A good time was had by all at Tuesday night’s Show & Tell premiere event. Thank you to all who came for braving the downpour! A special thanks to the three artists who generously presented their work, Josh Gosfield, Mike Peters, and Joao Carlos.

Josh talked about the origins and inspirations for his project, Gigi Gaston: The Black Flower.

Mike Peters presented a slide show of his personal work he has done in New Jersey, street portraiture from a perspective of thinking about the American dream, and how it has played out on the faces of working people.

Joao Carlos showed his fashion photography, discussing the cinematic, artistic, and literary influences on his photography.

We’re already working on the next line up for Show & Tell. Stay tuned for more details!

If you would still like to RSVP, it looks like space will be limited, but come on by! Directions to the studio can be found here. This is a free event, so please bring a snack or drink to share! Doors open at 6pm, the talks will begin promptly at 6:30.

Here’s a bit about the four guest artist speakers, who will each give a 20 minute talk, followed by questions from the audience.

Josh Gosfield will share images from his series Gigi Gaston: The Black Flower, which recently showed at Steven Kasher Gallery.

From the press release:

“Josh Gosfield has assembled the definitive archive devoted to the 1960s French pop star Gigi Gaston. Gigi’s music and the spectacle of her tragic life riveted the public through the 60s and 70s. The exhibition documents her life and loves with archival photographs, posters, record covers, magazine and newspaper articles, a music video shot by Jean Luc Godard, documentary footage, and assorted ephemera. We see her Gypsy family’s escape from Bulgaria, her affair with her stepbrother, her first guitar, her rise up (and fall down) the charts,  the car crashes, funerals, love triangles and the murder trial. All this played out in a garish media spotlight before the insatiable eyes of her public.”…”In fact Gigi Gaston did not exist. Her persona and all her documents are the fictional creation of Josh Gosfield working with the aid of actors, stylists, make up artists, and Photoshop. This exhibition can leave you wondering if Madonna exists. How do you know?”

Mike Peters:

“I wander neighborhoods similar to the one I was raised in, an industrial working class suburb in New Jersey. In the faces and facades that I encounter along the way, I find a patina that can only be derived from a life lived hard. There exists an unpretentiousness for which I feel a close affinity, and in which I see much that is familiar yet want to know better. I find beauty in these faces and facades, especially when they give a hint to the inner complexities that lie beneath the surface.” … “There is a sense of ordinariness to these people and places that lie in stark contrast to life as portrayed in the media. There is nothing at all sensational going on here, just life being lived by ordinary people who do not regularly demand our attention. These are the people and places I am interested in; these are the people and places my work is all about.”

Joao Carlos:

Joao was recently awarded one The Hasselblad Masters Award in 2009 for wedding/social photography. From the website: “Joao is especially inspired by 18th century and combines influences from this era with fantasy driven ideas from novels, lyrics, and poems that together can form the foundation for a strong image. Joao envisions his photography as an opportunity to create inspiring pieces of artwork, to go beyond the conventionality and impermanence of fashion and commercial photography, and to take his images to a lasting fine-art level. His appreciation for the arts in all aspects is what continues to inspire and drive him while capturing the stories in his lens.”

Marc Dimov:

“Marc Dimov’s imagery spans landscape, still life and portraiture, rendering the limitless possibilities in which the photographic medium can be transformed. In his “Storm Basins” series, the artist creates surreal images of dramatically lit suburban environments, and as with all his work, continues to question the visual language of photography. … Dimov was born in The Berkshires, Massachusetts in 1980. He received his BFA in Photography from Massachusetts College of Art and Design in 2005. His work has been exhibited in various locations throughout New York City and New England including: powerHouse Arena (Brooklyn), James Cohen Gallery (Chelsea), Cue Art Foundation (Chelsea), Artist’s Space (Soho), and South Shore Art Center (Cohassett, MA) to name a few.”

Photo from Maya Suess’s fun and interactive exhibition, It It and the Gimme Box. Read a review here.

Dot Editions is happy to announce two exhibitions opening this Thursday: Josh Gosfield at Steven Kasher Gallery and Maya Suess at AC Institute [Direct Chapel]

Josh Gosfield made use of Dot Editions studio rental to print his upcoming show, opening at the Steven Kasher Gallery, 521 West 23 Street. The exhibition will feature over fifty prints, all devoted to covering the life of Gigi Gaston – the Black Flower. Josh meticulously created the life of a 1960’s French chanteuse, through magazine and newspaper clippings, album covers, fan posters, and a documentary, following her rise as a celebrity, love affairs and marriage, divorce, drama, and mysterious disappearance.

Maya Suess came to Dot Editions to produce prints for her exhibition, It It and the Gimme Box. This work is a playful look at our relationship with consumer objects. The three images Dot Editions printed were of costumed individuals representing a key, earbuds, and a paper trail. These photographs, all over six feet tall, accompany a video with sensors and interactive programming, of three original songs, performed as playful music videos within small booths placed around the gallery. AC Institute [Direct Chapel] is located at 547 W. 27th St, 5th Floor.

Josh Gosfield made use of Dot Editions studio rental to print his upcoming show, opening on October 22, 2009 at the Steven Kasher Gallery. The exhibition will feature more than fifty over-sized prints, all devoted to covering the life of “Gigi Gaston – the Black Flower.” Josh meticulously recreated the life of a 1960’s French chanteuse, through magazine and newspaper clippings, album covers, and fan posters, following her rise as a celebrity,  love affairs and marriage, divorce, drama, and mysterious disappearance.

Josh does such a painstaking job with these prints and documentary footage, it leaves you wondering: did she ever exist?