Artist Gerald Slota and Work Scholars, Photo by Elina Ruka

Anders Petersen install at Marvelli gallery, Photo by Elina Ruka

It is a great privlege to hear about a great photograph from the photographer himself. This past week Aperture Work Scholars had the opportunity to meet artists and gallerists at several new exhibitions in Chelsea.

The tour began with an artist led walkthrough of Gerald Slota’s recent collaboration with playwright Neil LaBute at Ricco Maresca gallery before continuing on to artist Marco Breuer’s show at Von Lintel gallery, concluding with a sneak-peak of Anders Petersen’s new exhibition at Marvelli gallery.

A new exhibit of works by artist Gerald Slota, who was featured in Aperture issue 196 , Home Sweet Home was created through correspondence with celebrated playwright, screenwriter and movie director Neil LaBute. The series, on view at Ricco Maresca gallery, explores ‘the sordid family secret’ at times verging on black humor. Slota’s charasmatic story-telling brought the exhibit to life. During a Q&A session we discovered the importance of experimentation in Gerald’s image making process.

At Von Lintel gallery we met the gallery co-director Dana Greenidge who gave us a detailed tour of Marco Breuer’s exhibit. Marco Breuer’s monograph Early Recordings was published by Aperture and showcased a survey of the artist’s conceptually driven work. His new exhibit Nature of the Pencil combines photographic elements with performative writings and drawings.

A sneak-peak of City Diary by Anders Petersen, who was featured on the cover of Aperture issue 198, on view at Marvelli gallery which had yet to open to the public at the time of our tour, revealed a marvelous black-and-white photographic journey through the honest and passionate human relations depicted in Petersen’s work. The photographer himself greeted us briefly before rushing away to finish installing the show.

This Work Scholar post is by Elina Ruka who currently interns for both the Sales and Limited-Edition Photographs Departments.

Elina is a recent graduate of Ecoles de Conde in France where she studied photography. Her favorite Aperture books are Kamaitachi and Winter Stories among others. Elina, coming from Latvia, loves to discover New York, lives in the moment, and documents her experiences in photographs and words on her blog.

See below for new upcoming exhibitions opening abroad in Europe:

Photo by Will Steacy

Will Steacy, who is a current contributor to Aperture’s ongoing initiative the NYC Green Cart Comission, has a new solo show The Montropolous Beast opening at Christophe Guye gallery in Switzerland this week. The Montropolous Beast, titled after a Zora Neale Hurston quote, brings together new and old works by the young artist whose photographs of America’s inner cities fall somewhere between photojournalist documentation and the poetics of romanticized realism. This will be Steacy’s first solo show abroad.

Will Steacy: The Monstropolous Beast
November 17th, 2010 – January 15th, 2011
Opening Tuesday, November 16th, 6-8pm

Chrisophe Guye Galerie
Dufourstrasse 31, 8008
Zurich, Switzerland

Photo by Robin Schwartz

Things Fall Apart a group show curated by acclaimed photographer Amy Stein and featuring an exciting roster of photographers opens November 20th at Berlin’s Pool Gallery. The exhibit brings together works by photographers Robin Schwartz, who was published in Aperture’s Tiny Vices books series, Lisa Kereszi who recently spoke on Aperture magazine panel 10 Things You Should Know About Magazine Publishing Today, Justine Reyes who spoke in Aperture’s NYPH ’10 panel series, Zoe Strauss, Juliana Beasley, Stacy Mehrfar, and Amy Stein herself. This exhibit considers the ways these disparate artist’s works comment on a collective understanding of the fine balance in our contemporary world between order and safety and a looming sense of chaos or danger. Things Fall Apart is Steins curatorial debut at Pool Gallery although she has exhibited at the gallery before.

Things Fall Apart Curated by Amy Stein
Works by Juliana Beasley, Lisa Kereszi, Stacy Mehrfar, Justine Reyes, Robin Schwartz, Zoe Strauss, Amy Stein
Opening reception November 19th, 2010, 6-9pm
On view November 20th 2010 – January 15th 2011

Pool Gallery
Tucholskystrabe 38 10117
Berlin, Germany

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All of us at Aperture Foundation would like to thank everyone who submitted work to the 2010 Aperture Portfolio Prize. This year, Aperture’s editorial and limited-edition print departments—five staff members and five work scholars in all—reviewed over nine hundred portfolios. Our challenge was to select one top prize and four honorable mentions from this overwhelming response. Thus, we are pleased to present the following five finalists Kathryn Parker Almanas, Pre-Exisiting Condition; David Favrod, Gaijin; Anne Golaz, The Hunting Game / Chasses; Julian Röder, Lagos Transformation; and Jordan Tate, New Work.

The winner of the Aperture Portfolio Prize will be announced in December 2010, at which time finalists’ portfolios and statements will be presented on-line. An exhibition will be planned in conjunction with the final winner, and take place in spring 2011.

One of the treats of being an Aperture Work Scholar is the opportunity to meet and work with the many celebrated photographers, artists and writers going in and out of the Aperture office to look at proofs, review portfolios as well as discuss and propose projects. Most recently photographer Richard Misrach whose book Destroy this Memory was recently released by Aperture, stopped by for a quick visit!

Earlier in the week the photographer was honored at Aperture’s Benefit and Auction, gave a talk and book signing at The Strand to promote Destroy this Memory, and spent some time signing more books for Aperture Bookstore’s stock. To move things along, Richard, a few Aperture staff and I formed an assembly line and were able to quickly get through 100 or so books. Thank you Richard!

Just as Richard was getting ready to leave Hank Willis Thomas, author of Pitch Blackness, made a special appearance at the office, and the two esteemed Aperture photographers got to meet each other for the first time. Each of them signed their books for each other and got to share a brief but momentous occasion.

This Work Scholar post is by Communications intern Avril Kuo.

Avril is a recent graduate of Wellesley College where she studied art history and economics. Her favorite Aperture books are New York Rises and Black Passport. Avril enjoys figuring out how to use her Mamiya medium format camera and raiding her mother’s closet for vintage finds.

From the Work Scholar’s Desk is a new series on the Exposures blog presenting a behind the scenes look at Aperture’s many events, projects, the book making process, the Aperture Portfolio Prize and more from the perspective of Aperture’s Work Scholars. The Work Scholar program at Aperture places individuals of promise in the midst of Aperture’s various departments, engaging interns in the day to day activities of the institution.

Upcoming Events with these two Artists:

Lecture and Book Signing with Richard Misrach at SF Camerawork
Tuesday, November 30, 2010 7:00 pm

SF Camerawork
657 Mission Street 2nd floor
San Francisco, California

Conversations Among Friends with artists Hank Willis Thomas and Leslie Hewitt in conversation with curator Eva Respini at MoMA
Tuesday, November 30th, 7:00pm

MoMA
11 West 53 Street, Theater 2
New York, New York

Photo by Markus Klingenhäger

Annual showcase Fotoweek DC celebrates the medium of photography with a week-long series of programming in the city of Washington D.C. Events include innovative and collaborative exhibitions with a focus on bridging local and international communities through images. This year Aperture is pleased to announce its participation in Fotoweek DC’s Night Gallery, a slideshow exhibit projected on the facades of pre-eminent buildings of the Nation’s capitol and its annual Fotobooks exhibition.

Night Gallery will feature a selection from Aperture and Musée de l’Elysée, Lausanne’s project reGeneration2: Tomorrow’s Photographer’s Today, which highlights the works of eighty up and coming photographers, and can be seen on the exterior of several locations. Plan a night stroll and take advantage of this unique exhibition!

reGeneration2: Tomorrows Photographer’s Today
Fotoweek DC Night Gallery Schedule and Locations

CORCORAN GALLERY OF ART
500 17th St NW
Washington DC 20006
11/5 6-11pm
outside (a selection)
inside full version
11/7 5-10pm
outside

DUPONT CIRCLE
Washington DC 20036
11/6 6-10pm

ROAD PROJECTIONS
11/8 THEARC Washington DC SE 6.30- 8pm
11/9 SILVER SPRING, MARYLAND 6- 8pm

HOUSE OF SWEDEN
2900 K Street NW
Washington Dc 20007
11/13 8-11pm

Click here to view the Aperture book reGeneration2: Tomorrow’s Photographers Today

Also on view:

FotoBooks Exhibition

Satellite Central
3333 M Street NW
Washington, DC 20007

Hours:
Mon-Fri 11am-7pm; Sat-Sun 10am-8pm

FotoweekDC 2010, November 6-13

Photo by Walid Raad

Walid Raad, one of the most important, contemporary photographers from the Middle East, is featured in his first major UK exhibition at the Whitechapel Gallery. Walid Raad: Miraculous Beginnings is a 20-year retrospective, during which Raad’s focused primarily on the 1975-1990 civil wars in Lebanon. Of great interest to Raad is the way conflict affects the body and mind, and how it can be successfully captured through a camera. Initially wishing to be a war correspondent, Raad realized he could document the complex story of his country and relay it to an audience just as effectively (if not more so) with art. Raad believes that a single photograph can clearly illustrate “a city that is divided, [with] all sorts of facts: some military; others cultural; and yet others aesthetic.”

A discussion of Raad’s aesthetic in times of war, with his draw on both personal history and conceptual practice, was featured in Aperture Issue 198.

Walid Raad: Miraculous Beginnings
On view: Thursday October 14, 2010 – Sunday January 2, 2011

Whitechapel Gallery
77-82 Whitechapel High Street
London E1 7QX
+44 (0)20 7522 7888

Bruce Davidson, Honoree Richard Misrach and Aperture Trustee Joel Meyerowitz

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A big thank you to all who attended Monday night’s Aperture Foundation 2010 Benefit and Auction honoring Steven Ames, Richard Misrach and Julie Saul. The evening was an amazing success followed by the happening Snap! Benefit Party, and it wouldn’t have been possible without the generous support of Aperture patrons.

Click through the gallery above to see the party pictures.

Photo by Michael Wolf

Aperture Foundation, The Photography Department in the School of Art, Media and Technology at Parsons, and the Vera List Center for Art and Politics at The New School will present an exciting panel discussion Contemporary Documentary Practices as part of the Confounding Expectations: Photography in Context. This talk will take place at the New School’s Tischman Auditorium and brings together photographers LaToya Ruby Frazier, Michael Wolf, Chris Verene and moderater Susan Bright. Revisiting Martha Rosler’s In, Around and Afterthoughts (on Documentary Photography), the panel will use this seminal text published by Rosler in 1981, as a launching point from which to discuss contemporary photographic practices and art strategies. The discussion will examine the medium of photography’s ability to foster social and political engagement today.

Contemporary Documentary Practices
Wednesday, November 3,  7:00 pm

The New School
Tishman Auditorium
66 West 12th Street
New York, New York