Dawn Til Dusk opens at Jen Bekman

I am excited and honored to my collage, Double Sunset, included in this great group show at Jen Bekman Gallery, in New York. The show runs June 17- July 30th, 2011.

Double Sunset, 2010, © Amy Eckert

2010-2011 McKnight Artist Fellowships for Photographers

Chuck Avery, Amy Eckert, Gina Dabrowski, Karl Raschke

Midway Contemporary Art, Minneapolis, MN
June 11 - July 24, 2011

Installation view, © Amy Eckert

Here is the catalog essay about my work, written by Kris Douglas, Chief Curator, Rochester Art Center, Rochester, MN:

“If you want to build a ship, don’t drum up people to collect wood and don’t assign them tasks and work, but rather teach them to long for the endless immensity of the sea” (Antoine de Saint Exupéry). Such a sense of longing underscores the work of Amy Eckert. Her collages express a desire to transcend the tasks and boundaries of one place and to be elsewhere—or perhaps to inhabit two places at the same time. 

Rogue Wave, 2011, © Amy Eckert

In Rogue Wave (2011), a color photograph of the sea collides with an image of a bed, neatly covered in a patterned blanket. The waves of water draw the viewer toward an expected expanse of horizon, which is abruptly interrupted by the section of bed. The juxtaposition of these images invites consideration of these dichotomous places. Perhaps they represent home vs. abroad, familiar vs. unexplored, or stable vs. inconstant. The images also compliment and unite one another with color and pattern, as the interwoven loops of stitching on the bedspread appear as waves across the fabric. 

Waterfall #19, 2011, © Amy Eckert

Eckert’s collages are often angular, geometric shapes with boundaries created by abutting materials. In Waterfall #19 (2011), she encloses empty white space with a single thin pencil line, impacting the shape and content of the work. The white expanse hints at a more ambiguous or unknown location.

The photographic images in Waterfall #19 present various glimpses of the natural world, including water coursing over rocks, tranquil waters below a lush, green landscape, and the motionless moss surrounding a tree. There is continuity, yet contrast in these images. The various states of action within the images, suggest a desire for both adventure and serenity, and a longing, perhaps simultaneously, for differing qualities of place. Eckert took many of the photographs during her travels to New Zealand, her mother’s homeland. She has described feeling a significant connection to the natural beauty and people of that particular place, which occupies space at an uncomfortable distance from her own homeland. Hence, the desire exists to manipulate and overlap the images of varying places and to experience these locations together and all at once. 

Wing, 2010, © Amy Eckert

In her series of “clouds,” Eckert layers softer shapes of photographic images with bright yellow, opaque gouache. These forms are sometimes expanded or connected by pencil lines. The overlapping images of blue sky and white clouds provide a more whimsical and ethereal feel. Space and time seem to act as nonlinear concepts, ever floating and repeating, like last glimpses of the sky captured on a long flight back home."

 

Untitled 68, 2011, © Amy Eckert

Heart With Four Chambers, 2011, © Amy Eckert

Forecast, 2010, © Amy Eckert

Manufacturing Home at Carmichael Lynch, Minneapolis

I recently met Sandy Boss Febbo, Executive Art Producer at the award-winning agency Carmichael Lynch, at the Palm Springs Photo Festival. Sandy invited me to hang my project, Manufacturing Home, throughout their offices here in Minneapolis. I was very psyched to get this work out of boxes and back up on the wall!

This gave me a great opportunity to re-think and re-configure the work for a totally different kind of space. It served as a good example of the challenges and serendipity that can occur when showing your work in a non-white-walled gallery space. 

Thanks so much Sandy!

 

 

Collector's Guide, Vol. 2 is out!

The good people of Humble Arts Foundation have done it again!

Please welcome, The Collector's Guide to New Art Photography, Vol. 2

This handsome volume "is a 216-page biennial sourcebook that highlights some of the most challenging and innovative new photographic work from 100 photographers internationally. Edited by Humble Arts Foundation’s founders, amani olu and Jon Feinstein, with an introduction by Vanessa Kramer, Director of Photographs, Phillips de Pury & Company, The Collector’s Guide to New Art Photography Vol. 2 is a resource for collectors, gallerists, curators, art professionals, educators, and the public. This new volume continues Humble’s mission of introducing new talent to people of influence in contemporary art."

I am thrilled to be one of the 100 photographers included! Two images from Manufacturing Home are featured.

Face Plant, Virginia, © Amy Eckert

Huddle, Nevada, © Amy Eckert

Thanks Humble guys!

Blu Dot, behind the scenes video

A behind the scenes look at the making of the videos that will be the background of the all-new BluDot.com homepage!

 

Thanks to Blu Dot and Runner Runner, Minneapolis.