Field Museum Sue by Hot Shot Colleen Plumb

One of our newest Hot Shots, Colleen Plumb writes, about one of this week’s 20×200 editions:

Animals Are Outside Today

I began this project looking at “fake nature”, wondering what substitutions for nature can satisfy in people. Looking deeper I began photographing live/real animals and how they can be a link for us to a world far from the reality and pace of contemporary life, as well as provide an intangible link to a deeper world of instinct and rawness.

This series of photographs examines the essence of our connection, as well as our fragmentation from the natural. I am interested in the increasing disconnection that exists between humans and the natural world. The work explores simulation, consumption, destruction, and reconstruction as well as notions of endurance and the reality of loss.

…

With this series I seek to understand how the human connection to the rest of nature is often developed through assimilation and appropriation. I hope this work will incite contemplation about the lives of animals and generate dialog about resource usage.

Fall ‘06 Hot Shot Shen Wei has a solo show of his series Almost Naked at Kunst.Licht Gallery, September 13 - November 30, 2008 in Shanghai, China.

Wei writes:

“Growing up in Mainland China, I was brought up strictly and conservatively, any untraditional and unconventional ideas of life-style can sometimes lead to misconceptions. I was numbed about the ideas of intimacy, sexuality, and love. Since I moved to the United States, my needs for self-expression has grown. However, my curiosity about how others deal with their identity in what is a fairly open society like America has increased. As a result I started to photograph people and life in America.

The goal of my projects is to raise the question about human nature, about emotions, feelings, desire, instinct and identity, to reveal things that you can feel it, that are unexplainable but yet still solid. I am fascinated with exploring the complexity of emotional nakedness and psychological connection/disconnection, as it is often expressed not specifically but explicitly. Certainly my photography is my perspective and how I look at people and life in America. But most importantly, I want viewers of my work to make their own discoveries and judgments of my photographs.”

Born and raised in Shanghai, China. Shen Wei is a fine art photographer currently based in New York City. Shen’s photographs have been widely exhibited, including Griffin Museum of Photography, Seattle Center on Contemporary Art, Zone: Chelsea Center for the Arts, Australia Center for Photography, Lincoln Center and Saatchi Gallery at the Zoo Art Fair. His photographs have been featured in various publications such as American Photo, Chinese Photography, PDN, Vision and La Tempestad.

Shen Wei holds an MFA in Photography, Video and Related Media from School of Visual Arts (NYC), a BFA in Photography from Minneapolis College of Art and Design and a BA in Decorative Arts and Design from Shanghai Light Industry College.

Wei has a blog too.

Yesterday’s 20×200 blog was awash in Hey, Hot Shot! goodness.

First, Kara posted about two Hot Shots, Kelly Shimoda (Spring ‘07) and James Rajotte (Summer ‘06), who frequently shoot for the New York Times these days.

Then, Jen announced a special Monday edition of 20×200, by current Hot Shot Kate Orne. Orne’s edition is also a benefit for a recently established school for the children of sexworkers in Pakistan which was founded under the umbrella of Sheed Society (an organization Orne founded to address the social issues particular, not to mention particularly brutal, to Pakistani sexworkers.

Another Hey, Hot Shot! former intern of note: the work of Alice Wells was just featured on I Heart Photograph.

To see more images from Alice’s great series, Take Me, visit her site.

This series is also part of the permanent collection of the Museum of Contemporary Photography.

From Can I Come Home With You? by Jane Tam

Jane Tam used to be a Jen Bekman intern and a Hey, Hot Shot! blogger. She’s great and she has some work in three upcoming group shows.

She writes –

I will have one photograph shown in :

Hun Gallery: The Circular Exhibition: Term I
Aug. 22. 2008- Aug. 28. 2008
Opening Reception- Aug. 22. 2008 (6pm-8pm)
Address: 12 West 32nd street, 3rd Floor, New York, NY 10001

The exhibition will then travel to Seoul, Korea and be exhibited at:

Gallery Ho: The Circular Exhibition: Term II
Sep. 11. 2008 – Sep. 20. 2008
Opening Reception- Sep. 11. 2008 (6pm-8pm)
Address: Seocho Dong 1538-4,
Seocho Gu, Seoul, Korea
[137-872]

I have ten photographs from my family series (newly titled “Foreigners in Paradise”) showing in an exhibition curated by Jamason Chen.

Seeking Identity curated by Jamason Chen
Pingyao International Photography Festival
Sep. 19. 2008 - Sep. 26. 2008
Pingyao, China

Lastly I am participating in an exhibition in Arizona, showing three photographs and my artist book “Can I Come Home With You?”

SPE: Women’s Caucus Exhibition (show title pending)
Northlight Gallery
Oct. 20. 2008 - Nov. 15. 2008
Tempe, Arizona

A new feature. I found this on Flickr. What a nice, quiet update from Spring ‘06 Hot Shot Alison Grippo. She tagged this one: New York, fog, film, medium format, mamiya, and bw and captioned it, “This is a foggy day trying to look across the east river, in theory the UN building is back there.”

Are you planning to head to SXSW? Are you not going but simply super interested in all the awesome talk that will go on there? Then vote, now, for Jen Bekman’s SXSW panel proposal:

Curating the Crowd-Sourced World
Level: Beginner
Type: Panel
Category: Content
Presenter: Jen Bekman, 20×200 | Jen Bekman Projects, Inc.
Description: With all the stuff we weed through online, good filters are crucial. Who’s best-suited to determine what’s best – curators or the crowd? People have their religion about one or the other, however this panel will focus on the overlap, the grey areas and how curating and crowd-sourcing enrich each other.

With the curatorially-mediated online phenom of 20×200, Jen’s a pretty good fit to head up this panel which is sure to be filled with other talents — who can speak as both curators and “crowd” — that she’ll announce in the coming weeks.

A New Understanding (Rock), 2007, c-print by Hot Shot Curtis Mann

And not just any show. The phenomenal Dawoud Bey curated Are We There Yet?, a group exhibition of photo and video based work that features Fall ‘05 Hot Shot Curtis Mann. The show will be up at the Hyde Park Art Center (5020 South Cornell Avenue, Chicago, IL) until September 28.

Be sure, also, to check out Mann’s blog.

Critique + Curator, 2007 by Hot Shot Mickey Smith

Winter ‘07 Hot Shot Mickey Smith has a one-woman show of her series, Volume, from August 30 until October 26 at The Center for Photography at Woodstock, in Woodstock, New York. There will be a benefit auction for the center on Saturday, October 11.

Volume is an ongoing project documenting bound periodicals and professional journals in public and private libraries. Mickey recently moved from Minnesota to New York and she’s started a blog too.

Jen Bekman had this to say about Mickey in PDNedu’s “One 2 Watch, 2008:”

“Everything about her—how she approaches her work, makes it and presents it—is meticulous. There’s lots of attention to detail, but it’s also not mechanical. And above all, her work is really stunning.”

Andrew, Revere MA, 2006 by Hot Shot Robert Knight

It is shaping up to be a busy summer for Hot Shots from all seasons. Summer ‘05 Hot Shot Robert Knight was just part of a two-man show titled Things I’ve Seen, put together by student curator Simeon Durham, of the Hyde Leadership Academy. Knight’s photographs explore the personal space of the bedroom. The exhibit was up at ARTSPACE, a non-profit organization presenting local and national visual art, provides access, excellence and education for the benefit of the public and the arts community in New Haven.

You can see some of Robert’s interiors work on his well-designed website and you can purchase an edition at 20×200.