February 6 – February 12: SV Showcase Review: Month of Photography LA, “Interiors + Exteriors”

StandardVision continues its Month of Photography Los Angeles Showcase this week with photographs under the theme of “Interiors + Exteriors.” Five international photographers share with us images offering observations on the world through architectural details.https://vimeo.com/202845604Barbara Karant's 820 Ebony/Jet documents the core essence of the Johnson Publishing Company, the most influential African-American owned corporation of its day. It focuses on their historic building in its semi-skeletal state before the last vestiges of the original workspace vanish. These lively interiors fostered the creativity of a staff working in a variety of media, including the iconic Ebony and Jet magazines. The Johnson Building still embodies the spirit of this company who occupied it essentially unaltered from 1972-2012. It remains a genuine cultural time capsule of African-American enterprise: a specific stylistic vocabulary that has survived the passage of the decades. The Johnson Building, stripped of its furnishings presents a unique opportunity: to document the resonant interiors of its long time occupant - interiors which simultaneously represent the spirit of this landmark company and the sense of its loss, of a seminal moment in African-American history and the history of this nation.Photographer Barbara Karant is nationally known in the design, art, and architecture communities for the artistic beauty and the level of photographic quality she demands in her work. Trained at RISD (BFA) and the Art Institute of Chicago (MFA), she has worked commercially for more than 25 years. In addition to her interior and architectural work, Barbara has taught at, been published by, exhibited at, and been awarded by some of the nation’s most prestigious museums, galleries, magazines, and institutes. Her work is represented in permanent collections including The Minneapolis Institute of the Arts, The Art Institute of Chicago, The St. Louis Art Museum, The Stanford University Art Museum, The Chrysler Museum, The Polaroid Collection, and The Avon Collection, to name a few. Barbara’s photography is also represented in numerous private collections across the country.https://vimeo.com/202845623Justin Corbett’s Pecatonica is a project based on the exploration of place and memory.Corbett says about the series, “I was born and raised in downtown Chicago, but grew up spending every summer in a small town called Mineral Point in southwestern Wisconsin. With a population of 2500, it stood in stark contrast to the urban center I called home, and was a window into a slower, rural way of life that helped shape my view of the world. 20 years had passed since I last visited the area, but even then, Mineral Point and the expansive Wisconsin landscape were never far from my mind. Around this time, I felt compelled to re-experience this significant place from my childhood, to mine for meaning in its presence, and confront and examine the changes that two decades had brought, both to the physical landscape, as well as to myself. In the same way that our own memories can alter and change over time, I shot the project on expired 120 & 220 medium format film. The expiration dates in the film stocks I used ranged from a few months to close to 20 years, but by utilizing the film’s inherent and inevitable time-based chemical changes, I sought to document my own hazy and degraded memories through this imperfect medium.”Justin Corbett is a fine art fabricator, menswear designer, graphic designer, photographer, music producer, and DJ based in Los Angeles, CA.https://vimeo.com/202845641Leonardo Magrelli’s Meerror project shows what mirrors reflect when we are not in front of them. It consists of a series of photos taken facing a mirror, so we should see ourselves reflected in it, but we don’t, as if we were invisible. The results are real images, that exist in the world, but that we can never witness, for we are their own interference. In fact, we will never be able to observe directly what a mirror shows when we are not facing it, because every time we step in front of it, the image that is reflected the moment before is modified by our appearance. Only disappearing, we can observe reality without alterations. Leonardo Magrelli: Born in Rome in 1989, he holds a bachelor’s degree in Design from “La Sapienza” university in Rome (class of 2012, full marks and high honour) and currently studies Art History in Rome, pursuing his second bachelor’s degree. In 2010, Magrelli started working with the photographer Marco Delogu, director of Fotografia – International Rome’s Photography Festival, and chief editor of the publishing house Punctum Press. Aside from collaborating with the organization of the festival, Leonardo also designed many of the books published by Punctum. In 2011 he began collaborating with the graphic and book designer Riccardo Falcinelli. In 2014 he began working on his own, focusing more on his photography. His works have been published in several printed and online photography magazines, and has been displayed in collective expositions and festivals.https://vimeo.com/202845657Rachelle Mendez’s Minimal and Contemporary Landscape Photographs of California is a new topographic series that focuses on the minimal hardscapes in Los Angeles and Orange County's un-gentrified neighborhoods. The foundation of the images are inspired by the minimalism movement of the 1960's. Minimalism is a sacrifice of what is expected, these photographs are landscapes without the support of a metaphor.Rachelle Mendez grew up in Northern California within a fragile rural community that is continually shrinking with the encroachment of suburban sprawl. Growing up in a family that values artistic expression and the preservation of nature influences her photography greatly. Today, Rachelle is a photographer living in the quiet hills of Orange County California with her supportive and photogenic husband and two young boys.https://vimeo.com/202845672Yuri Hasegawa discusses her Portrait Series: "These images are a part of series I’ve been adding to over the past few years. The trees, shrubs, and cacti around LA, squeezed in between sidewalks and fences, in just the right shape and light, began to show me each their own personality, yet feeling underestimated in their presence. Six tall skinny shrubs became a ‘group portrait’.  Each tree was its own character I wanted to capture.  As I stopped to note each scene I noted how I was thankful for how it took in our breath and gave back new air and life to us in the city."Originally from Tokyo, Japan, Yuri Hasegawa  is a freelance photographer who now calls Los Angeles her home. She spends her time cruising in her sidecar scooter with her two ridiculously large & lovely dogs, Buddy & Gizmo. She is on a constant quest to find another great person or moment to photograph. The works of these five photographers will be up on the #SVLA1 screen at the Courtyard Marriott (901 W Olympic Blvd / DTLA) every 10 minutes throughout the end of this week.The Month of Photography Los Angeles SV Showcase runs through February 12 and presents the work of both local and global photographers. Featuring a collection of themed work each week, Month of Photography Los Angeles aims to expose the public to the diversity of contemporary photography. This exhibition was curated from submissions to MOPLA’s annual Open Call.