De Re Gallery based in Los Angeles presents until May 17, Photo Femmes group exhibition by 3 emerging female photographers : Ashley Noelle, Bojana Novakovic and Monroe Alvarez.
Ashley Noelle
Internationally Fine Art Photographer, Ashley Noelle has lived deep in the folds of Art Photography since the age of 15. Having grown up in the era of analog, Noelle’s creative output is informed by the amalgamation of film stock and digital printing techniques – where the vectors of nostalgia intersect with the present.
Of particular interest to the artist is the capturing and reinvestigation of themes, which harken back to the 50s and 60s. The artist succeeds through her aesthetic sensitivities to color, architecture, form and atmosphere. Much of the work on view is indicative of her interests in old Hollywood. Fashion and film personality Gigi Hadid serves as the iconic and timeless 60s girl, and the artist’s work, the
Bird, can be seen as a nod to the pioneer film maker and master storyteller, Alfred Hitchcock.
http://www.ashleynoellestudios.com
Bojana Novakovic
Bojana Novakovic is an actress and photographer.
I’ve been taking photos for 23 years. My parents bought me a film camera for my 12th birthday and I was in the dark room at high school every day, developing pictures of friends skate boarding or of myself in the nude under different lights. My mother didn’t like it. She told me photography was for people who couldn’t paint. Even though she regretted this a few years later, her words stuck and I never pursued it as a serious profession. However, my passion for taking photos grew over time. My cameras have varied throughout the years but my appetite for capturing experiences never changed.
I have never exhibited any of the pictures I took even though some of them were pretty good. I didn’t want anyone to scrutinize my work. I don’t want people having opinions about what they see – or rather what I see, how I see it and how I choose to reveal it. But this exhibit is different, because it’s not about me.
When I took my first trip to Nepal this year to see my friends and figure out how I, and others in LA, could help them rebuild their lives, I took my Camera (Cannon 5D). I wasn’t going to – but my sister insisted on it… She said I’d want to film them and show people how things were. She was right, but filming proved too impersonal. However, with photography, I could capture a moment quickly and reconnect with the people around me within seconds. And they actually loved it. In time they welcomed me. Invited by the villagers, I took photos of the classes I conducted, the homes I lived in and the people I met. I also took photos of the disastrous effects of the earthquake, but honestly, those photos don’t really show the soul of the place. Those photos might be what we in the west want to see – to make us aware, or make us feel different, or perhaps to make us feel like we are doing something simply by being aware, even though we are so different.
But the truth is that I spent time with people who, even though they were confused, tired and homeless, were also beautiful, ego-less and often times happy. They live in a landscape unlike any I have seen. They live with minimal means and maximum awareness. They had their families (the ones who had survived) around them. They were busy working – re-building, cooking, teaching, learning, organizing, helping each other, and they did this slowly, with no sense of urgency. No panic. The kids particularly were eager to learn, to be seen, to be helped. They, and their families, opened their arms, eyes and homes to me. And I guess in a way, this being my first exhibition (something I never really wanted to do) these pictures are about me opening up to you.
I don’t want to romanticize disaster, but I also don’t want to sensationalize it. These photos are simply what I want to show of what I saw – free of the drama I expected – and full of the life that was present.
http://www.bproject.us
Monroe Alvarez
Born to parents that include both a world-class photographer and model, the artist Monroe has an acute and well-informed aesthetic when it comes to capturing rarefied spaces in the photographic medium. Inspired by the tenebrism and artistic language of such artists as Richard Avedon, Herb Ritts, Peter Lindbergh, and Irving Penn, the Amsterdam born artist’s itinerant childhood and influences have informed much of her approach as it is ultimately expressed here.
The sweep of underlying curiosity that lays at the base of this body of work orbits around an ontological preoccupation – specifically, investigating such themes as displacement and time. Works Monroe’s quasi-mystical imagery is presented to engage the viewer in a game of contemporary art, wherein we are confronted by scenes we should not be seeing – something occulted, something hidden. The artist is intrigued by and examines these hidden spaces, which are seemingly untouched by man. Rather than conveying these art-theoretical concepts merely as endless vistas or tabular landscape photography, the artist herself is the lone sojourner, naked and vulnerable. Through the introduction of the figure, the artist seeks to populate a sense grander, something epic while simultaneously providing an anchor point the viewer may identify with.
The lonely figure in the images on view are not only an expression of these themes, it is a mirror of the artist’s approach and peripatetic nature; one that is entirely self-sufficient and mobile. However, the fruits of her labor do not come easily – the artist’s process is as solitary in nature as the photographs themselves. The artist’s decision to work without assistants in any capacity poses significant technical and logistical challenges. The struggle inherent to this shooting style comes through at a high level all through this body of work. This raw and self-reliant approach garnered the praise of other respected photographers and critics in the world of fine art already in the early stages of her career.
http://shotbymo.com
EXHIBITION
Photo Femmes
3 emerging female photographers
Ashley Noelle, Bojana Novakovic and Monroe Alvarez
From April 13th to May 17th, 2016
De Re Gallery
8920 Melrose Avenue
Los Angeles, CA 90069
United States
http://www.deregallery.com
