Later, using the Waterlogue app, she processes the images into digital watercolors and prints them on aluminum at postcard scale (4 x 6″).
NYC by Anne M Bray, Digital watercolor on aluminum, 5 x 7 in., 2019
For Anne, “the effect is a passenger seat view of my journey on the country’s roads less traveled.” The source photographs from the trip can be viewed on her Flickr portfolio, separated into days of travel. Her first album is here.
In addition to these artist/exhibitors, Los Angeles non-profits Los Angeles Center for Photography and Venice Arts are both returning to showcase works from the next generation of photographers. And our Special Programming is set to inspire the photographer’s eye in all of us with performances by Elizabeth Yochim, sculptures and suspended shapes by Patricia Rubio, and an art couture fashion walk designed by Zofia Kostyrko-Edwards.
Silvia Curiel, Student, Venice Arts, Age 18, 2016
And while you’re in Los Angeles for the fairs this coming Valentine’s weekend, visit Nous Tous for Sister Gaze: The Instant Archive, a photography show featuring the intimate Polaroid portraits of Chinaedu E. Nwadibia, and the Japanese American National Museum for Taiji Terasaki’s TRANSCENDIENTS: Heroes at the Borders, a multimedia and multi-sensory experience sharing generations of stories of Japanese Americans.
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You can find more Digital Media and Photography works from our artists in our Artists Archive.
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