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Group Show 70: Under the Sun and the Moon Group Show 69: Photo for Non-Majors (part 2) Group Show 69: Photo for Non-Majors (part 1) Group Show 68: Four Degrees Group Show 67: Embracing Stillness Group Show 66: La Frontera Group Show 65: Two Way Lens Group Show 64: Tropes Gone Wild Group Show 63: Love, Actually Group Show 62: 100% Fun Group Show 61: Loss Group Show 60: Winter Pictures Group Show 59: Numerology Group Show 58: On Death Group Show 57: New Psychedelics Group Show 56: Source Material Group Show 55: Year in Reverse Group show 54: Seeing Sound Group Show 53: On Beauty Group Show 52: Alternative Facts Group Show 51: Future Isms Group Show 50: 'Roid Rage Group Show 48: Winter Pictures Group Show 47: Space Jamz group show 46: F*cked Up group show 45: New Jack City group show 44: Radical Color group show 43: TMWT group show 42: Occultisms group show 41: New Cats in Art Photography group show 40: #Latergram group show 39: Tough Turf P. 2/2 group show 39: Tough Turf P. 1/2

Humble Arts Foundation

New Photography
Stories and interviews
Submit
Info
Subscribe About Contact The Team
Online Exhibitions
Group Show 70: Under the Sun and the Moon Group Show 69: Photo for Non-Majors (part 2) Group Show 69: Photo for Non-Majors (part 1) Group Show 68: Four Degrees Group Show 67: Embracing Stillness Group Show 66: La Frontera Group Show 65: Two Way Lens Group Show 64: Tropes Gone Wild Group Show 63: Love, Actually Group Show 62: 100% Fun Group Show 61: Loss Group Show 60: Winter Pictures Group Show 59: Numerology Group Show 58: On Death Group Show 57: New Psychedelics Group Show 56: Source Material Group Show 55: Year in Reverse Group show 54: Seeing Sound Group Show 53: On Beauty Group Show 52: Alternative Facts Group Show 51: Future Isms Group Show 50: 'Roid Rage Group Show 48: Winter Pictures Group Show 47: Space Jamz group show 46: F*cked Up group show 45: New Jack City group show 44: Radical Color group show 43: TMWT group show 42: Occultisms group show 41: New Cats in Art Photography group show 40: #Latergram group show 39: Tough Turf P. 2/2 group show 39: Tough Turf P. 1/2
Self Portrait as Barron, 2017 © Jayson Bimber

Self Portrait as Barron, 2017 © Jayson Bimber

Jayson Bimber Visualizes Alternative Facts

In his ongoing series The Aristocrats, photo-based artist Jayson Bimber combines crude digital retouching with references to art-historical tableaus as a means to critique systems of wealth in the United States and abroad. He scans found images from fashion magazines and advertisements, creating montages that are as equally unsettling as they are seductive. Bimber's techniques highlight an umbrella of contemporary concerns ranging from political corruption to sinister puppeteering in the upper echelons of the commercial fine art market. Like the famous joke "The Aristocrats" from which this series' title is derived, it intentionally lacks a punchline or true narrative structure, bringing to light the absurdity of its content, in essence, a "joke about jokes."  

I spoke with Bimber to learn more about his process and ideas. 

Interview by Jon Feinstein

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PostedDecember 5, 2017
AuthorJon Feinstein
CategoriesPortfolio, Artists
TagsJayson Bimber, photography and wealth, new photography, social commentary photography
© Nathaniel Ward

© Nathaniel Ward

Nathaniel Ward and the Desert that (Metaphorically) Tried to Kill Him

He may not tell you this directly, but Nathaniel Ward's photographs are about the subtlety of defeat. They are brimming with quiet, often painful metaphors, buried as footnotes in photos of people and the land. From the ghostly large format color photographs of hallways, classrooms and bathrooms in American schools Ward made a decade ago, to To Turn the Mountains into Glass, politically agnostic black and white pictures made while traversing Israel's charged landscape, his work is riddled with introspective pause. And it's consistently quite beautiful. Ward's latest exhibition, A Nationless Place, on view through March, 2018 at the Ford Foundation Gallery at New York Live Arts adds a new layer to his methodologies by integrating sweeping swatches of text beside his photos of sometimes-confusing slices of landscape and human experience. Unlike explanatory "exhibition text" you might expect in a themed group-show retrospective, it functions as a piece of the art unto itself. I spoke with Ward to learn more. 

Interview by Jon Feinstein

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PostedNovember 23, 2017
AuthorJon Feinstein
CategoriesExhibitions, Artists, Portfolio
TagsNathaniel Ward, New Photography, Ford Foundation Gallery, A Nationless Place
Photo: Catherine Losing // @catherinelosing

Photo: Catherine Losing // @catherinelosing

29 More Photographers You Should Follow IRL (and on Instagram)

As much as we'd like to say we're sick of best-of lists, and as much as we might like to claim listicles and punchy headlines are as expired as pineapple still-lifes, we can't help ourselves. It's been a while since we've compiled a roundup, but we're excited about these 29 photographers who we've featured on our Instagram feed over the past few months, some as week-long takeovers, and others who have momentarily graced our feed. Like Catherine Losing, whose work treads a fine line between smart advertising and art photography, or Erin Elyse Burns and Ana Samoylova, who made some of the most innovative and off-the-cuff photographs of the 2017 solar eclipse. It's all good and we encourage you to follow them all. 

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PostedOctober 12, 2017
AuthorJon Feinstein
CategoriesArtists, Portfolio
Tagsphotographers to follow on Instagram
© Naomi Harris

© Naomi Harris

Naomi Harris' EUSA: The Sharpest, Funniest, Strangest Documentary Photobook You Should Help Fund Right Now

Naomi Harris and I go way back. Her series of Floridian Jewish grandmothers, which appeared as the cover story for the second issue of HEEB magazine during my senior year at Bard College in 2003, was single-handedly responsible for me approaching the magazine to shoot for them, and later serve as their photo editor and Creative Director.

Harris' sharp observational hilarity, documentary chops, and an informed "art photography" sensibility is rare and unforgettable. Her most recent project EUSA, which documents American-themed places in Europe and European-themed places in The United States has been keeping my attention since she began, both for its strange sense of humor and for its rich cultural commentary. So when FlakPhoto's Andy Adams messaged me on Facebook a couple weeks ago saying. "Do you know Naomi Harris' work? Have you seen her Kickstarter? You should write something about it for Humble," I jumped to attention. It's a project that demands to be a book, and there are only a few days left to support it. WHICH YOU CAN DO HERE

If this isn't enough of a hard sell, spend some time hearing from Naomi: 

Interview by Jon Feinstein

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PostedOctober 2, 2017
AuthorJon Feinstein
CategoriesArtists, Portfolio, Publications
TagsNaomi Harris, Cultural Landscape, New Photography, kickstarter photography projects
Queen Mary, 2017 © Alanna Airitam

Queen Mary, 2017 © Alanna Airitam

Alanna Airitam Reframes The Golden Age

San Diego-based photographer Alanna Airitam describes her urge to produce The Golden Age, a series of monumental photographic portraits that celebrate African American and African Diasporan identity and counters their omission from visual narratives in much of western art history, as unrelenting. Friends and acquaintances agreed to sit for Airitam, who situates her subjects in lush sartorial and environmental settings that recall the personal and material abundance portrayed in Dutch Renaissance portraits. Working photographically, rather than with oil paint, the artist creates a forum in which we’re invited to consider matters including identity, consumption, and who is celebrated. 

Humble Arts Foundation senior editor Roula Seikaly spoke with Airitam about the project’s origin, relatable vulnerability between photographer and sitter, and challenging both stereotypes and the impermanence of popular culture through familiar media forms such as portraiture. 

Interview by Roula Seikaly

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PostedAugust 31, 2017
AuthorRoula Seikaly
CategoriesArtists, Portfolio
TagsAlanna Airitam, The Golden Age, Dutch Portraiture, African American Diaspora, Dutch Renaissance, Roula Seikaly
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Founded in 2005, Humble Arts Foundation is dedicated to supporting and promoting new art photography.