Photo by Jonathan Torgovnik, courtesy the artist.

Aperture is pleased present another limited-edition photograph from Jonathan Torgovnik’s Intended Consequences:Rwandan Childern Born of Rape project. Last year we released the portrait of Jean-Paul, and we are happy to release a companion portrait.  Emmanuelle is one of an estimated twenty thousand children born of rape during the 1994 Rwandan genocide. Over the past three years Torgovnik has made repeated trips to Rwanda to document the experience of children like Emmanuelle, and their mothers, who fifteen years later continue to face enourmous challenges.

The sale of both of these prints benefit both the Aperture Foundation and Foundation Rwanda.

Click here to purchase the new print of Jonathan Torgovnik, Emmanuelle.

Click here to purchase the book Intended Consequences.

photo by Jen Davis, courtesy the artist.

Photographer Jen Davis has produced a stunning series of self-portraits in which she stages herself in different scenes of daily life. With her new series, “I ask in exchange,” she takes portraits of men she says she would not approach, were she not empowered by her camera. This machine gives her the courage to walk up and speak with them. It becomes a tool of seduction and for a brief moment, she “asks in exchange” for the shooting to be looked at and desired by the subject. She will discuss the representations of the self with philosopher Pierre Cassou- Noguès, whose latest book, Mon Zombie et moi (“My Zombie and I”), plays with different short pieces of fiction in which he uses “I,” as a starting point for his philosophical reflection.”

Jen Davis lives and works in New York City. She received her MFA from Yale University (2008), and her BA from Columbia College Chicago (2002). She is represented by Lee Marks Fine Art. ”The perfect body image in this culture requires that one be thin. Images of perfectly fit individuals saturate the visual media, creating icons which establish a norm that makes all else seem to be deviant. Overweight people do not satisfy what is attractive or desired. In this body of work, I deal with my insecurities about my body image and the direct correlation between self-perception and the way one is perceived by others.” Jen Davis. She is featured in reGeneration 2: tomorrow’s photographers today, currently on view at Aperture Gallery.

A graduate of the École Normale Supérieure, with a teaching degree in mathematics and a doctorate in philosophy, Pierre Cassou-Noguès is head of research at the CNRS (French National Center for Scientific Research) and lectures in philosophy at the University of Lille III. Co-organizer in 2005 of a conference entitled ”What can science fiction prove? Minds, machines, bodies and worlds in science fiction”, he is interested in the philosophy of science and its relation to the imaginary. His recent research areas include the philosophy of mathematics in France in the 20th century, the history and philosophy of logic as exemplified in Gödel, the image of the machine in science and literature, and criticism of the idea of consciousness.

Villa Gillet Series: Jen Davis in Conversation with Pierre Cassou-Noguès :

Monday, January 31, 6:30PM
Aperture Gallery

Click here to purchase the Regeneration2: Tomorrow’s Photographers Today

Buy the Aperture limited-edition photograph from Aperture

A sheet from Photographic Memory and one from Alex Webb’s The Suffering of Light on press in Hong Kong.

Photo by Alex Webb

A test of the cover for Photographic Memory before the images have been applied.

With our spring titles starting to print, it is a busy time for Aperture. Both Photographic Memory, which explores the role of the photo album in the history of photography, and Alex Webb’s newest monograph, The Suffering of Light, a survey of thirty years of his career, are on press together at the same printer. Alex and his wife, Rebecca Norris Webb, sent me a snapshot from Hong Kong of two press sheets, one from each book, stacked together at the plant. Read about their experience on press with Alex’s book.

Though printing marks the start of the book’s life in the world, it is often a bittersweet moment for me, as an editor, because it signals the end of the bookmaking process, which is the most fun and rewarding part of my job. I like to think that when a book has been a pleasure to create, this shows in the final product. At least I hope this is the case for Photographic Memory, which I’ve been working on for two years in collaboration with the Library of Congress and author Verna Curtis, a curator of photography there. It’s been an amazing experience. I’ve had the opportunity to spend time with handmade albums by some of photography’s most important figures—like F. Holland Day, Edward Sherriff Curtis, and Walker Evans—and to gain new insight through Verna’s expertise. So, in turn, will those who read the book! A few of my favorites include an album by Leni Riefenstahl of the 1936 Olympics that culminates in a spectacular diving sequence; an album that Jim Goldberg made in a registry book from the rundown California hotel where he shot portraits of the inhabitants; an extraordinary family album by Danny Lyon; and an album containing beautiful, almost haunting mug-shots from a Philippine Prison in 1916.

I was thrilled to receive a test of the cover in the office, struck by how handsome it looked even without the tip-on photos in place and also by how different it became as a real thing, as opposed to the printouts and PDFs I had grown accustomed to poring over. Watching the book make this transition from files to object is magical, not unlike photography itself.
—Denise Wolff

Mug-shots from the 1916 Bureau of Prisons Album

Alex Webb was featured in Aperture Magazine 181 and Aperture Foundation published his book Istanbul: City of a Hundred Names.

Click here to purchase Aperture Magazine 181

Click here to purchase Alex Webb’s Istanbul: City of a Hundred Names

Alex Prager’s dazzling and saturated color portraits of young women depict a synthetic and surreal glamor. The images reference dark cinema and the melodramatic as conveyed through constructed scenes of suspense and uncertainty. Last fall coinciding with MoMA’s New Photography 2010 exhibition, artist Alex Prager and gallerist Yancey Richardson were in conversation at Aperture Gallery and Bookstore.  An excerpt of the discussion is now available to watch on Vimeo.

In this edited excerpt, Alex Prager explains how William Eggleston’s work has inspired her to start a career in photography ten years ago. She also speaks about how she works from the initial idea to the preparation of the shoot and the “magical minute” when everything comes together. When Yancey Richardson asks about the emotional quality of her photographs, she references the influence of silent movies and film noir from the 1940′s and their glamorous imagery.

Click here to watch the conversation!

Through the end of January, the advertising billboards of 500 taxi cabs will be reinvigorated by Chuck Close and Kehinde Wiley’s artwork.

Chuck Close is an American artist primarily known for his photo-realist portrait paintings, but has also worked in the field of photography for many years. His daguerreotypes, done in collaboration with Jerry Spagnoli, an extensive photographic process giving images a silver luminescent affect, were featured in Aperture magazine # 160, then published in book format in 2006 titled, “A Couple of Ways of Doing Something”.

Close has chosen to crop details of these larger portraits for the “Art Adds” public art campaign.

This is “Art Adds” second annual collaboration between “Show Media” and the non-profit “Art Production Fund,” a fund dedicated to “producing ambitions public art projects, reaching new audiences, and expanding awareness through contemporary art.”

Art Palm Beach Art Fair

Thursday, January 20–Monday, January 24, 2011
Booth #123
Palm Beach County Convention Center
650 Okeechobee Boulevard
West Palm Beach, Florida
(239) 495-9834

Fair Hours
January 21–23, 2011, 12:00–7:00 pm
January 24, 12:00–6:00 pm

Join Aperture at Art Palm Beach to see fabulous limited-edition books and prints by artists Jowhara AlSaud, Jen Davis, Sally Mann, Richard Misrach, Brett Weston, and many more. Art Palm Beach hosts international galleries presenting contemporary art, photography, video, installation art, public sculpture, and design.

Click here to receive a FREE multi-day pass for two

Picture by Sophie T.Lvoff

Panel discussion:
Wednesday, January 19, 6:30 pm

Opening reception hosted by SNAP! with DJ AJ Slim:
Thursday, January 20, 6:00-9:00 pm

Exhibition on view:
Thursday, January 20, 2011 –Thursday, March 17, 2011

What are young photographers up to in the twenty-first century? How do they see the world? How much do they respect, build on or reject tradition? Are they busy in the darkroom or the computer lab—or both? Theregeneration project—the broadest and most enterprising survey of its kind—sets out to answer these intriguing questions, previewing the work of young photographers who may well emerge as some of the finest artists of their generation.

Following the success of the 2005 book and exhibition—which traveled to ten different cities across North America, Europe, and Asia—this second edition turns the spotlight on new, up-and-coming talents from thirty-one countries. Curators at the world-renowned Musée de l’Elysée in Lausanne selected the most promising candidates from some seven hundred entries submitted by 120 of the world’s top photography schools. The resulting publication and exhibition reveal the flexibility of young photographers as they pass fluidly from one genre to another, and/or one technique to another.

The panel discussion with curators William A. Ewing and Nathalie Herschdorfer and Sam Stourdzé, Director of Musée de l’Elysée will feature artists Ted Partin (USA), Benjamin Beker (UK) and Jennifer Osborne (Canada) .

Prior to the party on Thursday, the curators will do a walk through of the exhibition at 6:00 pm, the reception will be hosted by SNAP! Aperture’s New Collectors Program and will include music by DJ AJ Slim, sponsored by Brooklyn Brewery and the Swiss Consulate General.

An exhibition produced by the Musée de l’Elysée, Lausanne, in collaboration with the Aperture Foundation, New York with the support of Pro Helvetia.

Click here to purchase the book ReGeneration 2: Tomorrow’s photographers today

View the reGeneration collection of limited edition photographs here!

Home Again, photo by Jason Nocito, courtesy the artist, NY.

Jason Nocito featured in the Aperture Tinyvices series photographs obsessively. His disparate images are then playfully sequenced, allowing for juxtapositions suggesting new meanings. The result is an eclectic perspective on the minutiae of the everyday, from the weird to the banal: a jelly donut, a TV antenna, a spill on the stairs, a cassette tape, a rock. He is a graduate of Parsons School of Design. His work has appeared in Fader, Nylon, Dazed & Confused, Vice, Blender, and the London Sunday Times. He lives and works in New York.

On view January 14th through February 19th, 2011

Taxter and Spengmann Gallery
459 West 18th Street
New York, NY 10011

Buy Tinyvices: Loads by Jason Nocito

Tinyvices the limited edition includes all five books from the debut of the series as well as a signed and numbered photograph by each of the five featured artists: Kenneth Cappello, Allan Macintyre, Jason Nocito, Robin Schwartz, and Jaimie Warren. Commissioned exclusively for Aperture, the collector’s edition is limited to twenty-five and is packaged in a custom-made box designed by Tim Barber, curator of tinyvices.com.

Courtesy Photo l.a., LA.

Aperture Foundation joins the 20th anniversary edition of photo l.a! Visit our booth to see our latest selection of books, limited-edition photographs, and discounted subscriptions. A series of Aperture-hosted programs will also take place, including a panel discussion titled Print, Online, and On-Demand: Words Without Pictures Revisited with Alex Klein, Stacy Allan, and Wendy Yao, as well as a conversation with artist Zoe Crosher and writer Jan Tumlir.

During the panel discussion titled Print, Online, and On-Demand: Words Without Pictures Revisited, Alex Klein, Stacy Allan, and Wendy Yao will discuss new approaches to traditional publishing models, support for critical voices and commentary in the photographic field, and emergent discursive possibilities both in print and online. This event coincides with the announcement of Words Without Pictures, Aperture’s first ePublication and part of the Aperture Ideas series, which is devoted to celebrating the finest critical and creative minds exploring key concepts in photography.

Friday, January 14, 12:00 pm

The conversation which will gather The artist Zoe Crosher and writer Jan Tumlir is an expansion on Tumlir’s recent article “Femme Fatale: Zoe Crosher’s reconsidered archive of Michelle duBois,” which appeared in Aperture magazine, issue 198. Together, the two will explore self-invention and role-playing as told through personal photographs, and what comes of the great “archival theme” in the digital era.

Los Angeles-based artist Crosher and Tumlir recently co-taught a class at Art Center College of Design, Pasadena, on the impact of geography on local forms of artistic production, and they will revisit this topic in relation to Crosher’s past work on the city, as well as her more recent series. The discussion will situate Crosher’s work in relation to its historical precedents in the art of Conceptualism, the Pictures Group, and identity politics.

Saturday, January 15, 5:00 pm

Carrie Mae Weems, a visual artist and photographer published in Aperture magazine #197, is applying her creative background to take on gun violence, starting within her local community of Syracuse, New York.

This initiative, titled “Operation Activate” was launched through the artists’ collective, Social Studies 101, founded by Weems eight years ago. The collaboration between several African-American artists from different American cities strives to “assist in the effort to end violence, to activate space through the use of bold images and graphics and to build public awareness.”

The six-month campaign will include everything from billboards, TV public-service announcements, to comic books and coloring pencils. Weems’ initiative challenges the ongoing gun violence facing the Syracuse community with startling and poignant street signs that read:

“A man does not become a man by killing another man.”

In light of the senseless violence in Arizona, Weems’ efforts seem all the more relevant. We find ourselves striving as a nation to absorb the recent tragedies and deal with the ramifications for the future. There is a desire to turn this into a discussion on political polarization, but as President Obama recently stated, “it is important for us to pause for a moment and make sure that we are talking with each other in a way that heals, not a way that wounds.”

Operation Activate, through poignant street signs, is empowering this community to consciously and peacefully “Raise Your Hands, Raise Your Voices.”