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Summertime...Presented by Jenkins Johnson Gallery June 25, 2009- August 29, 2009Nicholas Africano, Ben Aronson, Edward Burtynsky, Michael Eastman, Gerald Förster, Scott Fraser, Julia Fullerton-Batten, Lynn Goldsmith, Wes Hempel, Rene Lynch, Joel Meyerowitz, John Nava, Julian Opie, Yigal Ozeri, Sheila Pree Bright, Scott Prior, Chris Raecker, Kay Ruane, Francesca Sundsten, Nancy Switzer, Robert Van Vranken, Hiroshi Watanabe, Z.Z. Wei, Janice Urnstein Weissman, Don Williams, Sherrie Wolf, lauren woods, Michael Workman, William Wylie, and JeongMee YoonJenkins Johnson Gallery is pleased to announce Summertime… opening in New York and San Francisco on June 25 - August 29, 2009. Summertime… presents a visual montage of painting, drawings, photography, video, and glass sculpture that focus not solely on images of summer but of environment in different contexts of current events, culture, fantasy, and landscape. Please see list of participating artists below. Hiroshi Watanabe, whose collections include the Philadelphia Museum of Art and the Museum of Fine Arts Houston, traveled to document the native people and culture of North Korea in 2006-2007. Growing up in Japan, Watanabe was exposed to a negative view of North Korea. The artist’s innate curiosity compels him to dig beneath the surface and present an extraordinary truth in his quiet yet powerful imagery. His portraits of people in North Korea depict a human experience in contrast to the politics we see and hear about, but also one of a uniform communist culture. Moreover, German photographer Gerald Förster’s arresting “photo-poetic portraits” of individuals across the globe explore cultural beauty and human condition in places such as India, Mongolia, Ethiopia, and Israel. His subjects are depicted looking straight at the viewer offering a captivating raw expression. Förster traveled extensively to eighteen countries and six continents to culminate his series The LightYears Project. New York-based, Israeli-born, painter Yigal Ozeri is premiering in his first West Coast exhibition. Ozeri astonishes the eye with his hyper-realistic oil paintings that depict provocative images of women in nature. His imagery evokes a free-love spirit through portraits of women in beautiful landscapes; emerging from the tangle of branches, ferns, and leaves and lithely walking nudes in a sun-drenched field of tall grass. Ozeri’s compositions are astounding, complex and stimulating whilst staying true to his realistic style. In contrast, notable photographer Michael Eastman’s monumental “Shotgun House” is a painterly portrayal of a battered house in New Orleans. An ominus dark sky looms over the house capturing the essence of the calm before the storm. The visually compelling work of London based photographer Julia Fullerton-Batten recalls the artist’s childhood memories in her series Teenage Stories. Fullerton-Batten couples everyday moments from her past such as fetching the milk at the door as seen in “Milk Bottle”, a classic image from the series, with unusual compositions. Her fresh imagery portrays young teenage female models juxtaposed against miniature settings of model villages found in the United Kingdom. Fullerton-Batten’s series In Between features the models launched into space, with disheveled hair and dress, within a pristine and traditional interior. Both series explore girls in contrast to their surroundings, an echo of growth and unfamiliarity with one’s own body, environment and society during puberty. Julia Fullerton-Batten is a quickly rising star in the art world. The Financial Times’ Francis Hodgeson says Fullerton-Batten is “one of the best photographers working in the UK” and was commissioned by the National Portrait Gallery in London for a solo exhibition.
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