Festival of Emerging Photographers
By Michael Delfin

Since the agency was founded in the early 1980s, Art and Commerce has been a leader in shaping the editorial and commercial visual landscape through their representation of the worlds most vanguard talent. Their artist roster which has included the most influential names in photography: Annie Lebowitz, Robert Mapplethorpe, Steven Miesel, Ellen Von Unwerth to name a few, has cemented A&C's reputation as a behemoth in both the art and commercial worlds. It came as a welcome surprise when the agency announced an interest in shaping the careers of young artists as well in the 2005 Art & Commerce Festival of Emerging Photographers.

Once again it’s raining. For the second year in a row, the opening night of Art & Commerce’s Annual Festival of Emerging Photographers was not dry and picture perfect. But perhaps this is the one of many
genius moves by A&C open on a rainy night just so people will be all the more enticed by the wonderland that is the Tobacco Warehouse. When I walked through the white tent entrance (grabbing yet another
complimentary umbrella) and into the melee of food, drinks, huge illuminated globes, a complex system of tents and walkways it was all I could do to look away to the best view one can have from Brooklyn.

	Art & Commerce Website

Art & Commerce founder Jimmy Moffat, was very concerned with the details of evening. His brainchild, the production that is the Art & Commerce Festival of Emerging Photographers, was the most festive and entertaining opening of the year. Not because of the quality of the work or the celebrity entourage, but because of the inviting environment he created. With a designer beer, an expansive table of chesses and bread, a full dance floor and helium filled globes illuminating the main room. In a city where every opening seems to be in a smaller gallery or a stuffier museum, this open-air extravaganza trumped all.

This year’s show contained 150 photographs by 24 photographers of varying genres. The opening wall contains a series of Nancy Burson style combination portraits by Jake Rowland (portraits of two combined to form various different characters) a questionable start but the work got much better after that.

Perhaps the most jarring series was the work of Samantha Bass. She displayed five photographs taken in slaughterhouses. The first photo [left], a lamb’s head, upside down, throat slit, dripping blood from its nose and mouth, brings a mournful irony to the table of pate being served in the next tent. The comparisons to Christian iconographic paintings are striking. Ms. Bass transcends the usual "meat is murder" aesthetic and allowed the viewer to study and appreciate the forms in her images.

While Samantha Bass stole the show there were many other highlights. Matthew Connors’s investigation of cities through created street scenes was deceptively mundane. The montages were believable as street reportage, but upon closer inspection the relationships between the subjects inserted into the compositions were very distant. Loneliness pervades in his urban landscapes as if interaction is forbade by an unwritten law. These moments are silently exhilarating as if the subjects stole their glances and will quickly return to their isolated paths.

Anna Bauer’s portraits [top] of her step- and half-siblings are a fresh take on a perennial photographer favorite. The beautifully depicted innocent moments in young children’s lives, when put into the context of a family relationship, feel distant. It is as if Ms. Bauer is a stranger to her own family. Anna Bauer is one of the few repeat exhibitors from the previous year (last year 60 photographers shared the space).

Another is Patrick Arnold, a soft-spoken man-in-black type. Speaking about himself and his work, Mr. Arnold says, "I'm a sort of obsessed, paranoid person and this is like, the output of that mentality". The fragmented images of women are interrupted by images of sludgy messes of mud or oil. The images focus on damage and its peripheral affects. The first woman is standing anxious in front of a house in the morning light while another woman is photographed from behind violently pulling at a stubborn braid in her hair [right]. Arnold’s portraits penetrate the after-effects of confusion and frustration.

Overall the show seems more focused than last year, more projects based than driven by the individual image. This year, while some projects are stronger than others, the entire show has matured and has more seamless movement throughout. The jury includes art world stars like Steven Meisel, Stephen Shore and Mirabelle Marden and Melissa Bent of the Rivington Arms Gallery, the work was clearly chosen along the lines of the work of A&C’s distinguished client list.

"Being who we were as Art + Commerce, we had the resources to connect these young people to this world and also to use this space to bring their art to the public," Jimmy Moffat said of his motivations for the show. Luckily for these select young photographers they have the chance to get their feet wet with the endorsement of an Art & Commerce behind them. "PEEK" a full catalogue of the show, published by Art and Commerce is available for sale at www.artandcommerce.com.

The Art & Commerce festival of emerging photographers will be is on view from October 15 - 25, 2005 at the Brooklyn Tobacco Warehouse open daily from 10am - 6pm.