Another Day in Paradise
Juried by Gregory Eddi Jones and Anastasia Samoylova
Exhibition Statement
The vast majority of photographs we see in our day-to-day lives present idealized versions of their subject matters, making the world seem cleaner, more orderly, and more beautiful than it actually is in lived experience. It’s difficult to grasp the profound influence we are subject to within our inescapable media-diets of beautiful images that offer promises of something better. When considered within the framework of paradise notions, it’s difficult to find any photograph that cannot be interpreted according to the author’s reflection of a more ideal state of being. Pictures idealize through formal composition, they create a record of symbolic possession of their subjects, they aspire to aesthetics that spark delight in their viewers, they tell stories, edited and articulated, that give us fantastic reprieve from the mundane world outside their frames. Ironic gestures cannot escape desire, and poorly-made pictures aspire to it.
What is the impulse that drives photographers to represent promises of the idyllic? What does such common exposure to romanticism and fantasy do to our collective psyche? What is at stake in the viewer’s belief or distrust in the underlying messages conveyed through photographs? And how do these dilemmas play out over the span of photographic intents, which range from commercial, personal, and evidentiary visual purposes?
The artists in this exhibition reflect on notions of paradise, idealism, and fantasy through a broad spectrum of photographic strategies. Together, the works here represent competing visual rhetoric spanning commercialism, irony, sincerity, observational and interpretative documentary, camp, appropriation, tableaux, personal narrative, and impartial photographic philosophies.
The original iteration of this exhibition opened as an abridged physical show featuring 9 artists (seen in the slideshow below) at Gravy Studio & Gallery in Philadelphia, PA on July 13, 2019. This expanded, web-only exhibition includes a total of 31 artists selected from an open call held during Spring, 2019.
– Gregory Eddi Jones, Editor
above: Joseph Desler Costa. Green Apples, from the series Cuts Like A Knife, 2019.
Participating Artists
Physical exhibition at Gravy Studio & Gallery (above): Bree Lamb, Ira Wagner, Josh Lord, Kalee Appleton, Will Matsuda, Martina Sauter, Melissa Eder, Danielle Ezzo, & Nick Marshall (honorary artist).
Online exhibition (below): Tal Ben Avi, Mehves Lelic, Melissa Borman, Joseph Desler Costa, Gina DeSimone, Angelo Ries, Elaine Catherine Miller, Ryan Strand Greenberg, Katherine March Driscoll, Jayson Bimber, Shelli Weiler, Mary Ancel, Temporary Collective, Melissa MacLaughlin, Ben Alper & Jon Feinstein, Aaron Wax, Eva Brunner, Michael Dillow, Matt Mele, Mario Karlovcec, & Ray Ewing.
Tal Ben Avi
Untitled, from the series Post Encounters, 2017.
Mehves Lelic
Reclining Auntie, from the series Partum, 2017.
Mehves Lelic
9 carat, from the series On Adornment, 2019.
Melissa Borman
Untitled, from the series A Piece of Dust in the Great Sea of Matter, 2016.
Melissa Borman
Untitled, from the series A Piece of Dust in the Great Sea of Matter, 2016.
Joseph Desler Costa
Green Apples, from the series Cuts Like A Knife, 2019.
Joseph Desler Costa
Trans Am Manifold, from the series Cuts Like A Knife, 2019.
Gina DeSimone
Youngstown,Ohio, Who can Win the Rust Belt? 2019.
Gina DeSimone
Manhattan, NYC, Untitled Series, 2019.
Angelo Ries
Buzz Cut, from the series Virility, 2018.
Angelo Ries
The Bridge, from the series Virility, 2018.
Elaine Catherine Miller
Sentiment, from the series Sentiment, 2019.
Elaine Catherine Miller
Identity Crisis, from the series Sentiment, 2019.
Ryan Strand Greenberg
Cracked Cloud, Barcelona Spain, 2016.
Ryan Strand Greenberg
Paradise Colorado, A Place for Us, 2019.
Katherine March Driscoll
With Prospect and With Frost (Life’s a Beach), excerpt from the series, 2014-present.
Katherine March Driscoll
With Prospect and With Frost (Life’s a Beach), excerpt from the series, 2014-present.
Jayson Bimber
Stereo, from the series The Aristocrats, 2014.
Jayson Bimber
Tailor, from the series The Aristocrats, 2017.
Shelli Weiler
Disney Kiss, from the series ENJOY house, 2019.
Shelli Weiler
Glass Room, from the series ENJOY house, 2019.
Mary Ancel
The Garden Was Sealed When the Flowers Decayed, 2018.
Mary Ancel
Mirror Shatters in Formless Reflections of Matter, 2018.
Temporary Collective
14, from the series Fleeting, 2018.
Temporary Collective
14, from the series Fleeting, 2018.
Melissa McLaughlin
Mist, from the series Ethereal Travels, 2018.
Melissa McLaughlin
Coastal Dreams, from the series Ethereal Travels, 2018.
Ben Alper & Jon Feinstein
Ben & Courtney, from the series A Promise of Love, 2019.
Ben Alper & Jon Feinstein
Ben & Lindzi, from the series A Promise of Love, 2019.
Aaron Wax
Boat, from the series The World’s Most Famous Beach, 2015.
Aaron Wax
Fisherman, from the series The World’s Most Famous Beach, 2015.
Eva Brunner
#19, from the series No Escape from Paradise, 2017.
Eva Brunner
#5, from the series No Escape from Paradise, 2016.
Michael Dillow
Untitled, from the series Many Days Many Nights, 2019.
Michael Dillow
Untitled, from the series Many Days Many Nights, 2019.
Matt Mele
Riviera, from the series Vacancy, 2019
Matt Mele
Waikiki, from the series Vacancy, 2017
Mario Karlovcec
Untitled, from the series Plage du prophète, 2018.
Mario Karlovcec
Untitled, from the series Plage du prophète, 2018.
Ray Ewing
Yuma Fauxasis #2, from the series Fauxasis, 2015.
Ray Ewing
Yuma Fauxasis #1, from the series Fauxasis, 2014.
Another Day in Paradise
Juried by Gregory Eddi Jones & Anastasia Samoylova
Special thanks to Gravy Studio and Gallery for hosting the physical exhibition, on view until August 24, 2019.
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