Photos from the Artist Reception for Robert von Sternberg and R. Dean Larson

dnj Gallery has officially opened our first new exhibitions of 2014: Black & White Vintage Photographs by Robert von Sternberg and HydroGraphics by R. Dean Larson. This past Saturday evening, dnj held its artist reception for both artists. The opening was a success, and everyone at dnj is looking forward to the coming weeks of these new exhibitions.

Black & White Vintage Photographs and HydroGraphics will be on view at dnj Gallery through March 1, 2014. For more information, please contact dnj Gallery.

Our two artists, Robert von Sternberg (left) and R. Dean Larson (right).

dnj artist Suda House.

Previous Gallery Manager, Amy Crum, catches up with Pamela.

dnj artist Darryl Curran.

R. Dean Larson enjoying his opening reception.

Robert von Sternberg discussing his photographs.

Upcoming Exhibition: Robert von Sternberg & R. Dean Larson

Robert von Sternberg & R. Dean Larson

Artist Reception: Saturday, January 11, 2014 6-8pm

Robert von Sternberg

Black & White Vintage Photographs

Robert von Sternberg, Ventura Field,

2001, carbon ink print, 12 x 9 inches

R. Dean Larson

HydroGraphics

R. Dean Larson, HydroGraphic 69 (L) and Sketch 69 (R),

2013, digital inkjet print, sizes vary

Robert von Sternberg & R. Dean Larson January 11 - March 1, 2014

dnj Gallery is pleased to announce its first new exhibitions of 2014. Black & White Vintage Photographs by Robert von Sternberg will be in the main gallery. Gallery II will feature HydroGraphics by R. Dean Larson. Both exhibitions will run from January 11 through March 1, 2014.

Robert von Sternberg has been active in Southern California photography for several decades. This exhibition highlights samples of his black and white work spanning from 1962 through the early 2000s. All of the images in this exhibition were captured on traditional film. Some are classic gelatin silver prints. Others are carbon ink prints that were created by drum scanning negatives into digital files, then printing them with an ink jet printer retooled with special carbon ink jets to produce an extraordinary range of tonal qualities. Though the photographs cover a range of subjects, together they showcase von Sternberg's talent for finding and capturing the exquisite, yet easily overlooked moments of everyday life. Using humor and wit, von Sternberg's images ultimately lead his audience to the discovery that in a world saturated with images there is still a reason to look. von Sternberg states, "Images exist--waiting to be captured. Subliminally, I'm always looking for them. I encounter them everywhere--on my commute, while attending events and even while traveling."

von Sternberg started taking photographs in his early years in Hermosa Beach and sold the very first image he took to Surfer Magazine. He has exhibited his work since the late sixties and has pieces in numerous private collections and 45 museums, including the Museum of Fine Arts in Houston, the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, the Art Institute of Chicago and the International Museum of Photography at the George Eastman House in Rochester, New York. von Sternberg's work is currently on view at LACMA as part of the exhibition "See the Light - Photography, Perception, Cognition: The Marjorie and Leonard Vernon Collection."

In HydroGraphics in Gallery II, R. Dean Larson uses digital tools to explore and extend his artistic vision beyond the capture of a frame. Larson, who taught traditional photography and darkroom technique for many years, turns to the newer tools of digital photography and Photoshop to emphasize the distinctive characteristics of ocean waves. This exhibition features photographs of subjects both before and after manipulation to demonstrate the differences between the captured image and Larson's artistic vision. Drawing upon psychology's concept of Selective Perception, he explains that he manipulates his images of the ocean in order to "isolate[ ] certain Elements of Design, such as Form, Color and Contour, and create[ ] a hybrid image of enhanced and virtual reality...In my Hydrographics series, I have set out to visually illustrate aspects of the ocean's water." Larson taught photography in the Los Angeles Unified School District for over 30 years. His photographs have been exhibited throughout the Southern California area, and his work has been published in numerous outlets. He holds a B.A. and M.A. in psychology, a subject that influences much of his work.

dnj gallery

2525 michigan avenue, suite J1

santa monica, california 90404

310.315.3551

office@dnjgallery.net

For directions to our gallery, please click here

dnj Gallery is now on Artnet, so be sure to check us out!

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Only a few days left for dnj's current exhibition

Only a few days left

Alain Laboile & Dale Johnson

November 2 - January 4, 2014

Alain Laboile

La Famille

Alain Laboile, Le faune, 2011, digital pigment print, 16 x 16 inches

Dale Johnson

Paris Portfolio

Dale Johnson, Le Marché en Plein Air, 2008, digital pigment print, 15" x 11"

Alain Laboile & Dale Johnson

dnj Gallery presents two exhibitions with strong ties to France.  “La Famille” by Alain Laboile, a French photographer, will be in the main gallery.  Dale Johnson’s “Paris Portfolio” will be in Gallery II.  Both exhibitions will be on display through January 4, 2014.

Childhood is the central theme in Alain Laboile's series.  Using his own children as models, he seeks to evoke the universal yet fleeting qualities of childhood, including freedom, curiosity, and a lack of inhibition.  Similar to the American photographer, Sally Mann, Laboile records a combination of spontaneous moments of childhood repose, revealing striking pictures of imaginative play.  He explains: “Though my work is deeply personal, it’s also accessible, addressing human nature and allowing the viewer[s] to enter my world and reflect on their own childhoods.”

Laboile is the father of six and lives with his children and his wife, Anne, in Arbis, France.  Laboile was a sculptor for many years before turning to photography in 2004, first as a means of preparing for and documenting his sculptural work and then as an artistic pursuit.  His photographs have been exhibited in France, Cambodia and Japan.  “La Famille” is his first exhibition in the United States.  He is scheduled to publish a collection of his images with Steidl Verlag next year.

In her “Paris Portfolio,” Dale Johnson was inspired by her own family roots in the city and her family members’ connection to the arts there in the nineteenth century.  She “wanted to ‘draw’ the ‘Old Paris’ – the City in its various facets; narrow lanes, old buildings, busy cafes and shops with their window displays.”  She employs the method she has developed of shooting with a plastic camera lens on a sophisticated digital camera to give her images a soft and grainy effect, which she further enhances with an additional layer of texture.

Johnson was raised in Buenos Aires, Argentina and Sao Paulo, Brazil and currently splits her time between Carmel, CA and Santa Fe, NM.  Johnson earned her B.F.A. in graphic design from the Art Center in Pasadena.  In 2008, she began experimenting with photographic lenses that would allow her to combine the aesthetics of her painting style with the immediacy of a photograph.  She has exhibited her photography across the country.  In 2010, Johnson’s photographs were published in “Color Magazine,” Special Issue #10, and “Urban Country Landscape,” The Worldwide Gala Awards.  As a winner in the Emerging Focus Photography Competition, her work was exhibited at photo l.a., 2012.  This is her second solo exhibition at dnj Gallery.

dnj gallery

2525 michigan avenue, suite J1

santa monica, california 90404

310.315.3551

office@dnjgallery.net

For directions to our gallery, please click here

dnj Gallery is now on Artnet, so be sure to check us out!

dnj Gallery is also on Facebook and Twitter.

Jock Sturges on Alain Laboile

"The secret would appear to be fourfold. 

1) He has an amazing level of physical and mental energy. Simply put, he's very strong. 

2) He has a huge advantage in never having studied photography at all and thus labors with no limits to his creativity. It's a bit ironic for me to set this down as a strength because when I am teaching I am forever abjuring young photographers to invest themselves as deeply as ever they can in the history of both photography and all the other arts as well. But in Alain's case his inherent aesthetic genius (the word is well applied) is usefully liberated by the absence of preconception and exterior influence. 

3) Alain has worked as a successful sculptor working in iron for much of his life. He executes works, often large and very elaborate, on commission all over France. Thence come his physical strength and aesthetic muscle to which I can add my perception of his exceptional creative discipline. 

4) Alain's family -- the subject of the vast majority of his photography. Simply put, Alain and his wife, Anne, are wonderful parents who allow their children to be remarkably free in a beautiful landscape. I have visited them several times and was so very impressed by how much the children loved both their parents and each other(!) as well, and by how profoundly uninhibited and creative they were in how they interacted with and played in their home environment. In fact, I was so very impressed by the beauty of this family that I find myself impatient with the artifice of written language to adequately express the wonder of people and place. Only Alain's pictures do that at all well. They tell the truth." 

- Jock Sturges on Alain Laboile

Alain Laboile, Le cirque, 2011, digital pigment print, 19 x 13 inches 

Alain Laboile, Autour du bassin, 2011, digital pigment print, 19 x 13 inches

Alain Laboile, Les bocaux, 2012, digital pigment print, 19 x 13 inches

See Alain's work at dnj Gallery. Alain's exhibition, La Famille will be up through Saturday, January 4. 

For more information, please contact the gallery.

Give the gift of art with a dnj Gallery Holiday Miniature

2013 Holiday Miniatures

Holiday Miniatures Installation at dnj Gallery, 5" x 7", editions of 6

Still looking for that perfect holiday gift?

Give the gift of art with a dnj Gallery Holiday Miniature.  Our dnj Gallery artists have created unique prints that are indicative of their original artwork. These pieces are 5 x 7 inches and are only $100 + tax.  All are printed in a limited editions of six. For the photographer, art lover or design enthusiast in your life, these prints are a distinctive and affordable way to begin an art collection.

To see all of the available 2013 dnj Gallery miniatures, click here.

Please contact the gallery for information about all works available.

dnj gallery

2525 michigan avenue, Suite J1

santa monica, california 90404

310.315.3551

office@dnjgallery.net

For directions to our gallery, please click here

dnj Gallery is now on Artnet, so be sure to check us out.

dnj Gallery is also on Facebook and Twitter.

Lipsky's experience at the Lishui Int'l Photographic Culture Festival feat. on Lenscratch

dnj artist Clay Lipsky's experience at the 2013 Lishui International Photographic Culture Festival has been featured on Lenscratch. To read more about Clay's experiences and to see insider pictures from his trip, check out the Lenscratch article here.

"Several months ago curators Yan Li and Blue Mitchell invited a select group of photographers to exhibit at the 2013 Lishui International Photographic Culture Festival in China. This festival occurs every other year and is an event I was aware of as an array of American photographers have shown there in the past thanks to Yan Li.  For 2013 a much smaller group would be attending representing alternative process based works in a show called Unconventional Photography. It was an exciting opportunity for me as I had never been to China and quickly jumped at the chance. Consequently flights were booked, travel visas acquired and prints made, but it all still seemed like a dream based solely in emails and fantasy. It wasn’t until I was making a connecting flight in the Beijing airport, with portfolio in hand, where I encountered fellow photographer, Bill Vaccaro, when things finally began to feel real. Upon arrival in Wenzhou we were greeted at the airport by some smiling faces with warm greetings and the real adventure began..."  - Clay Lipsky in Lenscratch

Andrew Uchin featured on Lenscratch

dnj artist, Andrew Uchin was recently featured on Lenscratch for his The Reader Series.

"Andrew Uchin's project, The Reader Series, does just that as he explores the book-as-object and an individual's engagement with said object through added text and the wear and tear of a cherished possession. Like an archeologist, Andrew has uncovered how we interact with the printed page."
- Andrew Uchin: The Reader Series, Lenscratch

Andrew Uchin: The Reader Series on Lenscratch

Andrew Uchin, We Talk You Listen, 2011, archival inkjet print, 11 x 14/16 x 20/20 x 24 inches

Andrew Uchin, Seeing Through Feeling, 2011, archival inkjet print, 11 x 14/16 x 20/20 x 24 inches

To see the entire Lenscratch article about Uchin's work, click here. For more of Andrew Uchin's work, see his dnj artist page here. For more information on prices and availability, please contact dnj Gallery.