Ian Baguskas’s Rincon Artificial Island and Pipeline, Ventura, California, 2007 40×51″ C-print

Peggy Roalf reviews Sweet Water, Spring ‘06 Hot Shot Ian Baguskas’ current show at Jen Bekman Gallery, in Design Arts Daily.

She writes:

“In the last several years, photographers around the globe have taken up the plight of the earth, further endangered today through climate change, deforestation, and drought. The landscape, with human activities accepted as a ‘natural’ aspect of the view for better or worse, provides the raw material, from both a visual and philosophical standpoint. One of the most beguiling exhibitions on view in New York is ‘Sweet Water,’ photographs by Ian Baguskas, at Jen Bekman Gallery.“

Baguskas’ Sweet Water is up until May 3, 2008.

Sold out 20×200 edition Untitled (Astoria Park, Queens, New York), by Carlo Van de Roer

“It’s a gateway drug for art.”

Today’s Houston Chronicle writes on all things Jen Bekman — specifically 20×200, Hey, Hot Shot! and the gallery — in “On the Internet, it’s real art for $20.“

Sold out 20×200 edition Untitled (Astoria Park, Queens, New York), by Carlo Van de Roer

“It’s a gateway drug for art.”

Today’s Houston Chronicle writes on all things Jen Bekman — specifically 20×200, Hey, Hot Shot! and the gallery — in “On the Internet, it’s real art for $20.“

In the July/August issue of STEP magazine, Jen’s 20×200 project got a nice little review — “Art, Afforded” it’s titled — and alongside the great words about 20×200 was a lovely bit on Hey, Hot Shot!.

Her seasonal photography competition ‘Hey, Hot Shot!’ is like an American Idol for photographers, with a stellar rotating panel of judges and some pretty incredible exposure: winners receive a gallery showcase and an opportunity to be represented by Bekman.

Luckily for you, the next edition of HHS! will be opening tomorrow, your chance to be the next Amer— I mean, Hot Shot! Check back to this blog for an official announcement at the start of the contest.

From Fall Hot Shot Shen Wei’s Concubines of New York series

Fall 2006 Hey, Hot Shot! winner Shen Wei is one of those photographers who not only finds the time to make massive quantities of work that manage to remain cohesive and, well, good, but also is quite the man about town––with impeccable networking skills to boot. Oh the juggle, he handles it well. Shen was recently awarded a Manhattan Community Arts Fund grant from the Lower Manhattan Cultural Council and New York City Department of Cultural Affairs for his documentary project Concubines of New York.

And some older news, Hey, Hot Shot! panelist and celebrity blogger Joerg Colberg named him a Photographer of the Year, along with Amy Elkins and Richard Renaldi. And at the same time our own Jen Bekman was named an Innovator of the Year, Shen received an Honorable Mention for American Photo’s Images of the Year.

AND… Shen’s work in the Hey, Hot Shot! Showcase received press in two Chinese periodicals, The Sing Tao Daily and The Ming Pao Daily.

A translation from The Sing Tao Daily:

Shen Wei focused most of his work on portraiture, his portraits are sensual and sensitive, fully expressed his idea about body, persona and identity. In this 10 artists photography group show, he showed works from his series Almost Naked, “I like to look at American society from a Chinese perspective”.

Oh yes, how impressive our alumni can be! Congratulations Shen.

The fabulous Jen Bekman taken by John Von Pamer for American Photo

American Photo has dubbed our very own Jen Bekman as an Innovator of the Year! A well earned title, if I may say so myself, and right in time for some major mile stones. The gallery is about to hit its 4-year anniversary and, if you glance at the past exhibitions, about to climb right on over the hill. Impressive––naturally––it’s the jb! And Jen stands in excellent company, other innovators (and Hey, Hot Shot! Panelists, of course) include Joerg Colberg of Conscientious, Caterina Fake of Flickr, and Lesley Martin of Aperture.

What will our innovator pull from her sleeve this year? Only time will tell, but the track record promises it will be nothing but fabulous!

Read more here.

Chip’s Drawing of a Robot From Outer Space by spring 2006 Hot Shot Andrea Longacre-White

As we get closer and closer to the deadline - we have officially passed the two-week mark - there is much talk about town of Hey, Hot Shot! Props to the competition have been popping up all over the place––Daily Candy, Art Fag City, murketing, Design Observer, Conscientious, Modern Art Notes. A Hot Shot favorite, Alec Soth, recently mentioned the competition on his mandatory blog. Photo District News just gave us a shout out on their blog.

The word is spreading! Winners will be announced on November 20.

Previous showcases have been a shortlist pick in The Village Voice and received mentions in The New York Times, The New Yorker, Art in America, Gothamist, Flavorpill, among others.

Stay tuned! Enter today!

Holly Lynton | Solid Ground : Hymenoptera, originally uploaded by msjenbee.

This isn’t specifically Hey, Hot Shot! related, but it is fabulous gallery related news! The excellent Vince Aletti writes about Holly Lynton’s exhibition Solid Ground in this week’s edition of The New Yorker.

HOLLY LYNTON
Exploring the possibilities for fantasy in her own back yard, Lynton turns it into a wild kingdom for a series of color photographs that assume the point of view of a playful and inquisitive child. Lynton’s nearly naked little girl and a bare-chested friend take on a fairy-tale presence in a landscape rendered mysterious by worm’s-eye-view closeups. He’s a giant seen through a scrim of leaves; she’s a sprite, crouching to catch a sprinkler’s spray in her mouth. But some of the most intriguing images are unpopulated: a tunnel in the snow; a bird caught behind the netting on a raspberry bush; leaves, petals, dead bees, and dry ice floating in a plastic pool. Through Oct. 28. (Bekman, 6 Spring St. 212-219-0166.)

We’ll be hosting a Q+A between Holly and Paddy Johnson of Art Fag City on Thursday October 26 from 6pm - 8pm. (There will be wine + beer, the talk starts around 7ish.)
Space is very limited, so please RSVP: rsvp AT jenbekman DOT com.
The show remains on view through Saturday October 28, and the gallery is open Wednesday - Sunday from noon - 6pm or by appointment.

It’s that time again - the deadline to enter the latest edition of Hey, Hot Shot! is upon us. The deadline for the Spring edition is next Monday, May 8 @ noon.

The competition has been getting lots of good play this week (and it’s barely Tuesday!) - first there was opening reception for jen@joe which features loads of excellent work from 2005 Hot Shots. You can see photos of the event over on Flickr: jen@joe Reception: Sunday April 30th.

Then, there’s that article in the May issue of Art in America that talks about jen bekman, leading into it with a description of Hey, Hot Shot! We’ve posted excerpts on the jb Blog, which you can read here: jb in Art in America’s May Issue.

Finally, yesterday evening, American Photo magazine posted an item on their website about the upcoming deadline: Hey, Hot Shot! Deadline Approaching. (But you knew that already, didn’t you?)

OK, so that’s the news, hot shot. Don’t delay: Apply Now!.

Rebecca Smeyne, Winter Hot Shot and lead writer and photo director for myopenbar.com, was at a wild party in Manhattan called Happy Valley a few weeks ago . . . she took some photos for her own site, and one of them was included in Anthem Magazine on April 19th.

I’ve included two photos from Rebecca’s Flikr site. They’re “Black Face Jesus” and “Hedda Lettuce”, respectively.

This excerpt from Anthem Magazine does its best to describe the scene:

“So this club Happy Valley has been getting mad NYC media love lately, and after last night’s Joanna’s Angels release shindig, I can certainly see why. It’s like some weird amalgam of crass Eurotrash excess and a cocaine-fueled 1980s I never lived through; transvestites with big fake boobs; a DJ booth set in a gaudy disco ball; various people taking their clothes off; various people smoking inside and not getting yelled at; $11 plastic cups of Jack Daniels; a really flamboyant dude who was, I swear, wearing a jacket made out of an oven mitt; a 20-minute trailer of the Angels’ porn, the plot of which was a bit hard to follow (presidential meetings and secret missions punctuated by bouts of tender, tender lovemaking); trying to sit next to various transvestites with fake boobs and/or wearing nurse’s costumes in the hopes of procuring some of their Grey Goose bottle service overflow (which never happened); arriving home at 5 a.m. still wired and waking up feeling like somebody chewed on a vital corner of my brain. As a former college classmate of the lady in question, I can still remember when Ms. Angel was a saucy co-ed with a Web site and a dream. After last night, all I can say is–these kids sure grow up fast.”

Paaarty.