Photogenic - Abstract Photography

Markus Amm, Walead Beshty, Liz Deschenes, Lorna Macintyre,
László Moholy-Nagy, Mark Soo, and James Welling

March 5 - April 10, 2010
Opening Reception Friday March 5, 2010 6-9 pm

Blanket is pleased to present a group exhibition of works by Markus Amm, Walead Beshty, Liz Deschenes, Lorna Macintyre, László Moholy-Nagy, Mark Soo, and James Welling. The exhibition aims to look at diverse conceptual inquiries driving artists to investigate the application of abstraction in photography today. Beyond a set of formal similarities, the artists share
prevailing interest in materiality and process as concrete manifestations of a specific set of conditions offering unique visual energies and questioning the assumptions about photography. With a selection of photographic works first produced in the 1920s, Moholy-Nagy holds a historical position in the exhibition: a pioneer of experimentation with photography, the artist forms a central argument and invites contemporary counterparts to re-interpret and further his project, questioning the meaning of making abstract images and the possibilities of the medium. Markus Amm, Walead Beshty, Liz Deschenes and James Welling present a selection of photograms – images that incorporate the camera-less, negative-less photographic process, while Lorna Macintyre and Mark Soo invite us to look at their photographic practice as simultaneously abstract and representational constructions that have undergone translations, interpretations and manipulations. Photogenic marks particularly fertile moment in recent contemporary photography and invites the viewer to experience the exhibition considering individual works within the context of the group.

Markus Amm (born 1969, Stuttgart, Germany) has had solo exhibitions at The Breeder, Athens, Greece, and Herald St, London, England. He has participated in Dereconstruction, Gladstone Gallery, New York, NY, Alles. In einer Nacht, Tanya Bonakdar, New York, NY, Formalismus, Kunstverein Hamburg, Hamburg, Germany and the 2002 Manifesta, Frankfurt, Germany. He was also included in the Triumph of Painting 4: Germania opening in 2007 at the Saatchi Gallery, London, England. Amm lives and works in London, UK.

Walead Beshty (b. 1976, London, UK) is an Associate Professor in the Graduate Art Department of Art Center College of Design. Beshty’s work has exhibited internationally with solo exhibitions at Thomas Dane Gallery, London; The Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, Washington; The University of Michigan Museum of Art, Ann Arbor; LAXART, Los Angeles; Wallspace Gallery, New York; Galerie Rodolphe Janssen, Brussels; The Hammer Museum, Los Angeles; and P.S.1 Contemporary Art Center, Long Island City in addition to recent group exhibitions at the Whitney Museum of American Art, New York; The Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago, Chicago; The Museum of Modern Art, New York; Tate Britain, London; and The Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York, among others. His work is included in many public collections including, The Museum of Modern Art, New York; The Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York; The Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago; The Hammer Museum, Los Angeles; The Victoria and Albert Museum, London; and The Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, among others. Selected publications include, The Photograph as Contemporary Art, The Edge of Vision: The Rise of Abstraction in Photography, Cream 5, and Vitamin PH. In the Fall of 2010 monographs of his work are due out on JRP/Ringier and Damiani. He lives and works in Los Angeles, CA.

Liz Deschenes (born 1966, Boston, MA) has recently had an exhibition at the ‘Modern Wing Inaugural Installation of Contemporary Photograph,’ curated by Matthew Witkovski, at The Art Institute of Chicago. Deschenes was also included in ‘Color Chart’ at the Museum of Modern Art, New York and was featured in the exhibition ‘Photography on Photography: Reflections on the Medium since 1960’ at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. She has had solo exhibitions at Miguel Abreu Gallery, New York, Sutton Lane, London, and participated in group shows at Luhring Augustine Gallery, New York and Sutton Lane, Paris. Deschenes teaches at Bennington College, and is a visiting artist at Columbia University, School of Visual Arts. Her work was recently featured in ‘Blind Spot’#36 and is in the permanent collections of the Whitney Museum of American Art, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, The Art Institute of Chicago, the Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, and the CCS Bard Hessel Museum in Annandale-on-Hudson, New York. Deschenes lives and works in New York.

Lorna Macintyre (born 1977, Glasgow) is an MFA graduate of Glasgow School of Art. She has had solo exhibitions at Mary Mary, Glasgow, Institute of Contemporary Arts, London, UK and Galerie Kamm, Berlin, Germany, Kunsthouse Baselland, Basel, Switzerland and forthcoming exhibition in Wiels Contemporary Arts Centre, Brussels, Belgium. Macintyre widely exhibited in a group context around the world including COCO (Contemporary Concerns), Vienna, Cosmic Galerie, Paris, France, Francesca Minini, Milano, Italy, Harris Lieberman, New York, Francesca Kaufmann, Milan, Italy, Gagosian Gallery, New York and Akureyrar Art Museum, Iceland. Macintyre lives and works in Glasgow, UK.

László Moholy-Nagy (born 1895, Bacsbarsod, Hungary - died 1946, Chicago) is Hungarian painter, photographer, and art teacher. After studying law in Budapest, he went to Berlin in 1919, and in 1923 he took charge of the metal workshop of the Bauhaus as well as the Bauhausbook series of publications. As a painter and photographer he worked predominantly with light. His "photograms" were composed directly on film, and his "light modulators" (oil paintings on transparent or polished surfaces) included mobile light effects. As an educator, he developed a widely accepted curriculum to develop students' natural visual gifts instead of specialized skills. Fleeing Nazi Germany in 1935, he went to London and then to Chicago, where he organized and headed the New Bauhaus.

Mark Soo (born 1977, Singapore) is a graduate of Emily Carr Institute of Art and Design. He has had solo presentations at Western Bridge, Seattle, WA, and Artspeak, Vancouver, BC, and has also been featured in group exhibitions at the CCA Wattis Institute for Contemporary Arts, San Francisco, CA, Museum van Hedendaagse Kunst Antwerpen offsite in Mechelen, Belgium, Galerie Wilfried Lentz, Rotterdam, Netherlands, Vancouver Art Gallery, Vancouver, BC, Galleria Luisa Strina, Sao Paulo, Brazil, and the Morris and Helen Belkin Gallery, Vancouver, BC. Forthcoming exhibitions include presentations at the Or Gallery, Vancouver, BC, and the Nasher Museum of Art at Duke University, Durham. Soo was a recipient of the 2009 VIVA Award. He lives and works in Vancouver, BC.

James Welling (born 1951, Hartford, Connecticut) is currently a professor in the Department of Art, University of California, Los Angeles. His work has been the subject of exhibitions throughout Europe, the United States, and Canada. His solo exhibitions include the Palais de Beaux-Arts, Brussels; Sprengel Museum Hanover, Germany; Kunstmuseum Luzern, Switzerland; Carnegie Museum of Art, Pittsburgh, David Zwirner, New York, Maureen Paley, London, UK and Regen Projects, Los Angeles, CA. A retrospective exhibition of Welling's work was organized by the Wexner Center for the Arts in Columbus, Ohio in 2000 and traveled to MOCA in Los Angeles. Welling lives and works in Los Angeles.

The gallery would like to thank all participating artists, Miguel Abreu Gallery and Wallspace Gallery in New York, Karin Gunther Gallery in Hamburg, Mary Mary in Glasgow, Regen Projects in Los Angeles, the estate of László Moholy-Nagy and Daniel Hug for making this exhibition possible.

For more information please contact the gallery: 
info(at)blanketgallery.com or +604 709 6100