Collections

Karine Laval: Poolscape

A native of France, Karine Laval has successfully carved out a career in the New York photography world. She produces a highly distinctive and idiosyncratic style of image both for newspaper and magazine assignments as well as for her own personal work. She has exhibited twice in solo shows at Crane Kalman and has recently featured her fourth solo project at New York’s leading contemporary photography specialist, the Benrubi Gallery.

One of Laval’s on-gong projects, Poolscapes, continues themes from her earlier work, most notably her continuing obsession with water, but rendered in a more ethereal, abstract way. Laval continues to explore the vagaries of perception and tests the limits of the photographic medium by using water as a distorting lens and choosing a stark colour palette – the result of her signature film processing – to generate images which alternate between representation and abstraction, and blur the boundary
between photography and painting.

United States and internationally at such venues as the Palm Springs Art Museum, the Los Angeles Center for Digital Art, the Sorlandet Art Museum in Kristiansand (Norway), the Palais de Tokyo in Paris, and at several photo festivals throughout Europe and the US. Laval was a finalist of France’s Villa Medicis Hors Les Murs and she is the recipient of the Peter S. Reed Foundation Grant. A book looking back on 10 years of her work is to be published later this year by Steidl.

To see more of Karine’s work, go to the Photographers section.

Samuel Hicks: Chile 2014

After turning his back on in his Fine Art studies, Samuel Hicks turned to photography. He began assisting a series of photographers in London, mainly in the advertising world, serving a six year apprenticeship, before starting out as a photographer in his own right. Since then, Hicks has forged a successful career in commercial and editorial photography, travelling around the world and working for clients such as O2, Land Rover, Lucozade, The Times, The Independent and Wallpaper Magazine.

In the last few years his personal projects have incorporated working on location in Sweden, Norway, and Ireland where he shot the New York State Circus. His photograph of a Kendo Fighter Smoking was a winner in the Lifestyle & Portraiture category of the Association of Photography Awards. Samuel’s work has featured in Creative Review’s annual photography showcases of the last few years. As well as exhibiting work at the London Photographic Awards, he was also selected for the Foto8 Summer Show in 2009 and had his first solo show at Crane Kalman Brighton in 2009.

This new collection of work was taken in Chile last year whilst on a road trip for car hire firm Avis. Samuel discovered an extraordinary and varied landscape whilst driving 2,400 kilometres, many of them off road, across 7 days. The images have garnered much attention as well as winning the advertising travel/tourism section in the Moscow International Foto Awards, an Honourable Mention in the advertising section of the Black and White Spider Awards, and were selected in the AOP Open and for the Creative Review Photography Annual 2014. To see more of Samuel’s new collection of work, go to the Photographers section.

Ellie Davies: Stars 2014

Ellie Davies is a young British fine art photographer who gained an MA in Photography from the London College of Communication in 2008. Much of her work is made in the forests of Southern England, and Davies uses the landscape as a studio space into which she introduces ‘made’ forms and interventions which explore our understanding of landscape as a construct that reflects our cultural preoccupations and anxieties. The work is also a personal exploration of the artist’s own experience of the landscape, the woodland and forest where she grew up. Davies new body of work, Stars, continues many of these themes and tries to address our ever-increasing distancing and separation from the landscape – how our geographical alienation from the natural world in turn creates landscape as an object – one we are distanced from and no longer feel a part of – something beyond reach. Stars addresses this by drawing the viewer right into the heart of the forest which still holds mystery and the potential for discovery and exploration. Ancient forest landscapes are interposed with images of the Milky Way, Omega Centauri and other embroyonic stars to create a forest landscape at once part of and fundamentally other with the intangible and unknown universe. To see more of Ellie’s work, and for sizes and prices, go to the Photographers section.

Lisa Creagh: Floriculture 2014

New to Crane Kalman Brighton is artist Lisa Creagh. She graduated from Goldsmiths in 1994, and more recently, with a Masters in Photography from Brighton University. Between 1997 and 2001 she lived and worked as an artist in New York, teaching digital imaging and curating exhibitions. Upon her return she founded The Brighton Photo Fringe in 2003, a network of photographers, still running in conjunction with the Brighton Photo Biennial. As a producer and curator she has delivered large-scale photographic projects for international artists and delivered talks at various colleges. In 2006 she received critical acclaim for the originality and collaborative nature of ‘Tidy Street’ where she transformed a street in Brighton in to a series of light-boxes utilizing the windows of small terraced houses. Prior to her MA she was awarded two Arts Council England Individual Artists Awards. Her current ongoing project, ‘The Instant Garden’ was begun in 2008 and is inspired by Dutch Flower paintings, in particular those by Rachel Ruysch (1664 – 1750). The work has been widely exhibited and was recently awarded a development grant by The Arts Council of England. Creagh writes, “The Instant Garden is a new kind of photograph, one ‘made’ not ‘taken’, but no less beautiful for being artificially ‘natural’. To see more of Lisa’s work, please visit the Photographers section.

Ellie Davies: Between the Trees 2014

All the images from Between The Trees are photographed in Ellie’s native New Forest – a place that had a very strong influence on her growing up – and the place she has now been drawn back to produce her work. In Ellie’s images, the forest represents the confluence of nature, culture, and human activity. Forests are potent symbols in folklore, fairy tale and myth, places of enchantment and magic as well as of danger and mystery. Ellie’s work explores the ways in which identity is formed by the landscapes we live and grow up in. By making a variety of temporary and non-invasive interventions in the forest, the work places the viewer in the gap between reality and fantasy, creating spaces which encourage the viewer to re-evaluate the way in which their own relationship with the landscape is formed. Ellie was awarded First Place in the 2014 Kontinent Awards in the Fine Art Projects Category. She received an Honourable Mention from the jurors of Inside Out 2014 at PH21 Gallery in Budapest, and was selected as a finalist in the 2013 London International Creative Competition. She was awarded an Honourable Mention in the Professional Women Photographers International Juried Exhibition 2012. She was also selected for the Lens Culture International Exposure Awards 2010, and received 1st Place in the Fine Art Landscape category of the 2010 PX3 Paris Photo Prize, The Exeter Phoenix 2010 Audience Choice Award, ArtSlant Showcase Juried Winner in 2010 and 2011, and Commended in the LPA Landscape Awards 2010. To see more of Ellie’s work, and for sizes and prices, go to the Photographers section.

Shiho Kito: pikari

Untitled (Kanakakkunnu 1, Trivandrum, India), 2010

Shiho Kito is Japanese photographer currently based in Gandhinagar, India, who also works in both Japan and the UK. She also teaches, writes and curates. Having been awarded one-year fellowship from Government of Japan, she has based her practice at the National Institute of Design (NID) in India since January 2014. Shiho’s work was first exhibited at Crane Kalman Brighton in the Cream: Graduate Showcase in 2010, showing images from her on-going ‘pikari’ series. Since then, Shiho has studied for an MA in Photography at the London College of Communication, and has exhibited her work as part of a cultural exchange programme between the University for the Creative Arts in Farnham and the Institute of Design in Ahmedabad, India, where much of the ‘pikari’ series has been photographed. pikari is an onomatopoeia in Japanese, which means ‘shining’ or ‘flashing’. The idea for pikari came from ‘star-navigation’, the ancient technique of Polynesian sailors who would find their location and direction guided only by the natural environment. Since leaving Japan, Shiho has used lights in cities all over the world to find her path. The photographs have been created using a large-format camera with 20-80 minute exposure time. Shiho won the Prime Minister’ Initiative Fund from the British Council and has worked for this project mainly in Ahmedabad, India since 2008. To see more of Shiho’s work, go to the Photographers section.

Giacomo Brunelli: Eternal London

Commissioned by The Photographers Gallery, Giacomo Brunelli’s new body of work has been a two-year project to capture the heart of the capital where he makes his home. In Eternal London Brunelli uses his distinct film-noir style to create a unique and evocative view of the city. The images are framed around the silhouettes of people and animals. Though many London landmarks feature including Tower Bridge, Trafalgar Square, St. Paul’s Cathedral and the statue of Winston Churchill depicted alongside Big Ben, they are presented in a surprising and very particular way. Brunelli photographs during daily early morning walks, randomly choosing a person to follow before focusing his camera on them. Working discreetly, he often uses a removable viewfinder, to be able to photograph his subjects from waist height and other unusual angles, such as directly from behind or using extreme close-up. He protects their anonymity by obscuring their faces whilst exploiting light, shadow and contrast to imbue his images with a dramatic atmosphere and a deep sense of mystery Giacomo Brunelli’s first major project, The Animals, has received great critical acclaim and was published as a book by Dewi Lewis Publishing. Brunelli has exhibited widely and has received several awards including the Sony World Photography Award, the Gran Prix Lodz, Poland, and the Magenta Foundation’s ‘Flash Forward 2009’. His work is held in many private and public collections including the Museum of Fine Arts Houston, The New Art Gallery Walsall, UK Kiyosato Museum of Photographic Arts and Portland Art Museum, USA. To see more of Giacomo’s work, go to the Photographers section.

Franck Bohbot: This Game We Play

French photographer Franck Bohbot focuses his artistic attention on public spaces and urban landscapes. Rooted in his fascination with cinematographic iconography, his work looks at the relationship between the individual and the architecture around us. His main subjects are public spaces such as swimming pools, basketball courts, libraries and cinemas – but all empty, abandoned or deserted of the people that give life to these places. Using long exposures, natural and fluorescent light, the images take on a richness of colour and detail which contrast with the sense of melancholy which permeate the images. These deserted spaces carrying the ghostly traces of abandoned social landmarks are immortalized through the power of their architecture and the poetry of their everyday uses. Born in France in 1980, Franck Bohbot lives in New York City where he works as a freelance photographer. He graduated with a Master’s Degree in Film Production (ESG-Paris) in 2006, but is a self-taught photographer. He has worked for publications and clients including The Huffington Post, The New York Daily News, Fahrenheit, Marie-Claire, Le Musée du Louvre, Paul Smith, Universal Music and Nike. To see more of Franck’s work, go to the Photographers section.

Ellie Davies: Between The Trees 2013

Ellie Davies is a fine art photographer living and working in London. She completed an MA in Photography at the London College of Communication in 2008. Ellie’s work is concerned with our relationship to the landscape, the natural world around us, and the cultural meanings we bring to it. Her new series, Between The Trees, continues many of the themes evident in her earlier work. All photographed in her native New Forest, and with the use of artificial lighting and smoke machines, Ellie creates a woodland landscape at once familiar and eerily surreal – an ethereal woodland where the smoke highlights the spaces in between. Ellie was recently selected as a finalist of the 2013 LICC Awards, and was awarded an Honourable Mention in the Professional Women Photographers International Juried Exhibition 2012. She was also selected for the Lens Culture International Exposure Awards 2010, 1st Place in the Fine Art Landscape category of the 2010 PX3 Paris Photo Prize, The Exeter Phoenix 2010 Audience Choice Award, ArtSlant Showcase Juried Winner in 2010 and 2011, and Commended in the LPA Landscape Awards 2010. Ellie’s work has appeared in numerous magazines and publications, and was most recently published in several books including WUD: Four Fictional Walks in the Woods, a limited edition hardcover photobook published by Tangerine Press, and Behind the Image By Natasha Caruana and Anna Fox published in 2012. To see more of Ellie’s work, go to the Photographers section.

Judith Lyons: The Fallen

Judith Lyons is a London based, British photographer. A graduate of Central Saint Martin’s and the London College of Communication, her work often reflects a fascination with the natural world and with cycles of birth, growth, decay, death and rebirth.

Her work has been published and exhibited both nationally and internationally. In 2012, a selection of images from the Photographic Reproduction series were awarded a Silver medal in the 2012 PX3 Prix de la Photographie Awards in Paris, and as result the work will be featured in the prestigious PX3 Annual to be published later this year.

In her new series, The Fallen, autumn leaves collected in a military cemetery in London on Remembrance Sunday 2012 have been recorded and replicated to produce a series of geometric, mandala like forms. Combining traditional photographic and contemporary digital techniques, the circular and continuous nature of these forms invites the viewer to consider natural cycles of life, death, decay and rebirth.

To see more of Judith’s work, and for sizes and prices, go to the Photographers section.

Samuel Hicks

After turning his back on in his Fine Art studies, Samuel Hicks turned to photography. He began assisting a series of photographers in London, mainly in the advertising world, serving a six year apprenticeship, before starting out as a photographer in his own right. Since then, Hicks has forged a successful career in commercial and editorial photography, travelling around the world and working for clients such as O2, Land Rover, Lucozade, The Times, The Independent and Wallpaper Magazine.

In the last few years his personal projects have incorporated working on location in Sweden, Norway, and Ireland where he shot the New York State Circus. His photograph of a Kendo Fighter Smoking was a winner in the Lifestyle & Portraiture category of the Association of Photography Awards. Samuel’s work has featured in Creative Review’s annual photography showcases of the last few years. As well as exhibiting work at the London Photographic Awards, he was also selected for the Foto8 Summer Show in 2009 and had his first solo show at Crane Kalman Brighton in 2009.

Samuel’s work is characterised by his fascination with light; how it can transform a scene, change colours, create a mood & bring subjects to life. Often he will combine photographic lighting with natural light to lend a filmic quality & create a powerful narrative, never more so than with this new series of work taken in and around Los Angeles earlier this year.

To see more of Samuel’s new collection of work, please go to the Photographers section.

Elliott Wilcox: Real Tennis

Elliott Wilcox is a London based, British photographer who recently graduated from the University of Westminster, MA Photographic Studies programme. He first exhibited with Crane Kalman as part of the Cream 10 Graduate Showcase in 2009, featuring early work from his celebrated ‘Courts’ series.

Since then, he has gone on to be the recipient of several awards including a Judges Award at the Nikon Discovery Awards and a New York Photo Award. Elliott recently won a prestigious Lucie Award for the Discovery of the Year at the International Photography Awards. His work has been exhibited internationally, featuring as part of the show ‘PRUNE – Abstracting Reality’ at FOAM Gallery Amsterdam with guest curator Kathy Ryan, editor of the New York Times Magazine.

Wilcox’s has now completed his second major series ‘Walls’, which was recently exhibited at the Bau-Xi Photo Gallery in Toronto. The new work continues to explore Wilcox’s interest in minimalism and abstraction through its focus on the outwardly simplest and uniform of subject matters.

To see more of Elliot’s work, and for sizes and prices, go to the Photographers section.

Philip Gatward: Dahlia

Philip Gatward has worked as a successful photographer, predominantly in the advertising industry for over 20 years. During that time, some of his most significant campaigns have included work for Nike, Conde Nast, Elle Decor, Phillips, Boosey & Hawkes, Coca-Cola, Heineken, the V&A, Wrangler and the Design Council.

Philip has exhibited work at Crane Kalman since its first group show ‘Eclectica’ back in 2006, featuring his on-going major project ‘Dahlias’. Focusing on one of the plant world’s most varied and diverse flowers, Philip chooses to photograph each flower, close-up, against the same neutral background to heighten the extra-ordinary detail and beauty of these flowers. His new work looks at this favourite of subject in stunning monochrome to create the most timeless and elegant of flower studies.

To see more of Philip’s work, go to the Photographers section.

Cream 13: A Showcase of Graduate Photography Talent 2013

After a hiatus of 2 years, Crane Kalman Brighton Gallery is pleased to return to Brighton audiences with Cream 13, an exhibition featuring a new selection of some of the most interesting and diverse photographic graduate talent to emerge from 2013. The exhibition includes BA graduates from some of the most prestigious Photography Courses from Universities and Colleges the length and breadth of the country from Westminster to Glasgow; London to Newport and Brighton to Ulster. Cream 13: A Showcase of Graduate Photography Talent 2013 will first be exhibited at the University of Brighton Gallery from Thursday 15th to Friday 30th August, and then marking the start of a new series of collaborative exhibitions, the show will move on to the Brighton Dome from Saturday 14th September to Sunday 27th October 2013. Please note: on occasion Brighton Dome Founders Room may close for private events. To check exhibition opening times please download details (PDF, updated 13 Sep 13).Photographers This year’s showcase features: Eugenijus Barzdžius (University of South Wales, Newport) – ‘Harvest of Wetland’ documents a self-governed settlement in a Lithuanian wetland, built by a bunch of citizens frustrated with the long journey to legal allotments on the outskirts of the City. The space means escape, survival, and responsibility to its habitants. Tine Bek (University of Glasgow) – Bek treats the issue of the social norms and the conventional lifestyle with spontaneity and a little irony. His characters “Bend over Backwards”, as they are trying desperately to adapt to the external expectations posed upon them. Joseph Conway (University of Brighton) – ‘Nine Miles as the Crow Flies’ documents a series of interventions in the landscape. The playful images are informed and situated within a history of Land Art. Jacqueline Douglas (University of Ulster) – ‘Thank you for being my family’ plays a tribute to the life of Esperanza, Douglas’s Peruvian nanny who left her own family behind 50 years ago to become a part of Douglas’s in Ireland. In 2013 however, Douglas travelled to Peru to photograph Esperanza’s own family. Laurence Harding (University of Westminster) – ‘House of Cards’ draws attention to the fragile foundations of our economy and personal ambition. As we perform our social roles according to pre-packaged lifestyles, our individuality is regularly challenged. Leanne Healey (Falmouth University) – The series ‘Familiar Dreams’ works as a psychoanalytic experiment drawing on common archetypes and symbols in dreams. The pictures set the spectator’s unconscious in motion to recall memories of their own. John Jordan (Dun Laoighaire) – In ‘Shannon Stopover’, Jordan juxtaposes existing photographs of Iraqi dead, military planes and airport infrastructure to comment on the Irish Government’s authorisation of Shannon Airport as a refueling point for US military aircraft on their way to the war on Iraq – an abrogation of Ireland’s long-held policy of neutrality, and against the wishes of its people. Simon Kaye (University of Essex) – ‘Structure of Power’ explores the physicality of an immaterial subject such as energy. Apart from allowing the viewer to glance at the physical aspect of electricity the series conveys an allegorical comment as well. Junko Ogura (University of Westminster) – in ‘Little Box of Milk’, Ogura shows the long-term effects of the nuclear catastrophe that happened in Fukushima, Japan. The leakage of radioactive materials poses an invisible threat to the lives of the population since 2011. Chris Pledge (University of Portsmouth) – ‘Days of Future Past’ captures the nuances of movement and the modulation of time using experimental techniques such as long and multiple exposure. Chloe Rosser (University of Falmouth) – ‘Form’ speaks of the human condition and our increasing alienation from our own bodies. The unsettling photographs contort bodies to become seemingly inhuman figure studies. Sarah Smith (University of Westminster) – ‘As the Crow Flies’ is about the continual chasing of an elusive and unattainable phenomenon, an obsession never to end or be fulfilled. Smith addresses this feeling with the symbolism linked to birds. Susie Tsang (Stockport College) – ‘What’s Left Is Unsaid’ talks about a ritual that opens up the narrative of a delicate and intricate relationship between a daughter and her mother: a constant flux of confusion and clarity, ease and frustration. Chelsy Vaney (University for the Creative Arts, Farnham) – ‘The Landscape Experience’ is a search for a faithful representation of an experience within a landscape. By interfering with the physical object of the photographic prints, Vaney enhances the material qualities of the landscape representation, and at the same time overcomes its limitations. Saxon Whitbrock (Falmouth University) – Images of ‘Logolepsy’ represent the extrapolation from word to understanding, and thus the inherent beauty in the human desire to communicate ideas. Simple and expressive, Whitbrock’s photographs are substitutes for words. Byoung Joon Yoon (University of Westminster) – ‘Agency of Light’ consists of diptychs depicting colour compositions. The work explores the link between colour and light within the frame of photographic practice, yet in an abstract and allegorical sense. Jiaxin Zheng (London College of Communication) – ‘The Shroud of Beauty’ reflects on the pursuit of Asian girls to become the Caucasian beauty ideal. Zheng visualises their struggle to ‘mask’ their original personality in order to conform to the societal expectations of beauty.

Venues

Cream 13: A Showcase of Graduate Photography Talent 2013 will show at two venues: University of Brighton Thursday 15th – Friday 30th August 2013. Open Monday-Saturday 10am-5pm (Closed Sundays) University of Brighton Gallery, 58-67 Grand Parade, Brighton BN2 0JY. Tel: 01273 643010. Web: arts.brighton.ac.uk Brighton Dome Saturday 14th September – Sunday 27th October 2013. (On occasion Brighton Dome Founders Room may close for private events. To check exhibition opening times please download details (PDF, updated 13 Sep 13) or visit brightondome.org) Brighton Dome, Founders Room, Church Street, Brighton BN1 1UE. Tel: 01273 709709. Web: brightondome.org For further information, and for images, please contact Crane Kalman Brighton on 01273 697096. To see previous years’ graduate showcases, go to the Photographers section.

Morgan Silk 2013

A winner in the Association of Photographers 2012 Annual Awards, Morgan Silk’s latest body of work Tasmania, was inspired by the extraordinary natural beauty and wild landscapes of the Antipodean island. Whilst on an assignment for One Life Magazine, to track the story of sightings of the Tasmanian Tiger, widely believed to be extinct since the 1960s, Silk was captivated by the unusual and majestic landscapes around him. From exposed tidal beaches which created strange uniform ridges in the sands that went on for miles, to the almost prehistoric nature of some of the unique island vegetation, and the extraordinary unspoilt beauty of the Bay of Fires, regarded as one of the most beautiful beaches in the world, Tasmania made an indelible impression on the photographer. A selection of images from this body of work can now be viewed on the gallery website. In addition to a series of high profile recent commissions for the likes of Mastercard, Wired Magazine, Land Rover, Shell and RBS, Silk is working on a new collection of images on British Traditions and Folklore. To see more of Morgan’s work, go to the Photographers section.

Venues

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