ACQUISITIONS: UnBound13!
2024 CANDELA COLLECTION ACQUISITIONS
With money raised from this year’s fundraising efforts, we were able to collect a record number of works to add to the Candela Collection. Thanks to all who gave, partied, and supported from afar.
TOMMY BRUCE
HOW DO WE CHOOSE WHAT GOES INTO THE COLLECTION?
When selecting works for the Collection, we're asking ourselves several questions:
What does this piece bring to the conversation of the larger collection?
Just as we ask this question when jurying the exhibition, we’re looking at twelve previous years of acquisitions and hoping to add works that broaden the conversation of the collection. What process is being used? What concepts are being addressed? Who is making the work? Where are they from?
How was this piece received during the exhibition?
We like to note pieces that were real conversation starters or favorites from visitors during the exhibition and consider them in the selection process.
What is the initial cost of collecting this piece?
This is one of the more practical questions when it comes to collecting from UnBound!. Pieces can typically range from a couple hundred dollars to tens of thousands, so we weigh our cost of collection when considering how far we want our raised dollars to go.
How is the object?
How is the printing/construction? Is the piece framed thoughtfully, and did it arrive well cared for? Does it appear as good, if not better, than represented in submissions? Is it signed or does it include a certificate of authenticity? Final objects are important, so they are largely what we consider when thinking about the collection.
What additional costs need to be considered?
How does this work need to be prepared for longer term storage and archival presentation? Due to the nature of this show being more accessible, many people are working within small budgets, or have less experience working in gallery settings. When we’re looking at works for the Collection, we’re asking what additional costs are going to be needed to get a piece reframed, mounted, or reglazed to best ensure its longevity. Take into account the size of the piece, and those costs could be nearly as much as the piece itself. Works that minimize these additional costs are much easier to consider.
How does this piece represent the work of the artist?
We love collecting pieces from artists that feel representative of their work in the moment. This is certainly not a dealbreaker question, but it adds significance to collect a defining piece from a particular artist.
These questions are conceptual, practical, and emotional, which creates a bit of a puzzle when landing on the final pieces.
2024 ADDITIONS:
This year’s UnBound! was particularly fantastic, which can be evidenced by 1) the number of works we chose to collect, and 2) the amount of time it took for us to deliberate those choices. Richmond / VCU lovers can rejoice: we were pleasantly surprised to find that four RVA artists made it into the final selection for this year’s collection acquisitions!
AIDAN AVERY | TUCSON, AZ
Cowgirl (Gold), 2024. Gelatin Silver Print, 4 x 3.25 inches; 11.5 x 9.5 inches, Framed. Edition #2 of 3.
In “Mythologies,” Aiden Avery works with “obsolete” materials along with darkroom processes while getting to know the surrounding Sonoran Desert, which require hands-on relationships with the past. In both cases, Avery is prospecting for, and re-encountering, certain archetypes and mythologies of the Southwest. LEARN MORE >
DANA BELL | BROOKLYN, NY
From Binoculars: Man Tests Swift Instruments 10x24 Armored Egret Binoculars, 2024. C Print on DPII Paper and Dye Sublimation Print on Aluminum. Two Framed Prints, 19.25 x 21.5 inches (total). Unique.
Bell’s work explores an encyclopedic array of human activity and gesture through photography and pictures that guide her image making. She recreates the imagery of vernacular photographs that document body language, with a focus on hands as a means of expression. LEARN MORE >
SHWETA BIST | NEW YORK, NY
Cooking (Sh!t I Do), 2024. Archival Pigment Print, 20.5 x 30.5 inches, Framed. Edition #1 of 6 + 2AP.
In Sh!t I Do, Bist composites digital photographs depicting a mother [herself] engaged in chores. She performs mundane tasks, often multitasking or juggling personal work with care work, fulfilling her family's needs while socializing her daughters in response to the current socio-political milieu. She meets the viewer's gaze, insisting on acknowledgment of her labor and its value. LEARN MORE >
TOMMY BRUCE | PORTLAND, OR
Shaving Ube, 2024. Archival Pigment Print, 16 x 24 inches, Framed. Edition #1 of 5 + 2AP.
Bruce’s work explores the formation of identity in contemporary culture through work with the Furry community by playfully using the furry figure to examine tropes associated with different animals, and to explore new arrangements and subjects for contemporary photographic portraiture. LEARN MORE >
KAITLYN DANIELSON | NEW YORK
No Man's Land, 2023. Found Photographs on Paper, 14 x 18 inches, Framed. Unique.
Danielson’s abstracted assemblies are the result of flipping over old snapshots from albums, revealing elements of the human hand. These remnants are then intensively arranged until they are unified through their visual forms. LEARN MORE >
YUXIANG DONG | JERSEY CITY, NJ
Central Union Railroad & Saint Denis (1 & 2), 2023. EACH: Gelatin Silver Print, 4 x 5 in; 8 x 10 in, Framed. Edition #1 of 15 + 2AP.
Through a series of darkroom contact prints with digital negative transfer film made out of video game screenshots, this body of work experiments with the materiality of photography across the digital and the analog, examining contemporary racial representations and historical narratives in the video game industry. LEARN MORE >
JACK FOX | RICHMOND, VA
Two Trees, 2023. Archival Pigment Print, 50 x 40 inches, Framed. Edition #1 of 3.
Apophenia is “the tendency to perceive meaningful connections between unrelated things”. Fox looks to his fixation on the beauty of fleeting moments as a type of delusion, seeking harmony and connection to the greater world through the documentation of his obscure, surreal compositions. LEARN MORE >
RILEY GOODMAN | RICHMOND, VA
Boys of Summer, In Their Ruin, 2024. Archival Pigment Print, 45 x 36 inches, Framed. Edition #1 of 5.
In To Cultivate A Magnolia, Goodman presents his life in Richmond along with the chosen family he’s found, and the generations of Virginians before him. Referencing the hardiness of its leaves in tandem with the delicacy of its flowers, the series examines folklore and history, the complexities of queer identity, the endurance of the American Civil War, and the moments of reflection that come as we age. LEARN MORE >
ROSEMARY JESIONOWSKI | RICHMOND, VA/LAKE CHARLES LA
Event Horizon, 2023. Collodion Wet Plate, 8 x 10 inches; 11 x 13 inches, Framed. Unique.
The images presented here are part of a larger body of work titled "All Science is Fiction Until it's Not." These wet plate collodion photographs explore fictional planetary worlds, early discovery, alchemy, and ideas of place and communication. LEARN MORE >
KEVIN MCCORMICK | RICHMOND, VA
Somewhere the Air is Right, 2024.Photo Book, 8 x 10 inches, 48 pages Edition #1 of 50.
"Somewhere the Air is Right" documents the process of touring in a small punk band. It focuses on the people and places encountered while playing mostly do-it-yourself venues across the country: these spaces are defiant in nature and often extremely fragile worlds that burn bright and fast. The lens then turns towards bandmates, creating repeating characters that emerge and develop throughout the story presented. LEARN MORE >
LAILA NAHAR | FOLSOM, CA
Will you come to Rome with me?, 2023. Handmade Artist Photo Book,
8 x 5.75 inches, 132 pages.Edition #12 of 15.
This is a handmade artist photobook exploring memories of Nahar’s mother through family portraits and places in film/slides and texts from her journals. It is a dialogue of a trip to Rome together; a journey that they never took. It is a story of their presence within one another. LEARN MORE >
PARK MEJUNG | SEOUL, KOREA
Still life for things that need a goodbye, Mourning, 2022. Archival Pigment Print,
14 x 11 inches, Framed. Edition #1 of 7.
In Park’s Still Life series, she created three-dimensional sculptures by bringing the form, texture, and color of used objects to a small stage in order to decorate, mourn, and document the soon-to-be-depleted objects. LEARN MORE >
ANDRE RAMOS-WOODARD | HOUSTON, TX
authenticity (2 CHAINZ), 2022. Digital Illustration, Colored Pencil, and Pastel on Archival Inkjet Print, 28 x 21 inches, Framed. Edition #1 of 5.
In BLACK SNAFU, Ramos-Woodard appropriates various depictions of Black people found throughout the history of cartooning and juxtapose them with photographs that celebrate and line up more authentically with his Black experience. LEARN MORE >
SARA J. WINSTON, AARON CANIPE, & NAT WARD | RED HOOK, NY
Shades, 2023. Push Pull Editions. Photo Book in Slipcase, Two Pigmented Inkjet Prints tipped in Slipcase, 12 x 9 inches. Sold Out Edition of 15.
Shades presents the parallel paths of Aaron Canipe and Sara J. Winston as they traverse the experience of raising their children. Begun as part of “A New Nothing,” the photographers have held an image-based conversation from October 4th, 2017 to present day. LEARN MORE >