This year, The Photography Show presented by AIPAD will take place from April 5 to 8 at Pier 94 in New York. It is one the oldest photographic fair where a lot of special moments happened. Until its opening, The Eye of Photography will publish a selection of memories of the fair collected from the gallery owners, mostly related to photographs.
Steven Kasher, Steven Kasher Gallery, New York: Last year, our most memorable moment was being singled out by critic Roberta Smith in her New York Times coverage of the fair. Smith wrote, “In contrast, there’s the tailored survey of recent photography at Steven Kasher titled 21 Artists, One Straight White Male. It begins with Phyllis Galembo’s great Los Americanos, Mexico (2012), whose masked revelers mock Uncle Sam, and includes work by Mickalene Thomas, Marilyn Minter and Jimmy DeSana.” We took a chance with our presentation and it definitely paid off. Our booth this year presents a similarly curated group of pictures under the theme of “Performance/Politics”.
Brian Paul Clamp, Clampart, New York: The first year that our gallery featured work at AIPAD by artist Michael Massaia was in 2016. On the front wall of the booth we displayed his iconic image Half Moon. The response to his work was wonderful and encouraging, which prompted us to feature his photography prominently again at the following edition of AIPAD, which then led to his first solo show at ClampArt in the fall of 2017.
Alan Klotz, Alan Klotz Gallery, New York: I have always found this image of the Russian Jewess arriving at Ellis Island, in front of the famous semi-circular window in the arrivals hall, to be intensely moving. She has left the world she knows in favor of an unknown future, in an alien land. She is scared, she is brave, she is literally stunned by her situation. My heart goes out to her as a stranger whose future is about to begin.
Joel Soroka, Joel Soroka Gallery, Aspen: This was the first image I saw by the Swiss camera artist Beatrice Helg which she showed me when we first met at AIPAD in 1993. I immediately purchased a copy to exhibit at my home and it began a very long collaboration which exists to this day. At that point in my career as a collector and dealer I never thought I would own anything in color but I found her work to be very pure, about the things I loved most in art, form, perspective and texture. I continue to be mystified by the work she creates in her studio as she creates actual but temporary sets to be photographed.
Lee Marks, Lee Marks Fine Art, Shelbyville: I had just begun to represent Jen Davis when I hung four of her small self-portrait photographs at AIPAD 2009, together with this statement by Jen, that was on the wall next to the photographs: “The perfect body image in this culture requires that one be thin. Images of perfectly fit individuals saturate the visual media, creating icons which establish a norm that makes all else seem to be deviant. Overweight people do not satisfy what is attractive or desired. In this body of work, I deal with my insecurities about my body image and the direct correlation between self-perception and the way one is perceived by others. Most of my pictures take place in my home, revealing aspects of myself that are private and personal. I am evaluating my self-image, as an obese female in her 20s, dealing with ever-present pressures from the outside world. This process of self-exploration has helped to lay the foundation of finding my voice and recognizing my actions and insecurities. My work is solely based on personal experiences that I have re-constructed into a photograph, but I believe that it speaks generally to the situation of many women in our culture.”
