After the rousing success of last year’s inaugural Los Angeles edition of Paris Photo, the programming for its second year, opening April 25, is more ambitious, expansive, and exciting than ever — especially its solo section. Held once again at Paramount Pictures Studios and backlot, the fair boasts some 70 exhibiting galleries from 18 countries, and 31 solo shows featuring both emerging and established artists.
The fair’s selection committee organized the solo section’s refined grouping of booths, which includes work from newcomers like Abigail Reynolds, Brian Bress, and Christina De Middel, along with recognizable figures like Stephen Shore, Edward Burtynsky, and William Eggleston.
Julien Frydman, the fair’s director, explained how the unique Hollywood setting for Paris Photo was complimentary to some artists’ work, and a source of inspiration for others. “Some artists certainly do visit the space in advance and have a vision of how the work should be presented,” he said. “Some exhibitors are presenting very unique installations where the space is an integral part of the presentation, such as Cherry and Martin’s stand in the New York Street backlot, or M+B and François Ghebaly. One of the interesting qualities of the backlot is actually seeing how exhibitors and artists work not only within, but with each of these unique spaces.”
With some artists looking to incorporate the filmic location into their presentations, and others premiering imagery from worlds away, here are five artists to look out for while exploring the fair’s single artist exhibitions.
The formally impressive and aesthetically delicate work of Uta Barth, a Los Angeles-based German artist, will be presented by 1301PE Gallery. Her highly technical process captures the after images of objects, limbs, and movement, creating alluring textures and volume within the frame.
Brian Bress
The show runner for Cherry and Martin’s booth, Bress created one of the more site appropriate exhibitions. His photography and film work continually bleed between mediums, defying categorization and testing the limits for an otherwise straight and traditionally clean art form. The gallery released a statement noting, “Brian Bress engages the idea of artifice within the context of the ultimate artifice: Paramount Studios’s New York backlot.” It added, “Illusionistic, collaged scenic backdrops set the stage for Bress’s new time-based monitor works and photographs.”
Abigail Reynolds
The works on Reynolds’s website, and presented by Ambach and Rice at the fair, are divided between collage, sculpture, and performance — so why is she front and center at a photo fair? The Londoner’s use of appropriated photographic imagery from old books cut and overlaid atop each other produce architectural re-imaginings of iconic buildings and cityscapes. Reynolds connects images through time and space, repositioning them with prominent seams in composite works.
Robertson’s work was recently included in the International Center of Photography’s much talked about “What is a Photograph?” exhibition, and appropriately so; her arresting numbered works are explosions of color and light, and they scientifically delve into the art form. Her work, an “investigation into the indexical parameters of photography,” according to Frydman, will be shown by M+B Gallery — it’s not to be missed.
Stephen Shore
Last but not least, the venerable master photographer will be showcasing his most recent body of work, “Winslow, Arizona,” with 303 Gallery. The big skies, desert dust, and relics of a past era were completed as part of Doug Aitken’s “Station to Station” project. In the series, Shore marries the contemporary with vintage and the inhabited with the desolate, capturing a part of America still very much alive.
