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12x36
A Local Lens

Reception for the Artists, Press and Public:
April 5th   6pm - 9pm
Show ends April 30th.

222GALLERY, THENATIVEGAZE, ARTSPACEHUE, and EAST BRIDGE present 12X36 A LOCAL LENS, a simultaneous exhibition held in Los Angeles (Gallery Revisited), Philadelphia, and Seoul in April 2008, curated by Benjamin Kaplan with sponsorship from The Lomographic Society, the ICON and The Korea Foundation. Using artists as representatives of local culture, this exhibition investigates the relationship between local space and local culture in three distinct urban environments through the use of traditional photography. The exhibition seeks to compare the direct, tangible experience of three different urban spaces through gallery shows in each city as well as an online exhibition. The title, 12X36, refers to the twelve selected artists who will each present 36 photographs for the exhibition. A hardcover exhibition catalogue, printed English and Korean, as well as special-edition Colorsplash cameras from The Lomographic Society will be available for purchase at the galleries.

• PHILADELPHIA ARTISTS: Melissa Farley, Dan Murphy, Ted Passon, and Randall Sellers.
• LOS ANGELES ARTISTS: Andy Bruntel, Michael Hsiung, Estevan Oriol, and Jessica Robbins.
• SEOUL ARTISTS: WK, Yangachi, Haelan Kim, and Yeji Yun.

As a departure from digital photography, which has become commonplace and easily mutable, the invited artists were asked to capture their local reality using traditional photographic methods, where the physical medium of film and the permanence of the developing process itself is important. Artists have been offered an opportunity to reflect on their surroundings in a uniform medium that may be a deviation from their usual means and methods. The photographic medium, and the limit of 36 exposures gives these works a time-bound and immediate quality that speaks of the artists' place, culture, and a specific moment in time.

From a pure visual standpoint, viewers are able to extract basic information about each city. By going to each gallery in person and experiencing the show, viewers participate in a dialogue about local realities. Regardless of where each gallery visitors resides, each carries their own background into the galleries and is affected by each piece in a different way. In contrast to the specific and direct experience of the gallery exhibition, we are also interested in the non-national space created through the internet. The space created by this online exhibition is physically located in none of the three cities and is therefore an ambiguous neutral space, where work can be objectively compared, examined, and thought about in a different way than in the gallery.

Learn more at www.12x36.com.

222GALLERY AND ODG / OTTO DESIGN GROUP
odg is a design collective with offices in Los Angeles and Philadelphia specializing in identifying and directing new concepts in architecture, graphics, and design. 222gallery is dedicated to expanding traditional notions of fine art, communication, and function by presenting work that blurs the boundaries between art and everyday life. As a complement to odg's design studio, the gallery is an effort to further explore the cultural landscape in which we work.

THENATIVEGAZE
Thenativegaze.com is a Seoul-based, non-profit website that seeks to increase international exposure of contemporary Korean art and visual culture. Their mission is to promote cross-cultural dialogue around visual art in Korea by publishing bilingual information about galleries and art events in Seoul. Thenativegaze.com covers and supports emerging local artists and art spaces through feature articles and daily postings, with a special emphasis on non-traditional and alternative art. We strive to inspire creative interest from abroad in contemporary art in Seoul and also to question the traditional notions of Korean art as defined by both the international and local communities.

ARTSPACEHUE
ArtSpaceHue is an alternative space located near SSamzie space and Hongik University in Seoul. ArtSpaceHue is interested in introducing young and emerging artists both local and educated abroad, and claims that contemporary art has long crossed the border into science and engineering. As an alternative space, ArtSpaceHue tries to deal with contemporary art movements motivating artists and art activities. ArtSpaceHue aims at alternative art proper to current Korean art culture, roles of an alternative space, and such activities that can examine symptoms and meanings of alternative art critically and change them in a productive way.

GALLERY REVISITED
Gallery Revisited is dedicated to upholding the integrity of our artists' intent through accessible means of installation, discussion and promotion so that we can build a strong bridge between art audiences, the new generation of collectors, and the media. By choosing to present long-standing vision, regardless of the chosen form of expression, we are cultivating a fresh approach that is in sync with the changing gallery climate of Los Angeles.

EAST BRIDGE
The EAST bridge, an English-language webzine introducing Korean and Asian contemporary art opened in July 2007. EAST bridge strives to be the quickest and most efficient channel through which foreign and domestic readers can have access to information about Korean and Asian contemporary art. As a webzine, EAST bridge aims at integrating a database of Korean art and creating a global network.