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Gest, Ben (Photographer) & Frieser, Hannah (Contributor) : Ben Gest: The Contact Sheet Exhibition Catalog

Contact Sheet/Light Work, New York City, NY, 2007

ISBN 0935445528

First Edition / First Printing. Fine in No Dust Jacket, As Issued. 50 pages. Exhibition Catalog. The first and only edition. Published in a small and limited print run as a softcover original only. The Exhibition Catalog is now scarce. An austerely elegant production by Ben Gest and Contact Sheet: Oversize-volume format. Pictorial softcovers with titles on the cover and spine, as issued. Photographs by Ben Gest. Essay by Hannah Frieser. Printed on pristine-white, thick coated stock paper in the United States to the highest standards. Without DJ, as issued. Published on the occasion of the landmark retrospective exhibition held at Light Work Gallery Syracuse, New York in 2007. Presents "Ben Gest". Digitally-assembled imagery that aspires to change the current "conversation" between photography and painting (whereby the former now dominates the latter) by adopting painting's spatial perspective to arrive at a new way of creating, not just taking, photographs. "Captures his lone sitters at the chance interstices of deep reflection, when the self dwells in thought. The construction of the self as it happens before Gest's camera serves to question the construction of that self in reality. Gest uses digital photography to monumentalize photography's ability to capture such fleeting moments. Each photograph is seamlessly constructed from hundreds of digital images of the sitter and their surroundings. The photographs' initial straightforward appearance can only be maintained at a cursory glance. Gest's subtle and not-so-subtle exaggerations of proportion and perspective quickly betray the images as Mannerist constructions" (Publisher's blurb). With their static character, the photographs recall the ground-breaking work of Philip-Lorca DiCorcia (achieved by Gest using elaborate digital manipulation rather than elaborate actual production) yet have a contemplative, thoughtful quality all their own. Individually and cumulatively, they remind us of the necessity of pressing the "pause" button, especially those of us who routinely go about our affluent, hectic social lives. An absolute "must-have" title for Ben Gest collectors. This copy is very boldly and beautifully signed in black ink-pen on the title page by Ben Gest. It is signed directly on the page itself, not on a tipped-in page. He signed on top of the page, making it even more prominent. This title is a contemporary art photography classic. As far as we know, this is the only such signed copy of the First Edition/First Printing available online and is in especially fine condition: Clean, crisp, and bright, a pristine beauty. A rare signed copy thus. Lavishly illustrated with full-page color plates. One of the most brilliant American photographers of our time. A fine copy. (SEE ALSO OTHER BEN GEST TITLE AND ORIGINAL PRINT IN "STEPHEN DAITER GALLERY: 15 YEARS" TITLE IN OUR CATALOG). ISBN 0935445528.

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