Speaking of untraditional ways of getting your work in front of people, be sure to check out Finn O’Hara’s recent blog post entitled Agency Art.
The whole story is long and convoluted (super interesting though- be sure to click through) but the upshot is that Finn was asked by the CD of one of the best agencies in the city (John St.) if he could show some of Finn’s work at the agency- in backlits too. At the same time, an AB from hot shop Taxi asked for a different series to hang on her walls. And all of this came from having his work on display at a post-production house, frequented by agency creatives. Free artwork on display for them = great exposure for you. Clever.
Here’s a pic from Taxi (from Finn’s Demolition Derby series).
© Finn O'Hara
Here’s a pic from Bijou Editorial (from Finn’s A Moment Before series).
© Finn O'Hara
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And, Matt Barnes has a show on right now at Pikto Gallery. Last Friday was the first opening I had ever attended at Pikto and judging by the way they pour their vodka sodas, it won’t be my last.
© Matt Barnes
The place was packed but Matt left the porn behind for this project. Panthers is a strongly styled series of period portraits with fantastic casting- the women are all gorgeous (but this time- with shirts). The tone on tone study is both stark and oppressive. It’s hard to know what his motive is behind the series- homage or play-acting, or both, but I’d like to see more. Check it out, on till February 19th.
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And, I got a note from Kate Hutchinson yesterday, pointing me to a print sale to benefit Haiti. Kate has donated the image below and explains:
I chose this image because it is of my grandmother doing some charity work and is titled “Knitting for the Society of St. Vincent de Paul”. Like her I am using the skills that I have in order to try and make a difference.
© Kate Hutchinson
Go here to see the work on offer. At $50 for an 8×10, this is a fantastic opportunity to gain some art and help Haiti. All of the proceeds go to Yele Haiti Foundation
{ 11 comments… read them below or add one }
super creative.
i actually have my work in some cool creative places just by asking. more often than not, i’ve had the businesses offer a specific rate to display them. the majority of the time, i just ask for my information to be given to whomever inquires.
i’ve made a few good leads from it as well as 2 verifiable clients as well.
and all i wanted was to have their walls look a bit more beautiful.
rocksteady,
danno~
Now that is good advice. This is having a ‘vision’ for a future in the business….
This is a wonderful post and great reminder that showing work doesn’t always have to be in the form of established white walled galleries.
Well I’m glad that you came and drank my booze and blessed us with your sarcasm but didn’t have enough time or politeness to say hello and actually ask me about my work.
Easy there, Matt . . . I think the review is pretty positive, no? Life can’t all be gum drops and rainbows.
Wow. Do you expect everyone who comes through the door of your opening or posting something on their blog to stroke your ego? Seriously dude – so depressing. Ever think that maybe time was limited and you may have had a lot of people around you already congratulating you? Maybe ask before drilling – or note your sarcasm more effectively if this was intention of your post. There are better ways to talk about work – hanging on walls or in your book – than at a very public function with everyone kicking about. Then again you may have been applying sarcasm yourself in this post. F’ in Interweb! But maybe so am I then. Confused?
Regarding the bait dropped: I would love to read a post on the appropriateness of Porn in a commercial book. Not that I think Matt’s book is all porn, it certainly does not touch the work of say Richard Kern – IMO they are a more stylized (read commercial) version of the hip art kids – and by the looks of things it does not seem to be hindering Matt’s popularity. Would love to ask though. Why? Why would this work go in a commercial book? To show ‘range’? I hope not because it fails on that level; Range does not equal an ad shot minus clothing. To show creativity? Possibly, photographers have been using their medium to get ladies naked in front of a camera since the 1800′s. Though there is really nothing creative about a hot girl with her pants off whether it be in a hotel room on a patch of grass. Sex sells, but hey, so do puppies. To show process? Again possibly. Clearly Matt has worked hard at defining a look for himself – kudos to him on that as many, many, many shooters fail in this regard – but if the intention is to document a truth then the act of applying a commercial look across the board to the images renders that truth a fallacy. Maybe it is just narrative which is advertising no? If so then it does work.
My biggest question is: Most of the art buyers I know and a hell of a lot of great art directors are female. How exactly do they feel looking at work like this? And a question for Matt and his reps. How do you sell work like this? Now that is interesting!
OK I hijacked this. Whatever, welcome to the web.
I was at the opening as well. It was packed to the top! I don’t think that Heather could have talked to you Matt, even if she had wanted to. That is the strangest response to a review I have ever seen.
I would just like to offer a comment in Matt’s defense. While the original post praised Matt’s gallery work, the compliment was almost made backhanded by the constant reference to his personal work as ‘porn’ (again reiterated in Miles’ reply). By definition, pornography is void of any artistic value. Had this been my work spoken of in such a way, I too would have been offended. You are obviously both entitled to your opinions, but to air them in such a flippant manner on a forum as high traffic and public as this one is unfair at best. To be honest, it surprises me that in this industry, work can be so quickly written off as pornography. Its an attitude more akin to right wing politicians than to open minded creative types.
2¢
@TC. Bravo.
Porn or not, Heather is entitled to her opinion – especially on her own blog. Responding in this fashion is just a little bit petty.
And to be clear on all of this…my reply was not a slam on Matt or his work. It was a critique and rather flattering…Worked hard to create a look for himself is not something to be taken lightly nor is my reference to any of this hindering him as he is talked about a lot by creatives and other photographers and from what I hear a busy shooter. In fact I end my post with calling his work Narrative which fits the advertising paradigm doesn’t it?
TC – I am not sure I called it Porn did I? Poorly referenced if I did – it should not have been read like that. I think I said it doesn’t touch Richard Kern and that it is a stylized version (again read: commercial) of the gritty work being done by the redundant Vice crew.
All of it begs to question though my final thought: How do you sell this to female creatives? You can edit a book – sure – but one google and you get the goods. And hats off to the reps and Matt for selling it.