I email Bonny over at The ICON and asked if she didn't mind talking about the new gallery space so I gave her some questions. Here's what I got back :
PIX : So tell me what you do for Icon ?
I currently head up the Fine Art Department at Icon. It was an idea I had that Ramesh was encouraging enough to support me in. My department has been in the works for a little over two years now. I love to collaborate with our clients. I have always enjoyed helping each photographer or artist fulfill their vision, project, or job. I seem to have a knack at giving good guidance as far as what medium is best and what process. I have high expectations for the final product - that the piece looks like it could hang in a gallery - or else I am not making it. That philosophy has caused me all kinds of problems but in the last two years, Ramesh has allowed me to put together a small team of gifted artists here at the Icon and together we have a lot of fun pushing the envelope of what we have all known to be "final print". I would have to say that my best gift is that I am able to understand our artists' vision and I become the bridge between them, the team creating the final print, and the work getting to the wall.
PIX : And how did the idea of the gallery come together ?
I have wanted to start a gallery since college. The last few years I have worked as a curator and art consultant. There is an art to creating a show. How the pictures breathe next to each other and carry the viewers around a room is very important. You can make or break a show even if the work is good by hanging or sizing something wrong. So, as I was doing this and talking with Ramesh, he encouraged me to find away to do this at Icon as well.
Two years ago I selected a handful of photographers and printed their work, then teamed up with the amazing finishers at Fine Art Solutions, and created a gallery that was to be viewed as a room of inspiration with a number of styles paper and framing concepts.
It was all for the clients who could not know what was possible with out an actual piece in front of them. How many people know that a Fujiflex print, face mounted to glossy plex can look like a old Cibachrome print, or that an inkjet printed on Japanese paper could look like something no one had seen before? It was a huge labor of love and we were supposed to have an art opening but then a car crashed through my office and, well, life got in the way, and then too much time went by, and then it was time for something new.
So now we are here.... but more to explain. I had the pleasure of overseeing a couple photo shows over the years for Kathleen Clark when she was at Los Angeles Magazine, and one which Nan Oshin was working on as well. Again, all about the collaboration of us all working for the love of photography as an art form is what brought us here today. Now with a plummeting economy and the photo world changing quickly, I was feeling like I was spread very thin. I would come to work every day haunted by the walls but could not imagine how I could do this again alone, as well as the Icon could not afford to just keep printing work and putting it up getting it framed for free. That was just impossible.
So on one day when Kathleen came into the lab, we got to talking and I was telling her how I wanted to reach out and really create a space where young and seasoned photographers and multimedia artists could feel they could come to create, work with technology that you can not put in your home, and that came with a support team that would help you create work you would hope for. (If I told you how many people said they wasted hundreds of dollars trying to make that fine art print at home before they came to see me you would laugh, but my heart goes out to them cause I get it - Everyone wants to make their own prints.)
So Kathleen came back with Nan Oshin a few weeks later and suggested that we find a way to have contemporary photography shows here at the Icon, using the space in a more traditional sense, that could be received as a legitimate gallery in LA. We wanted to have shows printed here at Icon so we would all have the opportunity to show work of established professional photographers - people that may have never shown their own work otherwise, since they are usually busy getting the next job. That does not leave a lot of time to be a artist. This was perfect for Kathleen and Nan as they have had the opportunity to work with countless photographers and find a way to bring their work to another level. For me it is a dream partnership for us all and I would expect to see nothing but inspirational work. Kathleen and Nan have an amazing eye as a curatorial team --- we should all be excited!
PIX : What plans do you have for the future for the gallery ?
Well we are hoping that we will create a community that embraces photographers and artists. Through these gallery events, that will also include artist talks and various workshops, we will find new ways to contribute to the life of photography. I can only say to keep checking in because we all need a place where the artist can be an artist and photography can truly be reinvented and pushed so that one day the work will get to the wall. We have to support each other.
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I understand they hope to do this every two months and they're already working on their second one. The reception is tonight from 6-9 pm showing the work of Hugh Kretschmer. So if you're in the Miracle Mile area, stop by and check it out !
By the way, their hours are Mon – Fri 7AM – 9PM, Sat 9AM – 5PM so unlike traditional galleries, you could actually walk in at 7 am and see the work.
CORRECTION (6/29) : I understand that the last name is Diadhiou and not Taylor. My apologies !
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