Shen Wei: I Miss You Already
Exhibition Dates: November 5–December 14, 2012
Kathleen O. Ellis Gallery at Light Work
Light Work is pleased to announce the solo exhibition I Miss You Already by Chinese artist Shen Wei. Wei uses his self-portrait series as a place for self-discovery and contemplation. Each image captures a momentary experience that describes the coming together of person and place. Many of the photographs are intensely sexual. His images invite others into his solitude by quietly beckoning or openly drawing the viewer in. They tease the camera, and therefore the viewer, in various degrees. That Wei is an attractive and physically fit young Asian man plays an important part in how his work addresses desire in the context of identity and bridges cultural and sexual barriers.
His overtly sexual photographs push against the boundaries of Wei’s conservative Chinese upbringing, which occurred at a time when even art students did not get to study the nude body and would learn to draw the body from sculptural busts. Moving to the United States in 2000, Wei was confronted with very different societal attitudes toward the naked body and sexuality, and his response to these issues has become central to his work. It is not important to Wei that his photographs be understood in only one way, and he acknowledges that his work may be interpreted differently from country to country. He has also seen a shifting of social norms. Even in China it is now increasingly acceptable to depict the naked body, especially in art.
Wei uses his series to push against cultural boundaries, but in image after image he also explores his own comfort level with expressing his sexuality. Throughout the series we observe Wei trying on one environment and identity at a time. Although the images are constructed, the emotions are authentic. We see a young man asserting himself in front of the camera and claiming his right to define himself and his sexuality.
— Hannah Frieser
Shen Wei’s exhibition catalogue, Contact Sheet 169, is now available. Subscribers should be receiving the catalogue in the mail shortly, or view the catalogue immediately by visiting the Contact Sheet Digital Archive. Subscribe at any level, including the free trial subscription, for access to Light Work’s newest publications online. Contact Sheet 169 may also be purchased from the Light Work Store.
About the Artist:
Shen Wei has exhibited his work internationally at venues such as the Museum of the City of New York and Lincoln Center Avery Fisher Hall in New York, NY; the Philadelphia Museum of Art in Philadelphia, PA; the Harn Museum of Art in Gainesville, FL; and the CAFA Art Museum in Beijing, China. Wei’s first monograph, Chinese Sentiment, was published by Charles Lane Press in 2011. Wei is the recipient of the Rockefeller Foundation Bellagio Center Artist Residency, the Asian CulturalCouncil Arts & Religion Fellowship, the Griffin Award from the Griffin Museum of Photography, the Urban Artist Initiative New York City Fellowship, the Light Work Artist-in-Residence Program, and more. Wei’s work is included in permanent collections of the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA), the Museum of Chinese in America, and Rockefeller Brothers Fund in New York, NY; the J. Paul Getty Museum in Los Angeles, CA; the Philadelphia Museum of Art in Philadelphia, PA; the Museum of Contemporary Photography in Chicago, IL; the Museum of Fine Arts in St. Petersburg, FL; the Florida Museum of Photographic Arts in Tampa, FL; the Kinsey Institute in Bloomington, IN; and the Library of Congress in Washington, DC. He is represented by Daniel Cooney Fine Arts in New York, NY. Additional images by Wei may be viewed at www.shenphoto.com.
A Closer Look: Duane Michals
/in News“Photography deals exquisitely with appearances, but nothing is what it appears to be.”
– Duane Michals
Duane Michals‘ series Photographs of the Floating World features brightly colored prints with hand-applied text, where the images assume the shape of traditional Japanese fans. Unconventional in format, the series references Ukiyo-e, a popular genre of Japanese woodblock printing noted for the absence of perspective and flat areas of pronounced color. The English translation of Ukiyo-e is “floating world,” and images of this genre aspire to remove the viewer from the mundane and lift the spirit to the realm of the transcendent. Michals presents a modern and personal approach to this artistic tradition, exploring the enigmatic nature of contemporary life by blurring the boundaries between fantasy and reality with Eastern and Western influences. Since the 1960s Michals been recognized as an innovative and influential artist. His work is included in the collections of the J. Paul Getty Museum, Los Angeles, CA; the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY; the Moderna Musetet, Stockholm, Sweden; the National Museum of Art, Kyoto, Japan; and the Carnegie Museum of Art, Pittsburgh, PA, among other public and private collections. His bibliography includes over ten monographs, including Photographs from the Floating World (Steidl, 2012), featuring his colorful Japanese-inspired images.
This Master Print Edition purchase includes a subscription to Contact Sheet.
Click here for more info about this print, or to browse for others.
NEW: Frame any print for just $150! Options available at checkout.
Spring Workshops at Light Work/Community Darkrooms
/in NewsThere’s still time to get into some of the great workshops at Light Work/Community Darkrooms this Spring! Sign up today to reserve your spot:
Visit www.communitydarkrooms.com to for info and to register today!
A Closer Look: 2013 Benefactors Offer
/in NewsThe Benefactors Offer represents an excellent way to further your collection while supporting Light Work’s mission. Contributors of $1,500 will receive Duane Michals’ image from the Master Print Edition, all three prints in our Fine Print Program (Keliy Anderson-Staley, Shane Lavalette, and Mark Steinmetz), and a signed copy of The Code by John Gossage. (A $2,015 VALUE!) By participating in this category you will save on the cost of the prints and book, and receive a one-year subscription to Contact Sheet.
These prints are also available individually along with a variety of past Fine Print Program prints, including works by Carrie Mae Weems, Doug DuBois, William Wegman, Kelli Connell, Susan Worsham, Tony Gleaton, Scott Conarroe, Deana Lawson, Yolanda del Amo, Priya Kambli, Todd Gray, Elijah Gowin, and more!
NEW! Get individual prints archivally framed in black or white for just $150 extra. Just select your framing preferences at checkout.
To browse all of our past signed prints and books, click here.
Call for Entries: 2013 Light Work Student Invitational
/in Lab, NewsThe 2013 Light Work Student Invitational exhibition will feature a selection of photographs by Syracuse University students selected by our guest juror Claire O’Neill (Editor, NPR’s The Picture Show). The selected images will be showcased on Light Work’s LCD screen from March – May 2013. Our guest juror will select the winner of Best of Show and Honorable Mentions. These students will be featured on the Light Work blog and an online exhibition.
For more information and to apply visit lightwork.slideroom.com
* Note: This application is only open to current Syracuse University students. Deadline: Feb. 1, 2013
Community Darkrooms Member Spotlight: Chris Trigaux
/in LabChris Trigaux is a third year art photography major at Syracuse University taking TRM 351, Advanced Transmedia Studio 3. When his class was assigned a project with a “ghost” theme, he took to the streets with his medium format camera and began making pictures with reflections in them. Chris has been interested in making books and creating an object so viewers can have a more intimate experience with his pictures. We caught up with Chris in the Community Darkrooms lounge, and this is what he had to say about his work: “I like to think of my work in a series and putting images in a book with the specific intention of placement interests me. I think of the book as a container of my images,” he explained. “I also enjoy the hands-on approach to creating a book as I spend a lot of time in front of a monitor.” This book is one-of-a-kind and Chris has plans to make more books as he pursues his interest in photography.
A closer look at his book entitled Exit Only can be seen at www.christrigaux.com
Signed Books Starting at Just $25 + Gift Subscriptions
/in NewsSigned books make great affordable gifts for friends, family, or yourself this holiday season.
Starting at just $25, we have an excellent selection of titles from artists John Gossage, Leon Borensztein, Suzanne Opton, Carrie Mae Weems, Alessandra Sanguinetti, Doug DuBois, Hank Willis Thomas, Zana Briski, Fazal Sheikh, Jerry Uelsmann, Bill Gaskins, and more!
Browse all of the signed books here.
Give the gift that keeps giving!
Contact Sheet is designed and printed in the tradition of fine art photography monographs and is completely commercial free. A Basic subscription ($40 US, $55 Canada, $65 World) includes five printed issues of Contact Sheet, and full access to the digital archive. A Digital subscription ($25) includes access to the digital archive of over 160 issues. For those that are unsure, a FREE Trial subscription allows you to review our most recent publications online.
Subscribe to Contact Sheet or order a gift subscription here.
Give the Gift of Photography
/in NewsThis season, consider a giving the gift of photography. Subscriptions to Contact Sheet, collectible prints, and signed books all make wonderful gifts for friends and family. And don’t forget, prints can now be framed in black or white for only $150. Select your framing options at checkout.
It gets better. For “Cyber Monday” — yes, today only! — we are offering 15% OFF the price of limited edition prints, signed books, and Contact Sheet subscriptions.
Just use the code CM2013 at checkout to save.
Act now. Offer ends at 11:59pm EST
Contact Sheet 169 — Shen Wei: I Miss You Already
/in Exhibitions, NewsShen Wei: I Miss You Already
Exhibition Dates: November 5–December 14, 2012
Kathleen O. Ellis Gallery at Light Work
Light Work is pleased to announce the solo exhibition I Miss You Already by Chinese artist Shen Wei. Wei uses his self-portrait series as a place for self-discovery and contemplation. Each image captures a momentary experience that describes the coming together of person and place. Many of the photographs are intensely sexual. His images invite others into his solitude by quietly beckoning or openly drawing the viewer in. They tease the camera, and therefore the viewer, in various degrees. That Wei is an attractive and physically fit young Asian man plays an important part in how his work addresses desire in the context of identity and bridges cultural and sexual barriers.
His overtly sexual photographs push against the boundaries of Wei’s conservative Chinese upbringing, which occurred at a time when even art students did not get to study the nude body and would learn to draw the body from sculptural busts. Moving to the United States in 2000, Wei was confronted with very different societal attitudes toward the naked body and sexuality, and his response to these issues has become central to his work. It is not important to Wei that his photographs be understood in only one way, and he acknowledges that his work may be interpreted differently from country to country. He has also seen a shifting of social norms. Even in China it is now increasingly acceptable to depict the naked body, especially in art.
Wei uses his series to push against cultural boundaries, but in image after image he also explores his own comfort level with expressing his sexuality. Throughout the series we observe Wei trying on one environment and identity at a time. Although the images are constructed, the emotions are authentic. We see a young man asserting himself in front of the camera and claiming his right to define himself and his sexuality.
— Hannah Frieser
Shen Wei’s exhibition catalogue, Contact Sheet 169, is now available. Subscribers should be receiving the catalogue in the mail shortly, or view the catalogue immediately by visiting the Contact Sheet Digital Archive. Subscribe at any level, including the free trial subscription, for access to Light Work’s newest publications online. Contact Sheet 169 may also be purchased from the Light Work Store.
About the Artist:
Shen Wei has exhibited his work internationally at venues such as the Museum of the City of New York and Lincoln Center Avery Fisher Hall in New York, NY; the Philadelphia Museum of Art in Philadelphia, PA; the Harn Museum of Art in Gainesville, FL; and the CAFA Art Museum in Beijing, China. Wei’s first monograph, Chinese Sentiment, was published by Charles Lane Press in 2011. Wei is the recipient of the Rockefeller Foundation Bellagio Center Artist Residency, the Asian CulturalCouncil Arts & Religion Fellowship, the Griffin Award from the Griffin Museum of Photography, the Urban Artist Initiative New York City Fellowship, the Light Work Artist-in-Residence Program, and more. Wei’s work is included in permanent collections of the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA), the Museum of Chinese in America, and Rockefeller Brothers Fund in New York, NY; the J. Paul Getty Museum in Los Angeles, CA; the Philadelphia Museum of Art in Philadelphia, PA; the Museum of Contemporary Photography in Chicago, IL; the Museum of Fine Arts in St. Petersburg, FL; the Florida Museum of Photographic Arts in Tampa, FL; the Kinsey Institute in Bloomington, IN; and the Library of Congress in Washington, DC. He is represented by Daniel Cooney Fine Arts in New York, NY. Additional images by Wei may be viewed at www.shenphoto.com.
Introducing Framed Prints
/in NewsJust in time for the holidays, we are very excited to introduce framing options for our Fine Print Program for only $150! Get prints archivally framed for display in your home, or as the perfect gift for friends and family.
Select from our 2013 Fine Print Program featuring works by Duane Michals, Keliy Anderson-Staley, Shane Lavalette, and Mark Steinmetz, or choose from past prints by William Wegman, Carrie Mae Weems, Dawoud Bey, Elijah Gowin, Kelli Connell, Deana Lawson, Doug DuBois, Susan Worsham, and many more!
Add prints to your shopping cart and at checkout you will be prompted to select your desired framing. Frames come in black or white metal. Matted photographs are set behind UV plexi to protect the longevity of your print.
Order by December 9 to ensure holiday delivery.
In celebration of our 40th anniversary we are offering 10% OFF the price of limited edition prints, signed books, and Contact Sheet subscriptions. Just visit our Facebook page, “like” us, and you’ll find a code which you can use at checkout to apply the discount. It’s that easy.
Offer ends November 30.
Announcing Light Work's 2013 Subscription Program
/in NewsPlease accept this invitation to begin or renew your subscription to Contact Sheet, one of the longest-running photography publications in the world, dedicated to supporting emerging and under-recognized artists working in photography. In celebration of our 40th anniversary we will be producing a redesigned and expanded edition of The Light Work Annual, as well as launching a stunning new website, which will serve as a comprehensive resource and destination for contemporary photography.
Support our mission and get something back in return!
Our 2013 Subscription Program features a Master Print Edition by Duane Michals, Fine Print Program Prints by Keliy Anderson-Staley, Shane Lavalette, and Mark Steinmetz, as well as a Book Collectors Offer for a signed copy of The Code by John Gossage.
Browse all of our prints and books online here.
Hidden in Plain Sight, Gallery Talk at Everson Museum of Art
/in Elsewhere, Events, NewsCapturing poignant moments of the human experience and provocative environmental interventions, TONY: 2012 photographers John Mannion and Sean Hovendick will give a gallery talk to discuss their work and provide insight into how this medium invites us to reflect upon that which often goes unnoticed.
Last Chance: Fall Workshops at Community Darkrooms
/in LabSign up now for the last of the fall courses!
Find more info about individual workshops here.