Nick Knight – Blade of Light, 2004, Photo London

Photo London opens at Somerset House for its innagural event. The unique photography exhibition is the largest of its kind in London. Photo London looks to showcase the broad range of photographic practice, from vintage to contemporary and beyond. There will be a series of exhibitions and installations, with live events running throughout Somerset House. Photo London will also include three exhibitions. Beneath the Surface from the V&A collection, Sebastião Salgado’s Genesis in Platinum and Kaveh Golestan’s Prostitute. We recently attneded the Private View of the international photography fair on Wednesday. With over 70 exhibitors, including the world’s leading photography galleries and publishers, we selected some of our favourite work on display.

Susan Derges – Tide Pool 18 January ’14, 2015

Starting with a London artist, Susan Derges work revolves around the creation of visual metaphors. It looks to explore the relationship between the observer and the observed. She endeavours to manifest or capture invisible scientific and natural processes. This includes the physical appearance of sound vibration, the evolution of frogspawn or the cycles of the moon. She is possibly best known for her pioneering technique of capturing the continuous movement of water. This is achieved by immersing photographic paper directly into rivers or shorelines. The artist is represented at the fair by Purdy Hicks Gallery, Bankside, London.

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Stephen Wilkes – Trafalgar Square, London, Day to Night, 2014

For more than two decades the artist has been widely recognized for his fine art and commercial photography. His work can be found gracing the covers of top magazines such as Vanity Fair and Sports Illustrated. His newest body of work are images like this one entitled Day to Night. They capture epic cityscapes with fleeting moments throughout the day and night. He photographs from one camera angle continuously for up to 15 hours. A select group of images are then blended together to form the final product. The artist is represented at Photo London by the Peter Fetterman Gallery, who have one of the largest collections of classic 20^th Century Photography in America.

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Enoc Perez – Selected Cut Outs, 2014-2015

Enoc Perez was born in San Juan, Puerto Rico in 1967. The artist currently lives in New York. The multi-media artist is known primarily for his multi-layered paintings of modernist buildings. Throughout his twenty-year career he has also worked across other mediums, notably in his collage work of voluptuous nudes. These photo collages engage with social media, appropriation and the artist’s consistent and inventive search for new forms. The artist is represented by Danziger Gallery of New York at Photo London.

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Alejandro Guijarro – “Cambridge I”, 2011

The image is taken from the artist’s series momentum. This saw a 3-year project in which Alejandro travelled to the great Quantum Mechanics institutions around the world. Using a large format camera he photographed the blackboards as he found them. The artist has no idea what he will find when he walks into the lecture hall. He merely begins by recording the blackboard with minimum interference. The artist is represented by Tristan Hoare Gallery who focus on emerging and established international contemporary artists. The gallery was based at Lichfield studios but is currently moving to London.

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Mona Kuhn – AD7272, 2013/2014

LA-Based artist Mona Kuhn is highly acclaimed for her contemporary depictions of the nude. Through intimacy with her subjects, knowledge of traditional iconography and technical mastery, the artist portrays the complexities of human nature. Her work both tempts and provokes the viewer’s imagination. Her work is often playful and combines a number of different visual strategies. This includes the use of patterning, translucency and reflectivity. Through this she explores our connection with the environment. Her body of work includes images from the American desert, a French naturist colony and her birthplace of Brazil. There will also be an exclusive book signing by the artist herself at Photo London on Saturday 22nd of May. Head to the Flowers booth on the first floor between 2-2:30pm to meet the artist. The London-based Flowers Gallery London represents the artist at.

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Takashi Kawashima – The Map attracts me more than The Territory. #001

The artist was born in 1985, Miyagi, Japan. He obtained an MA from Tokyo Polytechnic University in 2011. He has been the recipient of the Jury Prize at a.a.t.m. art award Tokyo marunouchi 2011 and the Grand Prize at the Tokyo Frontline Photo Award 2012. He has had a number of solo exhibitions and has also released a photography book. The book was awarded the Jury Prize at the 18^th Art Division Japan Media Arts Festival 2015. G/P Gallery, Tokyo, represents the artist.

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Nick Knight – Blade of Light, 2004

Nick Knight is one of the world’s most influential and visionary photographers. He has worked on a range of often-controversial issues during his career – from racism, disability, ageism and more recently fat-ism. He continually challenges conventional ideas of beauty. He was born in London and studied photography at Bournemouth & Poole College of Art and Design. He graduated with a distinction in 1982. Since then he has risen to fame working on advertising campaigns for some of the biggest names in fashion including Louis Vuitton, Calvin Klein, Vivienne Westwood and Alexander McQueen. Represented by Christophe Guye Galerie, whom are a contemporary art gallery representing artists who consider the medium of photography within the larger context of contemporary art as a whole.

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Thomas Mailaender – Electric Jesus

Born in 1979, Thomas Mailaender is a French multi-media artist living and working between Paris and Marseille. His work has been exhibited in solo and group shows in major art institutions and festivals internationally. This includes the Centre Pompidou in France and at the International Festival of Photography in Spain. His recent work involves what are known as Cyanotypes. In the early stages of photography it was debated whether photos should’ve been printed in blue and white instead of black and white. The artist takes this Cyan technique and reproduces digital images of all kinds. London Gallery, Roman Road represents the artist at Photo London.

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Goldschmied & Chiari – “Untitled Portraits”

The small and medium-scale works are comprised of altered photographic images printed onto glass mirrors. The artists photographed multiple images of coloured and translucent vapours and then erased areas of smoke from each of the photographs during a digital post-production process. As a result when printed onto the surface of a glass mirror, portions of colour appear alongside areas of silvered mirror. This reveals the viewer’s reflection within a colourful haze. The photographic duo, Goldshmied & Chiari, have been working together since 2001. Recipients of numerous prizes and awards the young artists’ popularity continues to grow. Their work is at Photo London with the Grimaldi Gavin Gallery.

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Martin Schoeller – Phillip Seymour Hoffman, 2013

The famous photographer was born in Munich in 1968. He is known as one of the most important portrait photographers of the younger generation. After studying Photography in Berlin at the renowned Lette-Verein and in Hamburg, he worked as Annie Leibovitz’s assistant in New York for four years before starting his own career in 1996. His first solo exhibition was in Germany with CAMERA WORK. The photographer regularly works with acclaimed magazines such as Rolling Stone, GQ and VOGUE. CAMERA WORK features this striking image of the late actor Phillip Seymour Hoffman in their booth at Photo London.

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Kim Joon – Bird Land-Breitling, 2008

Kim Joon is one of Korea’s most notable young contemporary artists. Although the images appear to be photography of some kind, they are in fact all digital creations. A master of computer software 3D Studio Max, the artist fabricates compositions including nudes, porcelain objects and images from western pop culture. The artist aims to evoke themes of desire, memory and youth in his work. He mixes elements from tattoos and nudes in works from this collection to create the eye-catching images. The artist is on display at Photo London with the Sundaram Tagore Gallery.

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