Merry Christmas!

a long overdue blog post...  have a great christmas!

Factory

I am pleased that my project 'Factory' has been selected to be shown at the Exposure Exhibition as part of the Format Photography Festival and Biennial to be held in Derby next month (March 2013).

Below are the images, showing portraits of Ex (rescued) Caged Hens AND Free Range Hens.  (The montage is mainly 'free range' hens.)  I was shocked to discover some of these in a worst stage than the caged hens.

The last image, the healthy looking hen, is NOT a factory farmed hen and surprisingly is a city hen living on a rooftop in Dalston at Farm Shop.

'For Our Pleasure?' Exhibition photos

Below are some photos from the recent Exhibition I curated for Photomonth 2012.  The show was in the gallery at Hackney Picturehouse and was open from 1st November until 28th November.  

The Photographers involved were Daniel Kukla, Martin Usborne, myself and Adrien Ehrhardt.  The show also contained a number of pieces of taxidermy since the theme was our relationship with animals.

All in all the show was a great success and being my first curatorial project I was very pleased with the achievement and the reaction of the press to the Exhibition.

We had a panel discussion on the 18th November and I will post some photos from this event as I have them.....

For Our Pleasure?

It seems I have greatly neglected this blog of late but things have been BUSY BUSY BUSY. 

I curated an Exhibition which is part of Photomonth 2012, East London's International Photo Festival.

The Exhibition is titled 'For Our Pleasure?' and is currently showing at the gallery in Hackney Picturehouse. If you get chance pop in and see it.  It looks great, photos to follow!

It is a thought provoking group photography and installation experience examining human interaction with the environment and animals, and culminating in a panel discussion at which the audience are able to partake in discussion regarding issues raised throughout the show.  

From stuffed Bison heads and taxidermy stag heads wearing make up, through to the work of four very different photographers, the exhibition looks at the way we, as humans, exploit and interact with animals in the created environment around us.

The Photographers are Martin Usborne, Daniel Kukla, Adrien Ehrhardt and Alex Grace.  The Exhibition has been curated and produced by Alex Grace

Exhibition:

PORTRAITS AT THE PLACE

182 Stoke Newington Road, London N16 7UY
Opening night: Thurs 16th August from 19:00 till late
Exhibition runs until 28th September. Opening hours: Weekdays 18:00 - midnight, Weekends from midday

Maureen © Alex Grace

The Place quietly opened its doors on the 26th of May.

After two months of music and dancing, mingling, coffee drinking, film screenings and fun, it was time to take the creative space one step further by inviting six Artists to participate in The Place's first Exhibition, 'Portraits'.

Stav B, visual artist, performer, director of The Place and Londoner for more than twenty years brings together an eclectic group of artists working within the genre of Portraiture.

The result is a strong group exhibition, exploring interpretations of the Portrait as conceived through the differing mediums of Photography, Painting and Illustration.

"Keeping it simple and going back to basics with no frills, jargon, or futile corporate ambition motivated me to conceive and curate the very first official exhibition at The Place, a unique establishment, accommodating culture, events and art with love, quality and enthusiasm.

PORTRAITS, was the first thing that came to mind, as a representation of the person, the people, the expressions, the character. I wanted to focus on 2 dimensional work and when looking for artists, i was very pleased to have been approached by photographers, painters and illustrators, translating their definition of the portrait via their chosen discipline.

All the artists are super talented and their work manifests exactly that; their love for the face, the lines, the personality. Enjoy them. Many thanks to the artists Sarah, Alex, Atalanta, Zbigniew, Ego and Tasha. Also thank you to Pierre, whose precious help and excellent PR skills, made this exhibition possible." stav B. ©2012

The exhibition features work from:

Photography by Alex Grace and Zbigniew Tomasz Kotkiewicz
Painting by Sarah Jane Moon and Atalanta Kernick
Illustration by Ego RodriguezDrawings by Tasha Krestova

The opening night is Thursday 16th August from 19:00 till late. The kitchen is open for food and we have live music and a DJ.

DJ: Polanski
Live act: Le Squid

Come and celebrate with us!

The Place
182 Stoke Newington Road,
London
N16 7UY

Portrait Exhibition at 'The Place' London

Prepping is under way for a group Portraiture Exhibition at 'The Place', 182 Stoke Newington High Street, London.

Opening night is Thursday 16th August from 18:00. All welcome to pop in.

It is a mixed media Exhibition including photography (of course!), illustration and painting.

Below you have a sneak preview of the work I am showing....

AOP Photographers Awards 2012

This year I entered the AOP (Association Of Photographer's) Photographers Awards.

It's quite a big deal in the UK advertising world to win these Awards so I was thrilled when I heard two of my images were shortlisted and made it through to the second round of judging. Extra thrilled because it was 2 out of the 3 images I entered (and not a series either).

Because it was 2 images I was convinced one would make it through to win. Sadly neither did and I have been extremely disappointed.

Still, I have been told it is an achievement to make it through to the 2nd round so I wanted to share that accomplishment.

Below are the two images that went through.

The cockerel is part of a chicken/ cockerel series I have been working on which I will hopefully be sharing very soon. The rest of the series is still in retouching but I am very excited about it......

Luchador Negro Casas

Negro Casas is an important figure within the Lucha Libre as he comes from a wrestling family and has traveled all over the world during his wrestling career, including stints in Japan and the USA.
Negro Casas has been wrestling now for 30 years and has always wrestled without a mask, something unusual within the Lucha Libre.

I have been struggling to edit these photos down from the chosen 3 below and am also wondering whether the shots work better in black and white or colour.
I have discovered lately that blogging my edits often helps me make a final selection down the line so hopefully all will become clear in a few days......

Happy New Year! Help........

HAPPY 2012!! And the first blog post of the year is a photo of me being strangled by a female luchadore!

The Lucha libre are Mexican Wrestlers who fight wearing masks, it is very theatrical. When in the ring, they are like super hero's/ fantasy characters. Fascinating! Well, it is to me anyway.

I spent December in Mexico and began a project on the Lucha Libre so there is some new work to follow which is a great way to bring in the New Year.

Lucky I survived the strangling hey?!

December 18th and 19th....

.....I missed a day again but here are Dogs Of The Day for the 18th and 19th December. Jeremy and Sadie.....

Portrait Salon

One of my images has been selected for 'Portrait Salon', a modern day 'salon des refuses'.

It is a showcase of 75 unselected entries from the National Portrait Gallery Photographic Prize 2011 (Taylor Wessing).

Personally I am really excited to see the other entries and I think it gives an interesting perspective and insight into the judging of the Taylor Wessing prize, an award which causes much debate every year.

The images will be shown as a projection at The Roxy Bar and Screen in Borough, London tonight and all are welcome! Short notice I know but it's been busy busy busy lately!!

Below is the invite and a quote from Miranda Gavin on the selection process....

“Looking through the rejected entries has been an eye opener - it was a rare chance to see some of the images that are discarded, to ponder the question of portraiture in the 21^st century, and to discover some top-notch portraits to boot. The National Portrait Gallery Photographic Portrait Prize 2011 is a prestigious international prize, however, there is a lack of feedback given to entrants and it was surprising to find that there is some confusion as to what constitutes a portrait – many images simply didn’t fit the criteria. Portrait Salon is a new venture and should be viewed as a positive addition to the photo competition arena as all entrants are being given another chance to get their work seen on screen and in print at no extra cost.”

Behind the scenes in Wales

I had a dark moment recently on a shoot in Wales and became fascinated by a dead sheep....Thanks to my assistant, Gary Conway for capturing the moment......

Ian Brown and me at Chiswick Football Club - randomly!

Looking for some stuff on an old hard drive this afternoon and I came across this football club shoot with ex Stone Roses frontman, Ian Brown..... I totally forgot I had shot this.....according to my records it was September 2005.....I don't actually remember what this was for or how it came about....maybe it's because i'm not into football.....





OK, I just did a quick web search and it seems in September 2005, Ian Brown sponsored Chiswick amateur football club, hence the shirt which was emblazoned with, 'IB - The Greatest' (the name of Ian Brown's album release back then). Another interesting thing I found was that my photos from this shoot were all over the internet on various press websites......no credits of course, but quite amusing all the same!

Adam and Joe

I had a little play around with my Adam and Joe images to see which ones work best together....i think i like the first and last ones......

Joe Cornish

I shot Joe Cornish recently. Joe is a British comedian, television and radio presenter, director, writer and actor who along with long-time comedy partner, Adam Buxton form the comedy duo 'Adam and Joe'.
One of these shots will sit next to my earlier portrait of Adam Buxton in the 'World of Wonder' 20th Anniversary book when it comes out later this year.
I have been working on these portraits for over a year now, so am very excited about the release of the book (release date tbc)......