All photos © Deborah Mesa-Pelly

“I’ve been working on location, setting images in overlooked and all too familiar spaces. There is a ritualistic aspect in the way I establish these photographs that traffic in both photography and sculpture to arrive at narrative. The activity of collecting and repurposing found objects transforms an inspirational poster into a backdrop for a neglected turtle’s tank while simultaneously expanding the shallow pictorial field with deep space illusion. Through restaging domestic interiors and questioning the photograph as document, perception is jarred and the knowable questioned.”

Deborah Mesa-Pelly has exhibited her work nationally and internationally. Her photographs are part of the public collections at the Whitney Museum of Art in New York, Seattle Art Museum, The Orange County Museum in Los Angeles, The Neuberger Museum at Purchase College, The Corcoran Gallery of Art in Washington DC, and Centro de Photographia, Salamanca, Spain. She is a professor of photography at Purchase College. Born in 1968, she immigrated to the US from Havana, Cuba when she was 3 years old and currently resides in New York City with her husband artist Michael Wetzel and their daughter Alba Rose.

Above “Bed Cage” 2011

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French photographer and street artist JR. © Zachary Bako

While doing an artist residency in Beijing, photographer Zachary Bako started documenting the contemporary art scene in China. But it wasn’t until he returned home to New York City that he would meet Liu Bolin, who was working on his series “Hiding in New York.” Bako began photographing Liu’s creative process for the images, which show Liu painted to blend into the background of various sites around the city.

Within six months, Bako relocated to Beijing and began his own series “Liu Bolin: The Process.” Using both still images and video, Bako continues to record and document what goes on behind the scenes in order for Liu to make photographs for his “Hiding in the City” series. Here, Bako chronicles a collaboration between Liu and French photographer JR. For the work, JR photographed Liu, enlarged the image, and pasted it on his studio’s exterior wall and door. Then Liu painted JR to blend into the image and photographed the resulting work.

Liu’s exhibit “Lost in Art” is currently on display at Eli Klein Fine Art in New York City through May 11.

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© Jimmy Chin

Jimmy Chin is an adventure photographer and filmmaker who is part of Camp 4 Collective, a full-service video production house of like-minded artists and athletes. In addition to a myriad of amazing feats, including reaching the summit of Mt. Everest, Chin also placed in the 2011 Great Outdoors Photo Contest with this image of James Pearson climbing the first ascent of the Arch of Bishekele in the Ennedi Desert in Chad. The deadline for the 2012 Great Outdoors Photo Contest is Thursday, April 26, 2012. Chin will also be speaking at this year’s Outdoor Photo Expo in Salt Lake City, Utah, which will be held August 1 through 4.

“Gotthard #2754,” 2010. © Jörn Vanhöfen, courtesy of Robert Mann Gallery

In his latest exhibit “Aftermath,” German fine-art photographer Jörn Vanhöfen explores the physical, cultural and social forces at work around the world, and how they often collide with the natural world. The large-format color photos, now on display at the Robert Mann Gallery in New York City through May 5, are stunning in scale and detail. But they also evoke beauty, wit, drama and outrage in equal parts.

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All photos © Estate of Dare Wright/Courtesy Fred Torres Collaborations

The peculiar, haunting photos Dare Wright created to illustrate her 1957 children’s book, The Lonely Doll, have attracted fans such as photographers Cindy Sherman, Laurie Simmons and David LaChapelle. Wright created an entire world and narrative around her doll, who is befriended by two stuffed bears. The story of Edith, who “lived in a nice house and had everything she needed except somebody to play with” echoes Wright’s own sometimes isolated childhood. More than 30 images Wright created for the book are now on view at Fred Torres Collaborations in New York through April 28.

Photo above: “‘I hate rain,’ Edith grumbled crossly. ‘Why couldn’t Mr. Bear take us with him? There’s nothing for us to play indoors.’ ‘We’ll find something,’ said Little Bear. ‘Come on, let’s explore the house.’”

Dare Wright, the daughter of portrait artist Edith Stevenson Wright (yes: her mother and her doll shared the same name), was born in Ontario, raised in Cleveland and moved to New York City in her 20s. She authored 21 books, all featuring her black-and-white photos. She died in 2001. More information on her life and critical appraisal of her books can be the artist’s page on the Fred Torres web site.

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