Contemporary Photography at ATLAS Gallery
Works by Olivo Barbieri, Jim Goldberg, Nathan Harger, Adam Jeppesen, and Paolo Ventura
ATLAS Gallery is pleased to announce DO YOU REMEMBER THE FIRST TIME?, an exhibition of
contemporary photography, opening June 15 through July 28. There will be an opening reception
on Thursday, June 14 from 6 to 8 pm
DO YOU REMEMBER THE FIRST TIME? features works by contemporary photographers OLIVO
BARBIERI, JIM GOLDBERG, NATHAN HARGER, ADAM JEPPESEN, and PAOLO VENTURA, presented
for the first time in London exclusively at ATLAS Gallery. Many of these exemplary contemporary
artists have been exhibited internationally, and are included in museum and distinguished private
collections worldwide, but have never before been exhibited in a commercial gallery in the
United Kingdom. DO YOU REMEMBER THE FIRST TIME? presents the opportunity to experience
with new eyes key works by known artists who are redefining the boundaries of contemporary
photography.
OLIVO BARBIERI takes aerial photographs of cityscapes and landscapes, creating images
that look like scale models. First exhibition at ATLAS Gallery.
NATHAN HARGER creates high contrast black and white photographs of man-made
structures and industrial landscapes. First exhibition at ATLAS Gallery.
ADAM JEPPESEN makes fine art out of assembled photocopies. First exhibition at
ATLAS Gallery; first exhibition in the UK.
PAOLO VENTURA builds miniature sets for his doll-sized subjects to create imaginative
and whimsical narrative photographs. First exhibition at ATLAS Gallery; first exhibition
in the UK.
JIM GOLDBERG produces in-depth documentary studies of neglected and
disenfranchised peoples and populations. Jim Goldberg is represented by Magnum
Photos and ATLAS Gallery.
ATLAS Gallery was established in 1994 with a specialist focus on classic and modern twentieth
century vintage photography and photojournalism. DO YOU REMEMBER THE FIRST TIME? is the
inaugural exhibition in a new gallery programme which will include, for the first time, a specific
contemporary focus within the ATLAS Gallery calendar of exhibitions.
For further information and images please contact:
francesca@atlasgallery.com or +44 (0) 20 7224 4192
OLIVO BARBIERI (Italy, b. 1954) creates imaginative landscapes and cityscapes, challenging the viewer’s
perception of reality and creating seemingly artificial viewpoints of our mundane surroundings. Utilising the
technique of selective focusing, Barbieri suspends himself out of a helicopter 200 – 500 feet in the air over
his subject. The result is a composition both familiar and unreal, which distorts reality and recreates the
landscape into an artistic installation of Barbieri’s conception. ATLAS Gallery presents selections from the
artist’s site_specific aerial photographic series, an on-going project focusing on recognisable cities and places in
which the artist reminds us of the very thin line between object and reproduction. Works by Olivo Barbieri are
included in public and private collections worldwide, as well as museum collections in Europe and the United
States, including: San Francisco Museum of Modern Art; International Center of Photography (ICP), New York;
GAM Galleria d’Arte Moderna e Contemporanea, Turin; CAAC Centro Andaluz de Arte Contemporaneo, Seville;
and Cisneros Fontanals Foundation, Miami. DO YOU REMEMBER THE FIRST TIME? is Olivo Barbieri’s first
exhibition at ATLAS Gallery.
NATHAN HARGER (USA, b. 1976) constructs high-contrast black and white photographs of the industrial
infrastructure that powers American industry. Focusing his subject matter on man-made constructed material
- cranes, bridges, factories, telephone wires - Harger transforms urban infrastructures into abstractions,
allowing the viewer to find new meanings in the unfamiliar reality he presents. Educated at the Cleveland
Institute of Art and Parsons The New School for Design, Nathan Harger was included in 2009 in the annual “30
Under 30” list of emerging photographers worth watching by Photo District News, nominated for the Santa
Fe Prize for photography and the Prix Pictect Photography Price, as well as being the winner of American
Photography ‘Images of the Year”. His work is included in the permanent collections of the Cleveland Museum
of Art and The Martin Margulies Collection, Miami, Florida. DO YOU REMEMBER THE FIRST TIME? is Nathan
Harger’s first exhibition at ATLAS Gallery and first exhibition in the United Kingdom.
In 2009 ADAM JEPPESEN (Denmark, b. 1978) embarked on a journey from the Arctic to Antarctica to create
The Flatlands Camp Project. Travelling unaccompanied for an uninterrupted 487 days, Jeppesen documented
this long solitary journey through photography stills and film. The subsequent images bear markers of the
journey, with grit and dust rubbing on the negatives, leaving the surface scarred and imperfect. The final
prints manifest the evidence of the hard experience both in the pictured image and by the visual scars present
within the images. In The Flatlands Camp Project Jeppesen fastidiously avoids the typical travel narrative.
He instead creates in his work a distinctive style of imagery that lies somewhere between documentary and
dream. DO YOU REMEMBER THE FIRST TIME? features works which recreate the memories and experiences
of the artist’s journey, through composite photographs pinned together like a patchwork quilt. Adam Jeppesen
was nominated in 2009 for the Deutsche Borse Photography Prize and the KLM Paul Huf Award, he is included
in numerous public and private collections, including: The National Museum of Photography, Denmark; The
Swedish Arts Foundation; Nykredit Fonden; Museet for Fotokunst, Brandts, Denmark; and The Danish Arts
Foundation. DO YOU REMEMBER THE FIRST TIME? is Adam Jeppesen’s first exhibition at ATLAS Gallery and
first exhibition in the United Kingdom.
PAOLO VENTURA (Italy, b. 1968) constructs scenes he envisions in his mind by creating detailed miniature
sets, which he then photographs to appear life-size. DO YOU REMEMBER THE FIRST TIME? features works from
Ventura’s recent series, Winter Stories, which follows a fictional elderly circus performer as he recollects his
life. Winter Stories captures the fleeting glimpses of everyday life, through the artist’s meticulous rendering of
detail and the theatrical presentation of the scene being photographed. The resulting photographs present
seemingly whimsical images full with a sense of child-like wonder, while at the same time exploring serious
and universal themes of loneliness, love, disappointment and life-dreams. Paolo Ventura has exhibited in
Moscow, Verona, Paris, New York, Los Angeles, and Milan; and most recently the artist represented Italy in the
Venice Biennale. DO YOU REMEMBER THE FIRST TIME? is Paolo Ventura’s first exhibition at ATLAS Gallery and
first exhibition in the United Kingdom.
Alongside the artists featured in this exhibition, there will also be work by JIM GOLDBERG (USA, b. 1953),
an artist represented by Magnum Photos and ATLAS Gallery. Goldberg´s work focuses on documenting the
neglected, marginalized and unfairly treated communities through an intimate and human approach. His use
of different media, such as Polaroids, video, written text, ephemera and large and medium format cameras
provides his work with a unique style and sensitivity. Goldberg won the Henri Cartier-Bresson Award in 2007,
and the Hasselblad Award in 2001 and 1980. His work is in numerous private and public collections including
NYMOMA, SFMOMA, Whitney, Getty, LACMA, Corcoran, MFA Boston, Hallmark Collection, The High Museum,
Library of Congress, MFA Houston, National Museum of American Art, and the Art Institute of Chicago.