Bill Henson

Some people may know Bill Henson's work because of the controversy that led to his show in May of 2008 being shut down and the images seized do to what some people thought was child pornography. I have been aware of Henson's work since early 2001 when I became interested in the photographic arts and I have loved it ever since. Henson's photographs are romantic and the space he creates for his subjects is always veiled in dim and mystic light, haunted with the ghost of pretty young people at night. Henson creates a world where loneliness and desire abound in the world he has created for his subjects. I find Henson's work to be beautifully captured and I am always disappointed when other artist haven't seen his work.

ESKO MÄNNIKKÖ

About a year ago i found the finnish photographer ESKO MÄNNIKKÖ and though i don't know that much about the artist i do love his use of color and COMPOSITION. The few things i know about the arist is that he seeks out the MARGINALIZED groups LIVING outside of MAINSTREAm. His portraits include the immediate ENVIRONMENT around the subjects, typically their homes or surroundings. MÄNNIKKÖ frames his images with found frames that become apart of the image. MÄNNIKKÖ's is for me one of the finest environmental portraitist working in photography today.

Emmet Gowin

There are always artist that we look back at continually for inspiration, and ideas on how to approach our subject matter. In my free time I often search the internet and galleries for new artist to enjoy, but I always seem to fall back on those who inspired me when I first picked up a camera. Emmet Gowin is one of those artist I admire for his ideas and words on photography. Gowin photographs are wonderfully beautiful and touching, and if you ever have the time I suggest you pick up a book of his work or if your lucky see a show of it. "one of the really important things about art, that you can make more than you can understand at the moment the thing is being made. But the gap between what we recognize inside ourselves – our feelings- and our ability to trust ourselves and to trust exposing ourselves to those ideas, can be great." Emmet Gowin

Jeff Bark

I first became aware of Jeff Bark at Artroplis in Chicago back in 2008 and I fell in love with his photographs. I hope to see more from him in the future.

Tierney Gearon - Exposure

I been looking at Tierney Gearon's exposure project for awhile now and I'm starting to like it more and more. I really loved the "mother project", and I was stunned to see this new body of work. I wonder what made her take such a drastic change in her presentation of the images she takes. The subject matter hasn't changed, but instead she collages to images together with the double exposure feature on her camera. I'm not sure what to think of them quite yet, but I do think they are interesting.

BP portrait Award at the National Portrait Gallery

I was at the National portrait gallery last week and I stopped in to see the BP award winners show. There was a lot of good work there, but the artist Mary Jane Ansell really stood out. The first thing I noticed was the size of the painting, which was a little bit smaller than a 8x10 piece of paper. I really appreciated her choice of such a small painting given that most of the work was fairly large. I love the intimate feeling of having to get close to the work, which was lovely.

Meredith Frampton at the Tate

I was at the Tate the other day and I ran across the post world war painter Meredith Frampton. I was stunned I had never seen his work before, which was overwhelmingly beautiful in a very subtle way.

Jenny Saville

I have been a huge fan of Saville's work ever since I saw it many years ago and I am still enamored by it today. The work is both beautiful and sorrowful. She is by far one of the most talented contemporary painter working today