curated by Debra Klomp Ching
of Klomp Ching Gallery, New York

submissions open now through 5 November.

The gallery is thrilled to be working with the esteemed curator Debra Klomp Ching to create New Directions 2012.

Each January wall space gallery presents fresh ideas in photography from emerging talents in the medium. Working with the top professionals in the community for the last 6 years wall space has showcased over a hundred new artists, some of whom have gone on to artist representation with the gallery, or other opportunities within the art world. Some of those artists we have signed on at wall space include Joseph O. Holmes, Bill Vaccaro and Priya Kambli. Cornelia Hediger, part of our inagural exhibition, is now with KlompChing Gallery. Caleb Charland was also an alum of 2006, and is now represented by Michael Mazzeo Gallery.

Showcasing the newest in contemporary photography, we are excited to have Ms. Klomp Ching look for the next wave of photographers as craftsman. The focus of this years exhibition is photographs as an element of a larger vision. Looking for images using digital technologies, or acquired images, even anonymous images incorporated into photographs, Ms. Klomp Ching is looking for how we use photography to talk about our surroundings. Process is as important as the image in this case, we are looking for images not just straight out of the camera, but using all technologies available to create and craft the photographers vision. For example, Doug Keyes image of New York (above), incorporating multiple images to speak to one vision. Also shown above is a Diarama Map by Sohei Nishono,
This work is a contemporary form of the art of photo-collage, aerial mapping and perhaps even referencing google mapping.
These are the unique images we are looking for from the next wave of creative artist.

This is a tremendous opportunity to have your work seen by one of the best curators in the country.

Here is the important stuff for submissions – 

Juror – Debra Klomp Ching, Klomp Ching Gallery, New York, NY

Debra Klomp Ching is the owner and director of the Klompching Gallery in New York, founded in 2007 in partnership with Darren Ching. Prior to this, she was the Executive Director of Pavilion (UK), served as an Officer at the Arts Council of England and was a lecturer in photographic practice at the University of Coventry (UK) and history of photography at Derby University (UK).

Her experience in the photography industry spans more than two decades, during which time she has participated in several notable photography review festivals, panel presentations and conferences, curated photography exhibitions in Europe, Canada and the US, juried several photography awards and contributed to both online and print publications on the subject of photography. She is an international adviser to the Executive Director of CENTER (Santa Fe) an adviser to the Center for Fine Art Photography (Fort Collins) and a photo editor for At Length Mag.

Debra Klomp Ching has a BA(Hons) in Photographic Studies, an MA in Critical History and Theory of Photography, a PG Diploma in New Media Management and has attended graduate studies in Curating.

Prospectus for New Directions 2012

Crossing Territories / Arte Factum

There are broadly two ways in which to consider the nature of the photograph; the photograph as a physical object and the photograph as an image — it’s content/message, what we see. These two elements cannot be totally separated.

For New Directions 2012, I’m looking for the imaginative ways in which contemporary photographers are fusing the content of their photographs with the final output and presentation. What is important, is that the final photograph maintains the photographic element as the driving force. The visual element and the physical element need to make sense visually and conceptually.

A good example would be the Diarama Maps by Sohei Nishono. The creation of these images involves an intense month of location searching on foot; shooting, developing and printing thousands of photographs; several months of cutting, pasting and arranging of the re-imagined city; and finally re-shooting the completed collage to create the final image in photographic form that is then presented as a large-scale light jet print. This work is a contemporary form of the art of photo-collage, aerial mapping and perhaps even referencing google mapping.

An example of a more subtle way of combining the content of the image with the way in which the object is made, would be In The Garden by Beth Dow. The creation of this series involves shooting on film, cropping the prints and burning / dodging the prints to guide the viewer’s eye through the picture with the final prints being platinum/palladium. What impresses me about this work is how the artist has used the printing process to bring together the historical references of the English garden with a long-held traditional printing method that captures “that slant of curious light that is the genius of a place.”.

Here’s a small example of photographers that I feel are also working creatively with photography — pushing boundaries, are reflective of photographic practice ‘now’ and are displaying originality and creativity:

Michael Wolf, Alejandro Chaskielberg, Marc Baruth, Paolo Ventura, Doug Keyes, Helen Sear, Andreas Gefeller, Myoung Ho Lee, Maria Antonietta Mameli, Beth Dow, Curtis Mann, Chris McCaw, Dong Yoon Kim, Matthew Baum, Sohei Nishono, Cornelia Hediger,  Edith Maybin, Desiree Dolron …

Ensure that you succinctly state what the physical photograph is and how this relates to the message or subject of the photograph. There is no limitation on the subject matter.

ImportantDates

Open Submission period – 1 October 2011 – 5 November 2011

Artists notified – 28 November 2011

Selected prints due to wall space gallery – 2 January 2012

wall space | Santa Barbara exhibition – 4 January – 29 January 2012

wall space | Seattle exhibition – 8 February – 4 March 2012

Rules

Entries will be accepted from the United States and Internationally.

Your entry (via mail with CD or on-line) must reach the Santa Barbara gallery by 5 November 2011

A maximum of 5 images may be submitted

Traditional or Digital Images may be submitted

Submission fee is $45USD. If mailing entry, enclose payment. On-line entries can use google checkout or paypal to pay.

Image selections will be made and artists notified 28 November 2011.

Selected images must be delivered to the gallery framed and ready for exhibition after 1 December, 2011 and before 2 January, 2012.

wall space reserves the right to edit images for poor quality printing or framing.

On-line entries must be optimized for screen view (72ppi). Maximum dimensions 765px x 595px. Maximum file size: 350KB.

images above – Harbor Lights, New York
artist – Doug Keyes
courtesy KlompChing Gallery

London Diarama
artist – Sohei Nishono