Down + Out | Andrew Binkley - Best of Show

Andrew Binkley, from the lovely Hawaiian Islands, is part of our New Directions 2010, Down + Out show, and our Best of Show choice by our juror Dr. Carol McCusker. His series Crossings has an arresting quality to it, making the viewer stop, pause and really delve into the facets, like a diamond, of all of the intricacies in the exposures. The bold color on the neutral background helps to define the organized chaos in a vibrant form.

As the Best of Show winner, Andrew has been awarded a gift certificate from Blurb Books to self publish his work. Congratulations Andrew and a huge Thank You to Blurb for supporting Wall space and New Directions.

His series Crossings, is working within the themes of intersection, of sharing paths, transforming or changing relationships, and the unknown connections between people through time. Here are more images from his series.









In looking deeper at his work, I loved his black and white series, Just Being. These beautiful black and white constructions have balance, symmetry, and a certain quietness that is respectful of the subject, meditation.
Here are some images from that series -

New Directions 2010, Down + Out

What a show! Ms. Carol McCusker of MOPA has curated an international exhibition to showcase here at the gallery as well as a second viewing in Portland at 23 Sandy coming up in February.

The competition was tough. over 220 submissions, 1000 images, and Carol was able to cull it to 42 artists with 45 images. Really tough. I loved a lot of the work submitted, so I didn't envy her her job of clarifying dizzying visual perspectives.

Here is a list of the participating artists (in alphabetical order)

Robbie Acklen (Claremont, CA)

John Aldredge (Seattle, WA)

Jeff Antebi (Los Angeles, CA)

Cordelia Bailey (Anahola, HI)

Chris Bennett (Portland, OR)

Heidi Bertman (Beaverton, OR)

Andrew Binkley (Haiku, HI)

Charles Blackburn (Seattle, WA)

J. Wesley Brown (Los Angeles, CA)

Alejandro Cartagena (Monterrey, Mexico)

Pete Cosenza (Ventura, CA)

Matthew Derezinski (Kirksville, MO)

Kristen Fecker Peroni (Dexter, MI)

David George (Hackney, London, England)

Colin Graham (Port Angeles, WA)

Steve Guttenberg (Brooklyn, NY)

Ray Hau (Hong Kong)

Nicole Jean Hill (Eureka, CA)

Joshua Hobson (Tallahassee, FL)

Adam Jacono (Greenville, NC)

Kirby Johnson (St. Paul, MN)

Jeffrey Krolick (Ashland, OR)

Sarah Marie Land (St. Louis, MO)

Larry Larsen (Seattle, WA)
Nathan Lunstrum (Tarrytown, NY)
Duc Ly (Portland, OR)
Kora Manheimer (Brooklyn, NY)
Patricia McInroy (Albuquerque, NM)
Daniel Melo (Buenos Aires, Argentina)
Charles Mintz (Cleveland, OH)
Emily Nathan (Oakland, CA)
David Jaewon Oh (Mill Creek, WA)
Wayne Palmer (New York, NY)
Ric Peterson (Vashon Island, WA)
Dawn Roe (Winter Park, FL)
Wendy Ross (Nyack, NY)
Michael Seif (Watertown, MA)
Sarah Sharp (Detroit, MI)
Peter Tilgner (Tenafly, NJ)
Ronit Toledano (Tel-Aviv, Israel)
Anna Maria Vag (Seattle, WA)
Jacqueline Walters (San Francisco, CA)

New Directions 2010 juried by Carol McCusker

Opportunity knocks here at wall space for our annual New Directions 2010 exhibition.

Our juror this year is Carol McCusker, of the Museum of Photographic Arts, in San Diego.

We are also excited to announce our collaboration with 23 Sandy Gallery to give the exhibition an additional showcase in fabulous Portland during the month of February 2010.

Here is the critical information -

New Directions 2010
Down & Out

in Seattle at wall space - 5 January - 31 January 2010
in Portland at 23 Sandy - 5 February - 27 February 2010

submissions open now until 15 November, 2009.
Artist notification - 15 December, 2009
Prints due to wall space - 4 January, 2010


Ms. McCusker's vision for Down & Out -

This call for entries privileges two points of view: looking down from a high vantage point, and looking out to a vanishing horizon. Art historian, Albert Boime, described the former as a "Magisterial Gaze" that gave early Americans, through painting and printmaking, a view at one with God, hence, Manifest Destiny. The latter may simply be the romance of the road, or curiosity about what lies just out of sight - an American impulse from early pioneers to Jack Kerouac.

Numerous painters and photographers have employed these vantage points, subsequently, they run the risk of cliché. When done well, however, each reveals the unexpected, as in Szarkowski's photograph above (he captures both in one image). The optimist in me delights at the disorienting perspective of looking down whereby familiar objects become abstract and dizzyingly beautiful, to looking out, with that forward motion promising adventure or escape.

The title Down & Out might conjure images of ne'er-do-wells (risky, if the public decides not to inquire further). What I hope the photographs provide, however, is pleasure in the variety of ways 'down' and 'out' can be imaged, and what emotional liberation such points-of-view can have on our often confined and overly responsible psyches.

About Ms. McCusker -

Carol McCusker is curator of photography at the Museum of Photographic Arts, San Diego. She received her Ph.D. in art history with an emphasis on the history of photography and film history at the University of New Mexico (UNM), Albuquerque. She has curated numerous exhibitions at MoPA and UNM, and is contributing author to Paul Outerbridge (Taschen, 1999); First Photographs: William Henry Fox Talbot and The Birth of Photography (powerHouse, 2002); James Fee: The Peleliu Project (Seraphin, 2002); Phil Stern: A Life's Work (powerHouse, 2003); Terry Falke: Observations in an Occupied Wilderness (Chronicle, 2006); and Breaking the Frame: Pioneering Women in Photojournalism (MoPA, 2006) The Roads Most Traveled: Migration Photographs by Don Bartletti (2006), Rebels & Revelers: Experimental Decades 1970s-1980s (2007), Public Privacy: Wendy Richmond's Surreptitious Cellphone (2007), and The Photographer's Eye (2008)

McCusker's freelance writing has been published in The Photo Review, Communication Arts, and she is a regular contributor to B&W and Color magazines. In recent years, McCusker has reviewed portfolios at Houston Fotofest, Review Santa Fe, Photo L.A., Atlanta Celebrates Photography, Photo Lucida, and in November, the Lishui Photo Festival, China. She was also a nominator for the 2009 ICP Infinity Awards, and a Juror for the 2008 Julia Dean Berenice Abbott Award.

for more information find the New Directions page on the gallery's website, or contact the wall space or 23 Sandy for details.