24 Oct 2009 to 24 Dec 2009
Gallery hours
Tuesday through Saturday from 11:00 - 5:00
The Kopeikin Gallery
8810 Melrose Avenue
West Hollywood
CA. 90069
Los Angeles, CA
California
North America
p: +1 (310) 385-5894
m:
f: +1 (310) 385-7964
w: www.kopeikingallery.com/
Susan Anderson: High Glitz The Extravagant World of Child Beauty Pageants
and Edwina White: In Rehearsal
continuing through December 24th
Susan Anderson: "High Glitz"
The Kopeikin Gallery is pleased to present the first solo exhibition by Susan Anderson in the United States. Anderson is a Los Angeles-based commercial and editorial photographer specializing in fashion and portraiture. The title "High Glitz: The Extravagant World of Child Beauty Pageants" is Anderson's first major body of personal work to receive international attention http://www.highglitz.com . The exhibition opens on Saturday, October 24th with a reception and book-signing with the artist from six to nine and continues through December 24th 2009. It is free and open to the public.
"I make a point of not directing my subjects, but provide a platform for them to present themselves to the camera." - Susan Anderson
Children's beauty pageants are a fascinating phenomenon with over-the-top aesthetics and billions in revenue. However, more than anything, they represent a strange microcosm of America itself. Its values of beauty, success and glamour reflected in the dreams of thousands of young girls. For the most part the children take part enthusiastically in these ritual spectacles of crafted female beauty (least we forget, Britney Spears got her start in child pageant)
Susan Anderson has been following the phenomenon for the past three years, traveling through the US to shoot these unsettling and glitzy portraits on location. Setting up her studio amidst the spectacle, Anderson captured the young girls made-up and glittery, ready to be judged. Under the bright and shinny-happy veneer repose complex representations of our culture. Also pictured are the fetishistic objects, cherished components of the world of high glitz; Cinderella-like slippers, 18 inches rhinestone tiaras and prized trophies, ribbons, sashes and titles.
Susan Anderson earned her Bachelor of Fine Arts Degree form the Art Institute of Chicago. Her editorial portrait and fashion work has appeared in a variety of magazines including, Vogue Italy, Los Angeles Magazine, People, Glamour, The Robb Report and Playboy. She lives and works in Los Angeles.
"Playing dress-up is part of being a kid, but when adults step in, apply the makeup, the clothes and instructions on composure, posture and gesture the game becomes something else... Their lives become an act, a mark of grown-up affectation that they are unable to remove after the performance ends."
Please join us for the opening reception and book-signing with the artist Saturday, November 28th from 5:00 - 8:00
Ten percent of the world's volcanic activity occurs in Japan. While all that geothermal activity has set off devastating volcanic eruptions, tsunamis, and earthquakes they have also provided the 127 million inhabitants of the island nation on the "Ring of Fire" with a very unique way of life. The 20,00 thermal hot springs that flow from the ground have become meccas. An estimated 100 million people check in each year at Japanese style inns and hotels to bath in various pool,springs and spas.
After graduating from California State University, Los Angeles with a Master of Arts Degree in Pictorial/Documentary History, Mark started his professional photography career doing the stills for various television and movie companies. In 1986 he set off on a four-month trek across the Pacific and throughout Southeast Asia, China and Japan. The images created on that trip brought attention to his travel/documentary photography and changed the course of his career.
Mark Edward Harris has visited and photographed in over sixty countries. His editorial work has appeared in publications including Life, Stern, GEO, Conde Nast Traveler, Islands, Spa, Playboy, Harper's Bazaar, Vogue, Elle, American Photo, The New York Times, The London Times, The Los Angeles Times Sunday Magazine as well as many in-flight magazines.
Mark's book "The Way of the Japanese Bath" (R.A.M. Publications) was originally published in February 2003. His book "Mark Edward Harris: Wanderlust" (R.A.M. Publications) was released in November 2004. Images in that book led Mark to being named "Photographer of the Year" at the 2004 Black + White Spider Awards, and the book being awarded "People Photography Book of the Year" at the prestigious International Photography Awards
