Image: ©Phillip Toledano, Yvette, 2008

Forward from the gallery:
Brought together for the first time as a solo exhibition, these breathtaking and provocative portraits depict people who have reconfigured their bodies by means of extensive plastic surgery. The photographs raise questions about self-perception and social paragons relating to what constitutes perceived notions of beauty.

Shot against a stark black back-drop, the large-scale portraits present subjects that are stunningly rendered and isolated. Toledano’s highly-crafted images combine up-close physical observations that are imposing, detailed and display a dramatic illumination that is reminiscent of the chiaroscuro technique of Caravaggio.

Phillip Toledano (b. 1968) is a photographer living and working in New York City. Toledano’s work is primarily socio-political and varies in medium, from photography to installation. His work can found in the collections of the Museum of Fine Arts (Houston) and the University of South Florida Contemporary Art Museum. His work has been widely exhibited in the US, China, France, Singapore and Spain. His first book, Bankrupt, was published by Twin Palms in 2005 and was followed in 2008 by Phonesex (Twin Palms). His most recent monograph, Days With My Father (PQ Blackwell), was published in Spring 2010 to critical acclaim.

http://www.fashionising.com/pictures/p–Eniko-Mihalik-Harpers-Bazaar-US-September-2010-7507-109364.html

Eniko Mihalik, Harpers

Please check out this months Vogue Italia for one of the most recent editorial works we have done for glen.

You can also check out the full story at Fashionising.com

Italian Vogue
V Mag Sexy Bodies Issue

In 2008, a chance encounter between Elaine Duigenan and Leland Melvin sparked a very special friendship. The Micro Mundi photographs became part of a wider connection spanning art and science. On November 16th, 2009, Leland Melvin was launched into space on the Shuttle Atlantis, accompanied by one of Duigenan’s photographs from Micro Mundi.

“There are few times in a person’s life when a seeemingly chance encounter generates a cosmic grand connection. Elaine Duigenan’s images in Micro Mundi show how the random exceedingly slow wanderings of a mullusk feeding can depict our planet’s network of paths, roads, and rivers as we view them exceedingly fast from the portal of space, circling our globe every 90 minutes. The relationship found between the micro and macro worlds can help us better understand the delicate fragility of our planet and unite the people of our civilization. By the way, there are no chance encounters”.—Leland Melvin, Astronaut.

Klompching Gallery
111 Front street,suite 206 Brooklyn, NY 11201
June 17—August 6, 2010

Image: ©Odette England, Untitled No. 2, 2009

KLOMPCHING GALLERY is pleased to announce the concurrent exhibitions As Above So Below by Odette England and Micro Mundi by Elaine Duigenan.

With Micro Mundi, Elaine Duigenan continues her fascination with transforming the ordinary into the extraordinary. In this intimate series of images, she has photographed the arterial wanderings of snails, as they graze upon algae, leaving behind an aftermath of claw-like patterns—caused by the rasping action of the snail’s spiky tongue. On a micro level, these rambling, chaotic and protracted patterns, attest to a seemingly plodding yet vigorous life-form. On a macro level, they’re dendritic appearance resemble earth’s estuaries as viewed from far above. By presenting the images within a circular frame, these stunning monochromatic photographs are transformed into floating planets, as we would imagine them to be on a cosmic scale. The planetary metaphor is further enhanced with titles that refer to cartographic terms of old, that placed Earth in a philosophical and religious setting.

“Elaine Duigenan’s images in Micro Mundi show how the random exceedingly slow wanderings of a mollusk feeding can depict our planet’s network of paths, roads, and rivers as we view them exceedingly fast from the portal of space, circling our globe every 90 minutes.”—Leland Melvin, Astronaut.

Odette England’s new body of work is also concerned with the sensory and philosophical interpretation of our world. The phrase, As Above So Below, refers to the widespread indigenous cultural belief that the heavens and earth are the foundation of all creatures, including themselves. In this context, land and sky are more than just geographical icons, they are mirrors in which they see themselves reflected. England has documented the vast desert landscape of Southern Australia, photographing the land and sky from a single standpoint as a double exposure, thus merging the space between as a primal ‘middle ground‘ in which humankind resides. The resulting color photographs are quiet, metaphysical studies that astutely span time and space.

Odette England is an Australian artist currently based in London. She is a graduate of the University of South Australia and City of Westminster College (London). Her photographs have been exhibited in France, United Kingdom, Canada and the United States. In 2010, she was named a winner of the Flash Forward Emerging Photographers award for the second year running.

Elaine Duigenan is a British artist living and working in London. She is a graduate of Goldsmiths College, University of London. Her photographs have been exhibited in the United Kingdom, United States, Syria, China and can be found in the collections of the Victoria & Albert Museum (London) and The Museum of Fine Art (Houston). Paper for Micro Mundi supplied by Hahnemühle.

The artists are available for interviews upon request. Please contact the gallery with inquiries regarding purchases, press images, to schedule an interview or for more information about their work.

EXHIBITION CONTINUES THROUGH AUGUST 6, 2010

A.I.R. Gallery invites women artists, curators and art professionals to submit curatorial proposals for a one-month exhibit in 2011. All women worldwide, regardless of age, curatorial experience, or place of residence are encouraged to apply. Artists may choose to include their own work. Selected curator will receive at least $500.

For application click HERE
or send a SASE to A.I.R. Gallery, 111 Front Street #228, Brooklyn NY 11201.

Deadline: July 10, 2010.

screen shot of the book

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