New Issue of Fraction

copyright, Susan Worsham

copyright, Bryce Lankard

I am so happy and relieved that the new issue of Fraction is out. The new issue has five of the photographers who were reviewees at photoNOLA; Sarah Wilson, Allison V. Smith, Victoria Ryan, Frank Relle, Bryce Lankard; a book review of Vanishing America by Josh Spees; and a reflection on PhotoNOLA by David Bram. Finally, the DRESS SHOW (and yes, I am shouting). I am so happy to finally present my selections for this long-awaited (by me, at least) online exhibition.

Dress Show...finally

Dick Sanders

I finally emailed the text (with editing help from a couple of friends) to Joshua Spees at Fraction Magazine for the call for work from November for The Dress Show. I am very excited about the way the exhibit looks and about the new design of the online magazine.

I will also be publishing some other images that I could not include in the curation, here over the next few days. The new issue is due out on January 12, 2009.

Dress Show Call for Entry Deadline November 7th

I have received some wonderful submissions for the Dress Show I am curating for Fraction Magazine. It is not too late to enter, the deadline is November 7th. If you missed it, here is the info for submission.

Call for Entry: Dress show

Accepting entries for photo-based work featuring dresses for the December issue of Fraction Magazine. This group exhibition will be curated by Melanie McWhorter (of melanie photo blog). Deadline is Friday, November 7, 2008, 5pm MTN.

The dress has been a subject of curatorial consideration throughout the last 20 years, exhibitions like Empty Dress: Clothing as Surrogate in Recent Art (presented by Nina Felshin and the Independent Curators International in 1994), have mostly dealt with the use of clothing as symbols, containers of specific meaning related to class, gender and desire. While these prior exhibitions laid the critical groundwork for the consideration of clothing in contemporary art by addressing a broad spectrum of garments and media, Fraction Magazine is pleased to announce an upcoming online exhibition that will specifically investigate these issues as they relate to the woman’s dress as signifier within the medium of photography. The exhibition aims to reveal the “collective consciousness” associated with how the dress, an undeniably rich surrogate, is exploited in contemporary photography.

We are now accepting submissions of photographs (in digital format) that explore / address / feature dresses of any kind.

To send scans, please attach them to the email labeled Lastname_image1.jpg, Lastname_image2.jpg and so on. In the body of the email, please list your name, email address, title of each scan with beside the respective numbers and size and medium of the final print. A brief description of the project is optional. Please limit submissions to five scans per photographer.

The images should be 72dpi and no bigger than 800 pixels on the longest side. Email submission to cfw@fractionmag.com.

Dress Show: Paul Kooiker

© Paul Kooiker from Seminar

Dress show: Krista Elrick

Emerging © Krista Elrick

Dress Show: Nick Kline

Nick Kline © Untitled from the Undercover Series

Dress Show: Kay Denton

Lost Road ©Kay Denton

Dress Show: Todd Stewart

© Todd Stewart
Todd Stewart's Lily’s Play Dress, 2006 from the portfolio The Garden.

Dress Show - Sarah Small

Ariella and Crow © Sarah Small

I have been obsessed with Sarah Small's work for years. I especially love this one because I am also obsessed with birds. I wish I had the nerve that Sarah has to present her world in such a gritty and theatrical way. You can see more at http://www.sarahsmall.com/.

Dress Show- Joy Goldkind

Joy Goldkind Harriet

Dress Show - Beverly Semmes

Beverly Semmes, Petunia

Dress show curation

Years ago, I started to notice the recurring use of the empty dress in contemporary art. I was not the only one. Years before my observation, Independent Curators Incorporated in New York organized and circulated an exhibition curated by Guest Curator, Nina Felshin who wrote the introduction-- and other writings on the topic-- to the beautifully designed catalogue for the exhibition Empty Dress: Clothing as Surrogate in Recent Art. I have collected photos for a few years now and for lack of funding and a space (at this time); I elected to start the show here beginning with not a photograph, but a photo realistic painting by Joanne Teasdale.