photo l.a.

January 12, 7:00-10:00pm

photo l.a. OPENING NIGHT GALA

The REEF/LA Mart, 1933 S Broadway, Los Angeles, CA 90007

photo l.a. 2017 will launch with the annual Opening Night Benefit on the evening of Thursday, Jan. 12, 2017, 7-9PM. The evening will benefit the Lucie Foundation, an outstanding international non-profit whose goal it is to, "Honor Master Photographers, Discover and Cultivate Emerging Talent and Promote the Appreciation of Photography Worldwide." Please join us for photo l.a.'s 26th edition and to celebrate the launch of CONVERGE!

Fair Dates: January 12 - January 15, 2017

Buy Tickets for the Opening Night Gala here.

CHUNGKING STUDIO

Opening Reception: January 12, 8:30-11:00pm

FOCAL PLANES: PHOTOGRAPHIC WORKS BY CRISTOPHER CICHOCKI, JAY MARK JOHNSON & OSCEOLA REFETOFF - AN OFFICIAL MOPLA EXHIBITION

CHUNGKING STUDIO, 975 Chung King Road, Los Angeles, CA 90012

The earth’s landscapes are both eternal and ever-changing. Human activity in the Anthropocene has reworked the character of the topography in majestic, surreal, and troubling ways. Salt flats, strip mines, and the cracks of dry lake beds offer mysterious, often painterly surfaces that tether the universe to intimate experience. Dust on the horizon, in the air, and under our feet catches the light, refracts and radiates. These three artists use photography and photogenic means to both depict and evoke the visual and geological territory of the new terrestrial normal.

Chungking Studio: www.chungkingstudio.com
Cristopher Cichocki: www.cristophersea.com
Jay Mark Johnson: www.jaymarkjohnson.com
Osceola Refetoff: www.ospix.com

Exhibition runs from January 7 - February 11, 2017.

The Lodge

January 13, 7:00-9:00pm

DAVID BLACK: CERRO GORDO - AN OFFICIAL MOPLA Exhibition

1024 N Western Ave, Los Angeles, CA 90029

The Lodge and independent curator Audrey Landreth are pleased to present David Black: Cerro Gordo.

Timed closely to the publication of David Black's first monograph, Cerro Gordo by Hat & Beard Press, (December 2016), this exhibition of fourteen large format prints is David Black’s first exhibition at The Lodge. 

Located on the edge of Death Valley, Cerro Gordo is a ghost town that was once the greatest producer of silver in California. In the early 20th century, Eastman Kodak used the silver mined at Cerro Gordo to manufacture early motion picture film stock. The film was then utilized by an emerging Hollywood to capture the most popular genre of the time: Westerns. Western films were then exported all over the world and used to define a vision of the West. 

For photographer David Black, Cerro Gordo is a steep, windy street in Echo Park, where he lived during the years that the work for this exhibition was made. After the death of his father in 2014, it was on this street that Black experienced both love and heartbreak. During restless nights and aimless drives through the streets of Los Angeles, these images came to him, and he followed them to actualization over the course of two years. The selection of work on view is a powerful showcase of vivid and plaintive visions of Los Angeles, and the paradoxical duality of the West. Cerro Gordo celebrates both the light and the shadow that sculpt the city's singular sprawl: the mechanical monsters that populate the oil fields; the cool cars that heat up the streets; the atmospheric haze that permeates all like a melancholic daydream; its unrelenting highways; its autopsied landscape; its diverse voices holding out for hope, and its steady stream of cowboys longing for the drea                                                                                                                            

Exhibit runs through January 22, 2017.

http://www.thelodge.la/david-black/

Month of Photography Los Angeles

January 14, 11:30am-1:00pm

The Female Gaze: A Conversation Exploring Women's Identity in Contemporary Photography AT PHOTO L.A. - AN OFFICIAL MOPLA DISCUSSION

The REEF/LA Mart, 1933 S Broadway, Los Angeles, CA 90007

As a grassroots, fourth wave of feminism emerges, the female gaze has heightened the stakes of engagement and created new parameters for the representation of identity.  Megan Steinman, independent curator and Director of The Underground Museum checks in with artists Kandis Williams and Chloe Aftel on this pressing and complex topic. Presented by the Lucie Foundation at photo l.a.

Moderator:
Megan Steinman is an independent curator, writer, and Director of The Underground Museum in Los Angeles. Megan's exhibition projects exploring performance, photography and new media art have been shown at institutions around the world, including Museo Pecci Milano, Dolby Gallery, Sonos Studio Los Angeles, the Santa Monica Museum of Art, District Berlin, ICA Boston, the MAK Center for Art and Architecture, Los Angeles Contemporary Exhibitions (LACE), and the Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA). She has written for and/or produced several artist books, including Edges of the Experiment by Marie-Josè Jongerius, Dance/Draw by Helen Molesworth, and American Music by Annie Leibovitz. Megan holds a Master of Public Art Studies from the University of Southern California Roski School of Fine Art. 

Panelists:
Kandis Williams (b. 1985, Baltimore, MD) received her B.F.A. in 2008 from the Cooper Union School of Art, New York. Her recent exhibitions include solo shows at SADE, Los Angeles, and St. Charles Projects, Baltimore, and a performance and workshop at Human Resources, Los Angeles. Her work has also been exhibited at The Studio Museum in Harlem, New York; The Underground Museum, Los Angeles; Neu West and 68 Projects, Berlin; and The Breeder, Athens, among other spaces. Williams has an active curatorial and writing practice, and runs Cassandra Press with artist Taylor Doran. 

Chloe Aftel has a strong focus on narrative photography and an MFA from USC in film production.  She sees each photograph as a one-frame movie still and each person as someone with a story to tell. In exploring gender, identity and sensuality, chloe strives to create striking, nuanced, complicated female characters. she specializes in using cinematic techniques in still frame images. 

Purchase Tickets Here.

Phase One, Digital Transitions

January 14, 3:30pm-5:00pm

Matthias Clamer: "Six SHOOTS and How I Crafted Them" AT PHOTO L.A. - AN OFFICIAL MOPLA DISCUSSION

The REEF/LA Mart, 1933 S Broadway, Los Angeles, CA 90007

Presented by Phase One, Digital Transitions, and the Lucie Foundation.

Matthias Clamer is a celebrity, entertainment, and portrait photographer known for his creativity and sly wit. His talent lies in producing eye-catching imagery from even the most basic of premises, as well as remaining even keel on set. "I am calm even on the craziest shoot schedules," notes Matthias, who has photographed all manner of rock stars, Hollywood celebrities, business moguls, and comedians, as well as key art for nearly all the major TV studios.

Careful research goes into each of his shoots, no matter how famous and seemingly 'known' his subject may be. "I learn everything I can about a subject, then let my mind go loose on characteristics that strike me as interesting or possibly visual" says Matthias. "I like to go into shoots with a plan, but the plan is not absolute; it’s a framework that needs furnishing, and even the frame must be allowed to change. Even with a plan, a shoot is dynamic and needs space to breathe, which is the beauty of photography." Matthias’ influences come from all sorts of places, not all of them expected. For a key art and publicity shoot for the FX comedy It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia, he was inspired by the black & white angst of Ingmar Bergman films. And for a shoot with the band the Killers, he came up with a scenario in which they were being arrested—because renting cop cars and police uniforms is fun."

"To me, playfulness is key," Matthias says. "When it’s too serious, it becomes predictable, and that’s when it starts to fall flat for me. I like humor, but not the ‘ha, ha, ha’ type. It better be buried and embedded. I love a little surprise."

Purchase Tickets Here.

MaRS Gallery

January 13, 7:30-9:30pm

OFFICIAL PHOTO l.a. VIP AFTERPARTY

649 S Anderson St, Los Angeles, CA  90023

This event is open to all photo l.a. VIP ticket holders or by invitation only. RSVP Required.

Vijat Mohindra: "Always Believe That Something Wonderful Is About To Happen"                                                                                           
Many of Vijat Mohindra's subjects, such as Amanda Lepore and drag performer Amazon Ashley, perform transgressive versions of femininity that do not conform to gender norms. In these highly constructed stage sets, saturated with primary colors, their fluid spectrum of sexuality and gender acts as a kind of prism, refracting the infinite number of colors within those individual monochromes.

Exhibit runs from November 5, 2016 - January 14, 2017.

http://www.marsgallery.net/vijat-mohindra/ 

Contact Photo Lab

January 14, 6:00-9:00pm

TimeFrame LA - AN OFFICIAL MOPLA EXHIBITION

618 Moulton Ave #E, Los Angeles, CA 90031

For over six years, photographer Dustin Snipes, shot Timeframe for the back page of Los Angeles magazine. By lining up a vintage photo against the modern day to day scenes of Los Angeles, he created a snapshot reminding us of where we were and who we are now.

Curated by Amy Feitelberg.

Exhibit runs through February 2, 2017.

The Lodge

January 15, 5:00-8:00pm

Inara George presents: Music inspired by David Black Cerro Gordo - AN OFFICIAL MOPLA EVENT

1024 N Western Ave, Los Angeles, CA 90029

Live performance at 6:30pm. 

Invitation only.

StandardVision SV Showcase X Month of Photography Los Angeles 

January 16

#SVLA1 - AN OFFICIAL MOPLA EVENT

#SVLA1 screen at the Courtyard Marriott, 901 W. Olympic Blvd – Los Angeles CA 

StandardVision's SV Showcase program aims to present the work of emerging and established artists in a site-specific month long exhibition turned installation on the #SVLA1 screen on the Courtyard Marriott Hotel in Downtown Los Angeles. 

This month, StandardVision has partnered with Month of Photography Los Angeles to present the work of both local and global photographers. Featuring the work of a common theme each week - people, places, narratives, and minimalist interiors and exteriors - Month of Photo Los Angeles aims to expose the public to the diversity of photography.  This exhibition was curated from submissions to MOPLA’s annual Open Call.

The program will be on view from Jan 16 through Feb 12, with photographic selections showing multiple times every hour throughout each day. 

StandardVision’s goal is to encourage audiences to participate with art in a new outdoor exhibition experience, and present curated contemporary art programming to the public.

Artists Include: 
Annie Tritt , Barbara Karant, Caitlin Strom and Missy Washington, Chloe Meynier, Christopher Kern, Elisabeth Caren, Justin Corbett, Kurt Simonson, Leonardo Magrelli, Maëlle Collin, Mara Palena, Natasha Lee, Rachelle Mendez, Salvatore Balice, Sandra Chen Weinstein, Sascha Kraus, Teri Lacy, Enzo Amato, Widline Cadet, Yuri Hasegawa. 

About SV Creative

StandardVision Creative is an artistic division of the architecturally-integrated media façade company StandardVision. SV Creative makes and curates art and cultural content showcased on LED media facades around the world. Our primary goal is to develop a heightened cultural discourse through our outdoor exhibition spaces—generating new outlets to expose the public eye to the arts.

Projection runs through February 12, 2016.

Leica Gallery

Artist Reception: January 17, 6:00-9:00pm

AFTER THE AUDITION: MICHAEL GRECCO - AN OFFICIAL MOPLA EXHIBITION

8783 Beverly Blvd, West Hollywood, CA 90048

After the Audition is part of an ongoing series on The Urban Landscape. This  new work consists of 6 foot and 8 foot large scale prints shot around Los Angeles.

Exhibit runs from January 4 - January 31, 2017.

Month of Photography Los Angeles Pop-Up Gallery

January 18, 6:00-9:00pm

WANDERLUST - AN OFFICIAL MOPLA EXHIBITION

space15twenty, 1520 N Cahuenga Blvd, Los Angeles, CA 90028

Wanderlust: A Silent Auction Benefit aims to show us how the world is a beautiful, complex and fragile place.  This is often most apparent to us through the lens of the traveler.  This group show presents the travel photographs from emerging and established photographers, each of whom explore the world to discover their own deep and unique sense of place. This year the proceeds will be going to Natural Resources Defense Council. NRDC works to safeguard the earth—its people, its plants and animals, and the natural systems on which all life depends-- using law and science to effect change. Curated by Jessica Sample.

Participating artists include: Cedric Angeles, Jessica Antola, Emily Berl, Cass Bird, Peter Bohler, Brinson + Banks, João Canziani, Amanda Friedman, Michael George, Callie Giovanna, Brian Guido, Gabriela Herman, Jenny Hueston, Megan Miller, Anne Menke, Brian Paumier, John Francis Peters, Jessica Pons, Jessica Sample, Pascal Shirley, Emily Shur, Jake Stangel, Julia Stotz, Michael Turek, Joaquin Trujillo, Elizabeth Weinberg, and Magdalena Wosinska.

Preview: January 17

REGISTER TO BID: https://www.biddingforgood.com/luciefoundation/wanderlust2017

Bidding Opens: January 5, 2017 at 9:00am PST

Bidding Closes: January 18, 2017 at 8:45pm PST

Month of Photography Los Angeles Pop-Up Gallery

Opening Reception with the Artists: January 19, 7:00-9:00pm

MOPLA GROUP SHOW - AN OFFICIAL MOPLA EXHIBITION

space15twenty, 1520 N Cahuenga Blvd, Los Angeles, CA 90028

The MOPLA Group Show is a submission based exhibition featuring local and global emerging and established photographers. 

Participating artists include:

Luke Austin, Birgit Freybe Bateman, Lucy Bell, Nicola Buck, Alex Cave, Parinya Champ, Niko Giovanni Coniglio, Phil Donohue, David Egan, Guendalina Fiore, Daniel Castro Garcia, Ellen Garvens, Paula Rae Gibson, Toni Greaves, Photographer Hal, Jill Hannes, Erin Hoffstetter, Jay Kim, Tania Franco Klein, Katelyn Kopenhaver, Hugh Kretschmer, Sasha Maslov, Michael McCoy, Nathaniel Perales, Lauren Pisano, Marlies Plank, James Porschen, Osceola Refetoff, Jessica Sample, Linn Phyllis Seeger, Karolina Sekula, Niv Shank, Steven Simko, Arden Surdam, Zak Van Biljon, Leticia Zica, Shaughn and John, Synchrodogs.    

Exhibit runs through January 26, 2017.

The Icon

January 20, 7:00-9:00pm

LANDSCAPES OF THE HYPERSPACE BY PARINYA CHAMP - AN OFFICIAL MOPLA EXHIBITION

5450 Wilshire Blvd, Los Angeles, CA  90036 

Parinya Champ is a Los Angeles based artist attempting to map a higher dimensional state of consciousness known as Hyperspace—a realm existing outside of time that is imbued with decadent fractal landscapes of intelligent kaleidoscopic light. His photo series, Landscapes of the Hyperspace, is an attempt at visually charting the hauntingly vibrant abstract spaces he has encountered on his journeys to the farthest reaches of human consciousness.

Exhibition runs through February 9, 2017.

Landscapes of the Hyperspace

Venice Arts

Opening Reception: Saturday, January 21, 3-6pm, Exhibition: January 7–29

READING ROOM + MOPLA PHOTO BOOK EXHIBITION - AN OFFICIAL MOPLA EXHIBITION

Venice Arts, 1702 Lincoln Blvd, Venice CA 90291

Reading Room will transform Venice Arts into a space for exploration and engagement with a wide variety of work by photographic artists working in the book form. From bookworks independently published by artists to interactive book installations and fine press publications, Reading Room will bring together the centers and margins of the world of the photo book today, and offer audiences a space to contemplate and investigate the photographic book form. Anchored by an interactive installation by Ara Oshagan, the exhibition includes work by Nancy Baron, Richard S. Chow, Genevieve Coutroubis, Clay Lipsky, Kevin Lynch, Aline Smithson, and Marjorie Salvaterra. This exhibition is made possible with support from the Pasadena Art Alliance.

The MOPLA Photo Book Exhibition is a juried, submission based exhibition featuring both independently and commercially published books by emerging and established photographers around the world. 

Participating Artists include: 

Adam Ryder, Adriana Monsalve, Albertina d’Urso, Alexander Scott, Aline Smithson, Aliocha Merker, Ana Paula Estrada, Anna Leigh Clem, Anna Mia Davidson, Ara Oshagan, Baptiste Giroudon, Blair Kitchener, Daniel Castro Garcia & Thomas Saxby / John Radcliffe Studio, Penny Wolin, Ejen Chuang, Hiroshi Okamoto, Jeffrey Dragon, Jesse Burke, Ken Light, Kristin Capp, Kurt Simonson, Lara Shipley & Antone Dolezal, Leo Garcia, Lev Tsimring, Mark Purdom, Miska Draskoczy, Nathalie Déposé, Patrick Fraser, Petra Barth, Photographer Hal, Richard S. Chow, Sascha Kraus, Sebastian Copeland, Shantel Liao, and Toni Greaves. 

Exhibit runs through January 29, 2017

Sloan Projects

January 21, 5:00-8:00pm

'HOLD YOUR BREATH' BY ARDEN SURDAM - AN OFFICIAL MOPLA EXHIBITION

Sloan Projects, Bergamot Station Arts Center, 2525 Michigan Avenue, Gallery B5, Santa Monica, CA 90404

Arden Surdam is an L.A. based interdisciplinary artist working primarily in photography and digital media. She received her BA in Visual Arts from Oberlin College, Oberlin, OH and her MFA from CalArts in 2015.  She was recently named winner of Focus Photo L.A. at Photo Basel and has been an artist in residence at the School of Art Institute of Chicago, IL; Artfarm, Marquette, NE; and the Hilltop Residency, Val Verde, CA, among other venues. Surdam is actively involved in The Feminist Works Program Lecture Series at CalArts, Valencia, CA. Her work has been featured in Whitewall Magazine, BlouinArtInfo and The Eye of Photography.

Exhibit runs through February 15, 2017.

http://www.sloanprojects.com/arden-surdam/

Robert Berman Gallery

January 21, 5:00-8:00pm

Looking Back: 10 Years of Photography from ROBERT BERMAN GALLERY - AN OFFICIAL MOPLA EXHIBITION

Bergamot Station Arts Center, 2525 Michigan Ave Suite B7, Santa Monica, CA 90404

This exhibition will feature photography by every photographer ROBERT BERMAN GALLERY has exhibited over the past ten years. Artists include: Alex Prager, Marla Rutherford, Lauren Marsolier, John Colao, Sharon Johnson-Tennant, Jeff Charbonneau & Eliza French, Gerald Slota, Christopher Felver, John Valadez, Dietrich Wegner, Ted Soqui, Julian Wasser, Sarah Danays, Ian and Erick Regnard, and others. 

Exhibit runs from January 14 - February 11, 2017.

http://www.robertbermangallery.com/exhibitions/

Aesthesia Studios

January 22, 4:00-6:00pm

ANALOGUE PORTRAIT PROJECT - AN OFFICIAL MOPLA EXHIBITION

12130 Washington Pl, Los Angeles, CA 90066

AESTHESIA STUDIOS in partnership with MOPLA is proud to announce the 4th annual Analogue Portrait Project! The Analogue Portrait Project is a submission-based competition with one rule: all portraits submitted must have been made using film, not digital cameras

JURY:
Lou Noble, Editor-in-Chief, The Photographic Journal
Chloe Aftel, Analogue Photographer and Curator
Stephanie Morton, Artist
Roy Byrne, Curator, The Analogue Project / @theanalogueproject
Sabrina Bajaj, Senior Art Producer, 72 and Sunny

Participating Artists:
Myriam Abdelaziz, Jason Andrescavage, Remo Camerota , Sean Conaty , Olivia Czarniecka, Anne De Geer , Paul Elledge, Ken Hawkins, Beth Herzhaft, Julie Grace Immink, Judi Iranyi, Tom M.Johnson, Max Knight, Hannah Kozak, Kerry Mansfield, Dan Monick, Jamie Parkhurst, Alexis Pazoumian, Nathaniel Perales, Mila Reynaud, Rhombie Sandoval, Eryn Shaffer, Steven G. Smith, Paloma Strong, and James Walker. 

Prizes will be presented as follows:
1st Prize - One day shoot at Aesthesia Studio B with grip and strobe package*
2nd Prize - One day shoot at Aesthesia in North Light studio with a grip package*
Peoples Choice - One day shoot at Aesthesia in North Light studio with a grip package*