Named as one of the top 15 emerging photographers in USA, this NYC based artist opens a show this Saturday, the 16th, at Paul Kopeikin Gallery in Los Angeles.

It will be at the Paul Kopeikin Gallery on Wilshire near LACMA. It will feature nine large-scale prints from my Domesticated series. I am really excited because this is my first solo show and because it represents the culmination of three years worth of work.

Domesticated was born out of my Women and Guns series. I became interested in hunting culture and the strange psychology behind taxidermy. I was fascinated with the idea of people going into the wild, killing an animal and then putting an effigy of that animal on permanent in display in their home. I began to think about our relationship with the wild and how our encroachment was changing our behavior and the behavior of animals.

Mamiya RZ, 65 mm lens and a heavy tripod.

Some of the animals are taxidermied. I rent the animals from a local taxidermist, who is an amazing artist himself. These images represent encounters that occur in the transition between wild areas and cultivated domestic spaces. The use of taxidermied animals in constructed photos in an unnatural location is an important layer to the work.

The law of supply and demand make it beneficial for the photographer to limit the number of prints that enter the market. I usually make 10-15 prints, plus 2 artist's proofs for each size of an image. I typically only make two sizes available. It is understood by the buyer that you will not make any more prints available once the edition is sold. If I violated that trust I would do irreparable damage to my reputation.

I've lived in NYC for 5 years now. I moved here because it's the greatest city in the world. And, trying to be an art photographer in Washington, DC just wasn't working.

The constant energy, the brutal honesty and the tasty sushi.

Roe Etheridge, Zoe Strauss, Corey Arnold, Juliana Beasley and Fred Herzog.

Interest is piqued, research is done, locations are scouted, pictures are taken.

My work is about the isolation of the individual from themselves, society and the environment. This isolation can be either self-imposed or by imposition of external forces. I want to capture the spiritual, emotional and physical tension that can be found in these individual exiles.

Wine at Bar Veloce, free night at MOMA, dinner at Yakitori Totto, music and dancing at One Step Beyond at Museum of Natural History.

Besides my show? A Democrat in the White House.

Between 7:45 PM and 12:11 PM

Honeymoon traveling across Morocco.

Our experiences in Morocco weren't necessarily weird, but they were definitely unique. In Fez we stayed in the Medina and were awakened by the late night and early morning calls from the muezzin. At night in Marrakesh the Djemaa el Fna square becomes a sea of people and activity including all manner of south sayers, medicine men, boxing monkeys, snake charmers and the sweet smells of grilled delights and mint tea. At the apex of the Tizi-n-Test Pass we traded Levis and sunglasses for jewelry with a Berber. In Essaouira on the coast we spent four days just drinking wine and watching surfers and burqa-clad women share space on the beach where Jimi Hendrix wrote Castes Made of Sand.

In a Bill Callahan and Grizzly Bear mood right now, but my heart forever belongs to Jonathan Richman.

Drunk and high.

For more on Amy and the Domesticated series, check:
American Photo
amysteinphoto.com
http://amysteinphoto.blogspot.com
Unseen Magazine
Himble Arts
Identity Theory
Lisa Hunter

Domesticated
Photographs by Amy Stein
Opening Feb 16th, 2008
Paul Kopeikin Gallery {moscomment}

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