Emerging Photography Stars

The Wall Street Journal calls attention to the upcoming photo auctions in London where Christie’s will be featuring new photographers whose work is sold-out at galleries under the “distinctively” series name:

A new auction face in the British section is Neeta Madahar with “Falling I” (2005), a lyrical piece re-enacting a childhood memory of sycamore seeds falling from the trees (estimate: £3,000-£4,000). Another is Glen Luchford with an image from 1993 of a lonely, young Kate Moss in a cowboy hat being photographed for Harper’s Bazaar on 42nd Street in New York (estimate: £8,000-£12,000).

Korean newcomers include Back Seung-Woo, whose “Real World I #01” (2004) was taken in a South Korean theme park and confuses reality in presenting little Korean turtle ships floating on the waters around a fake Manhattan with real Korean apartment blocks in the background (estimate: £10,000-£15,000). Bae Chan-Hyo’s “Existing in Costume I” (2006) shows the artist dressed up as a 16th-century British queen, dealing with the problem of identity (estimate: £2,000-£3,000). Lee Jung takes an aesthetically beautiful landscape image of North Korea from across the border in “Bordering North Korea” (2006) and slashes across it the words “Another Country” (estimate: £2,000-£3,000).

Japan’s auction debutantes include Jumonji Bishin with “Headless” (1971), an unusual portrait where the head of a person is cut off, inviting the viewer to identify the sitter (estimate: £3,000-£5,000). Yamaguchi Noriko’s “Cell Phone Girl” (2004) features a girl in a bodysuit crafted from mobile-phone keypads and large headphones with streaming wires (estimate: £2,000-£3,000). A moving contribution comes from Otsuka Chino, whose “Imagine Finding Me” (2005) is a photo of the grown artist and an inserted image of the artist as a child walking on a beach with the printed words, “If again I have a chance to meet, there is so much I want to ask and so much I want to tell” (estimate: £2,500-£3,500).