Budapest Bound! \ Art Notes-June ’16 \

fine art portraits, black and white photography, Long Island photographer ‘To Risk’

yes, my work is headed to Budapest! 2 pieces that is; ‘Aunt Violet #4’ and ‘To Risk’. i’m super excited and grateful, as you can imagine. the international juried exhibition ‘Intimacy’ takes place June 2nd-28th at the PH21 Gallery. here’s an excerpt from the exhibition call:

“Intimacy is an elusive concept. While it is most commonly understood in terms of what can be described as a close and affectionate relationship or interaction between two people, the notion of intimacy goes beyond the interpersonal….”

this is the 3rd time ‘To Risk’ has been in an exhibition, you may remember the others.

‘Aunt Violet #4‘, which is from my series Aunt Violet, was granted an Honorable Mention, which i must admit is rather absurd timing. the week leading up to this very announcement, i had been jotting down my thoughts about awards in art exhibitions. i have always found them peculiar, unnecessary, etc. after all, the show is juried by an esteemed person or panel, which means the work has already been judged exceptional or it would not have made it into the exhibition. so why elevate a few, diminishing the rest? rhetorically speaking, that is. and then voila, for the 1st time my work receives such an award! the irony. so how do i feel about it now that i received an honor? well, of course my ego was happy, it felt nice however once digested, i still question the necessity and wonder why it became a ‘thing’, the norm, in the art world?

i’ve had many conversations about this over the last couple of weeks and while several feel as i do, others pointed out how ‘important’ this is for my art career. hmmm. i remain unconvinced, yet open & welcome other viewpoints.

fine art black and white photography, Long Island portrait photographer, image of an nonagenarian woman, fine art portraiture ‘Aunt Violet #4’

additionally i just found out that my image, ‘Laurel Hollow’ was accepted into the exhibition, Plastic Fantastic VII at the Lightbox Photographic Gallery juried by the incredibly talented Susan Burnstine. all works for this show had to be created with plastic cameras…mine was made with a holga, which is a fun toy camera. this is the 4th time my work has been shown at this gallery, pretty cool. the exhibition opens June 11th from 6-8pm and runs through July 6th.