Press release Tuesday, April 14th, 2015

Paris Photo, in partnership with J.P. Morgan Private Bank, is pleased to announce the inaugural INTRODUCING! Young California Photographer Award. For the first time, J.P. Morgan joins the Los Angeles edition as part of a mutual commitment to support the next generation of talented young photographers. “We are thrilled to be sponsoring the first INTRODUCING! award as part of this year’s Paris Photo Los Angeles fair,” notes Lisa K. Erf, Director and Chief Curator of the JPMorgan Chase Art Collection. “Ever since David Rockefeller established our corporate art collection in 1959, we have been devoted to identifying and supporting emerging contemporary artists. We are proud to be playing an important role with Paris Photo Los Angeles in recognizing new photographic talent.” Culled from some of the most prestigious M.F.A. programs in California, the 2015 Laureates will exhibit their work at the Fair in May, providing the public with the opportunity to engage with new and innovative talent. 1

The six finalists whose work will be featured at the fair are:      

Daniel Centofanti, California Institute of the Arts, Valencia Brian Dean, San Francisco Art Institute, San Francisco Shannon Foreman, San Francisco Art Institute, San Francisco CJ Heyliger, University of California, Los Angeles Paul Mpagi Sepuya, University of California, Los Angeles Arden Ellis Surdam, California Institute of the Arts, Valencia

The INTRODUCING! jury, presided by Lisa K. Erf, includes:     

Christoph Wiesner, Paris Photo Artistic Director Michael Hawley, Collector Britt Salvesen, Department Head and Curator of the Wallis Annenberg Department of LACMA Jamie Lee Curtis, Actress, Collector, Photographer Jennifer Pastore, Director of Photography, WSJ. Wall Street Journal Magazine

The jury will announce the recipient of the $5000 award on Thursday, April 30, 2015 at 7pm at the J.P. Morgan booth in stage 14. # # #

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Artist Statements Daniel Centofanti California Institute of the Arts, Valencia

Daniel Centofanti, Pete, 2015 30” x 40”, Archival pigment print Courtesy of the Artist

This [work depicts] a family owned company where my grandfather and father have worked [and] where my brothers and I all have spent summers working. It is part of a larger series of works documenting steel fabrication labor. In the summer of 2010, I happened to meet the daughter of the man whose family owns the factory. Through my conversations, I learned that her father was planning on retiring. Months later, he announced to the company that he was moving to Florida to work [in] sales. Shortly after that (...) the company announced that it was now majority owned by an investment firm (...) and that they will then be selling the company after 5 years. Through this series, I have given the workers a chance to articulate their frustrations and concerns about the changes happening (...). I have also photographed the structures in detail of the physical and visceral changes that are happening at the company [thus] exploring issues [that] I confront on a daily basis, be it searching for jobs to be able to pay rent or to pay off my student loan debt. Through this work, I reinstate the value of the human labor (...)

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Brian Dean San Francisco Art Institute, San Francisco

Brian Dean, The distant sound of the past, 2015 23”x29”, Archival digital print Courtesy of the Artist

A land between Between the water of the San Francisco Bay and the cities that huddle to the interior is an area in conflict. This area was once called a wetland.(...)and conquered over 150 years ago, when the need for more space (...) to support a growing population forced these lands to be blocked off, dried up and developed. The photographs in this project attempt to depict a land that is caught between all of these forces and the main unifying presence along the waterfront, the Bay Trail. Conceived of as a way connecting the urban and natural areas around the bay, the Bay Trail also seeks to protect the natural habitats (...) and provide a recreational place.

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Shannon Foreman San Francisco Art Institute, San Francisco

Shannon Foreman I’m not in the right place, 2014 12”x17” (framed), Pigment ink print Courtesy of the Artist

These (...) photographs are part of a larger series entitled Please Write Soon. I began the series last year after I found out that my mother was dying. I have a collection of letters that she wrote to me between the years of 1995 and 2012 while she was locked up in various rehabilitation clinics, psychiatric facilities and jail. Forming a kind of ritual, I would re-read these letters and then photograph at the Golden Gate Bridge. (...)Trying to figure out how I could feel her loss so keenly while she’s still here. Now that her physical body is failing, and her death is more certainty than possibility, I’ve experienced a renewed sense of urgency to confront out shared history. (...)I want to tell a new story of old history. I want to figure this all out before she’s gone. My photographs are part of this process, as well as a belated response to a woman I left behind. My own letter, if you will. So, why the Golden Gate Bridge? From the first time I saw it, I felt both seduced and repelled, terrified and fascinated (...). The Bridge is an incredibly beautiful place, but it’s also ugly and full of ghosts. And like all bridges, it connects two pieces of land that will never meet.

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CJ Heyliger University of California, Los Angeles

CJ Heylinger, Hell Mirage #1, 2015 60”x 48”, Archival inkjet print Courtesy of the Artist

This body of work is born out of the realization that my interests lie in using photography to create an environment rather than to depict one–viewing the landscape as a studio instead of a subject, and using the camera as an interpreter as opposed to a recorder. (...)I take two approaches to picture-making. The first is a straightforward, empirical manner where description is of the highest importance. I think of the resulting images as samples, and use the act of photographing as a means of amassing a collection of various objects and materials. (...) My second method of working exploits the material and mechanical limitations of photography to create pictures that are otherwise physically impossible. Through the manipulation of exposure, or the deliberate fragmentation of the way an image accumulates on a piece of film, I am able to construct images that are specifically photographic. (...) The liminal space created by these images frees me from the landscape photographer’s anxiety of discovering terra nova. Though the source material for these images is terrestrial, the photographs depict a fabricated place - a landscape of the mind. My hope is that this work points to greater philosophical issues about orienting oneself in space and looking at the world (...).

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Paul Mpagi Sepuya University of California, Los Angeles

Paul Mpagi Sepuya, Study for Theodore with Three Figures, 2013-15 (0702), 2015 72” x 100", Archival pigment print Courtesy of the Artist

“Study for Theodore with Three Figures”, 2013-15 (0702) is from a series that I have been working on in my second quarter at UCLA. The pictures are analogue constructions of figures – fragmented nudes, laser prints, fruits, Post-It notes... cycling between three grounds of the mirror surface, the camera plain, and the studio wall. Intimate material generated in daily life is arranged and rephotographed in the studio, where I am interested in the suspension of multiple tenses in exterior time, circuits of the desiring gaze and objectification, and accumulating constellations of personal narratives.

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Arden Ellis Surdam California Institute of the Arts, Valencia

Arden Ellis Surdam, Facsimile of a Rhino, 2014 30”x40” Black & white film, digital print Courtesy of the Artist

My work is deeply informed by the intersection of gender and camouflage. I disguise the human form in an attempt to bring awareness to the anonymity of the self. By obscuring the face of my subjects, I aim to intrigue and frustrate the viewer, in order to draw a correlation between the history of masking, marginalization, and assimilation. The convergence of sculpture and photography is integral to my process because the masks within the photographs create dimensionality in a two- dimensional form.

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Exhibited Works: Brian Dean, The distant sound of the past, 2015 23”x29”, Archival digital print, Courtesy of the Artist Brian Dean, This means this, this means that, 2015 23”x29”, Archival digital print, Courtesy of the Artist CJ Heylinger, Hell Mirage #1, 2015 60”x48”, Archival inkjet print, Courtesy of the Artist CJ Heylinger, Sun Drip, 2014 40, 5”x32”, Archival inkjet print, Courtesy of the Artist Paul Mpagi Sepuya, Study for Theodore with Three Figures, 2013-15 (0702), 2015 72”x100”, Archival pigment print, Courtesy of the Artist Shannon Foreman, I’m not in the right place, 2014 12”x17” (framed), Pigment ink print, Courtesy of the Artist Shannon Foreman, They wouldn’t let me take anything with me 2014, 12”x17” (framed), Pigment ink print, Courtesy of the Artist Shannon Foreman, I don’t know if I told you, I’m going for an insanity defense, 2014 17”x12” (framed), Pigment ink print, Courtesy of the Artist Arden Ellis Surdam, Facsimile of a Rhino, 2014 30”x40”, Black & white film, Digital print, Courtesy of the Artist Arden Ellis Surdam, Mimeograph of a Mollusk, 2014 30”x40”, Black & white film, Digital print, Courtesy of the Artist Daniel Centofanti, The Old Plant, Now Abandoned, 2015 30”x40”, Archival pigment print, Courtesy of the Artist Daniel Centofanti, Pete, 2015 30” x 40”, Archival pigment print, Courtesy of the Artist

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# # # “We are honored to sponsor Paris Photo Los Angeles, as many of our Private Bank clients are passionate about art and collecting. In our role helping to manage overall wealth, we know our clients’ collections often become one of their most valuable assets. We are pleased, as sponsor of this distinguished event, to be able to connect these clients to artists, exhibitors and collectors across the globe.” Olivier de Givenchy, CEO West Region, J.P. Morgan Private Bank The JPMorgan Chase art collection was the vision of David Rockefeller, who saw the value of art in the workplace. Now with more than 30,000 artworks in 450 offices globally, it is one of the most established corporate collections in the world. Focused on contemporary painting, sculpture, works on paper and photography, the core collection is enhanced by a diverse range of objects from every country in which the firm does business. The collection has become known for its commitment to supporting contemporary artists who are shaping the future through their innovation and creative vision. # # # Paris Photo Los Angeles would like to recognize its corporate partners: J.P. Morgan Private Bank presenting SPOTLIGHT! Photographs from the JPMorgan Chase Art Collection BMW presenting WILDSTYLE, by Mazaccio & Drowilal Leica presenting SILENZIO! by François Fontaine amanasalto, partner of CALIFORNIA UNEDITED! exhibition The Standard, partner of The Sound & Vision program Special contributers: United Talent Agency, Barneys New York, Ruinart, and Zadig & Voltaire And its media partners: W Magazine, The Hollywood Reporter, and Surface Magazine # # # Paris Photo Los Angeles will be held May 1-3, 2015 from 12:00 to 7:00pm (6:00pm on Sunday, May Paramount Pictures Studios in Hollywood, California.

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Private Preview: April 30, 2015

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Press contacts USA Nadine Johnson & Associates Andrea Walsh +1 212 228 5555 [email protected]

Europe Claudine Colin Communication Marika Bekier +33 (0)1 42 72 60 01 [email protected]

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