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GRANT MUDFORD RECEIVES JULIUS SHULMAN INSTITUTE EXCELLENCE IN PHOTOGRAPHY AWARD

CSR Series, BBC Mine No. 2, Conveyor Towers, 1981
Silver gelatin print, 33 x 29 in.
Courtesy Rosamund Felsen Gallery
© Grant Mudford
LOS ANGELES (March 18, 2014) – On April 3, 2014, the Julius Shulman Institute at Woodbury University (www.woodbury.edu) will present its Excellence in Photography Award to photographer Grant Mudford.  Each year the Institute recognizes an early or mid-career artist who honors Shulman’s legacy and our mission by challenging the way we look at physical space. Mudford joins illustrious past honorees Iwan Baan (2010), Richard Barnes (2011), Pedro E. Guererro (2012) and Catherine Opie (2013).

The award reception will open a companion exhibition, Grant Mudford: Building, at theWoodbury University Hollywood Gallery (WUHO). The exhibition runs from Thursday, April 3 through Sunday, April 27. It will focus primarily on work Mudford completed in the 1970s, a series of compelling abstractions of commercial and industrial structures in Los Angeles.

“Grant Mudford deconstructs the elemental components of architecture, transforming the rebar, concrete and stucco of ordinary building sites into poignant statements about frailty and strength,” said Michael Duncan, exhibition curator. “He is the most accomplished photographer currently working in Los Angeles: a master of light and composition who changes the way we think about structure itself.”

ABOUT GRANT MUDFORD
Since the mid-1960s, Grant Mudford has investigated the urban landscape in photographs known for their clarity, conceptual acumen and sly humor. After studying architecture at the University of New South Wales, the Australian-born artist established himself as a cogent observer of Sydney and London’s social and architectural scenes. With his move to Los Angeles in the mid-1970s, he found his ideal subject in a city founded on quirky details, anxious expediency and stylistic incongruence.

ABOUT THE CURATOR
Michael Duncan is a critic and independent curator, as well as a corresponding editor for Art in America. His writings have focused on individualistic artists of the twentieth century, West Coast modernism, twentieth century figuration, and contemporary California art. His curatorial projects include surveys of works by Pavel Tchelitchew, Kim MacConnel, Lorser Feitelson, Eugene Berman, Richard Pettibone, Alberto Burri, and Wallace Berman. He is co-curator of the current exhibitions: An Opening of the Field: Jess, Robert Duncan, & Their Circle and Someday is Now: The Art of Corita Kent.

JULIUS SHULMAN INSTITUTE
The Julius Shulman Institute promotes understanding and appreciation of photography of the built environment. Architectural photographer Julius Shulman founded the Institute atWoodbury University in 2005, spurred by his passion for education. His endowment supports students, career artists and commercial photographers who encourage us to look at our physical environment from a unique and critical perspective.

WOODBURY UNIVERSITY HOLLYWOOD GALLERY (WUHO)
WUHO is Woodbury School of Architecture’s center for experimental exhibitions and multi-disciplinary collaborations. WUHO provides a porous place ideally situated for fieldwork and learning about architecture and the built environment in a non-academic milieu. The gallery is shared with the Los Angeles Forum for Architecture and Urban Design and is located on the iconic Hollywood Walk of Fame.

Reception and Julius Shulman Institute Excellence in Photography Award presentation: April 3, 6–8 PM

WUHO Gallery, 6518 Hollywood Boulevard, Los Angeles, CA 90028
Gallery hours: Thursday 1–8 PM, Friday – Sunday 1–6 PM

USE RESTRICTION: All photographs courtesy Rosamund Felsen Gallery, Santa Monica, © Grant Mudford. Images may not be cropped or have text overlay without prior consent. Please send two copies of the publication to the Rosamund Felsen Gallery for their archives.

Julius Shulman Institute Excellence in Photograph Award & Exhibit
Grant Mudford: Building
Opening & Awards Ceremony: April 3, 2014, 6-8PM
WUHO Gallery, Hollywood, CA
Join us on April 3, 2014, as the Julius Shulman Institute presents its Excellence in Photography Award to photographer Grant Mudford. Each year, the Julius Shulman Institute awards an early or mid-career artist who honors Shulman’s legacy and our mission by challenging the way we look at physical space. Mudford joins illustrious past honorees Iwan Baan (2010), Richard Barnes (2011), Pedro E. Guererro (2012) and Catherine Opie (2013).

 

The award reception at the Woodbury Hollywood Gallery (WUHO) opens a companion exhibition, Grant Mudford: Building. The exhibition runs from Thursday, April 3 through Sunday, April 27, 2014. It will focus primarily on work Mudford completed in the 1970s, a series of compelling abstractions of commercial and industrial structures in Los Angeles.

 

Since the mid-1960s, Grant Mudford has investigated the urban landscape in photographs known for their clarity, conceptual acumen and sly humor. After studying architecture at the University of New South Wales, the Australian-born artist established himself as a cogent observer of Sydney and London’s social and architectural scenes. With his move to Los Angeles in the mid-1970s, he found his ideal subject in a city founded on quirky details, anxious expediency and stylistic incongruence.

 

“Grant Mudford deconstructs the elemental components of architecture, transforming the rebar, concrete and stucco of ordinary building sites into poignant statements about frailty and strength,” says exhibition curator Michael Duncan. “He is the most accomplished photographer currently working in Los Angeles: a master of light and composition who changes the way we think about structure itself.”

 

Exhibit curator Michael Duncan is a critic and independent curator, as well as a corresponding editor for Art in America. His writings have focused on individualistic artists of the twentieth century, West Coast modernism, twentieth century figuration, and contemporary California art. His curatorial projects include surveys of works by Pavel Tchelitchew, Kim MacConnel, Lorser Feitelson, Eugene Berman, Richard Pettibone, Alberto Burri, and Wallace Berman.

 

The Julius Shulman Institute promotes understanding and appreciation of photography of the built environment. Architectural photographer Julius Shulman founded the Institute at Woodbury University in 2005, spurred by his passion for education. His endowment supports students, career artists, and commercial photographers who encourage us to look at our physical environment from a unique and critical perspective.

 

 

Grant Mudford: Building, from April 3 – April 27, 2014

WUHO Gallery, 6518 Hollywood Boulevard, Los Angeles, CA 90028

Gallery hours: Thursday 1-8PM, Friday - Sunday 1-6PM

 

Image: Sydney (Opera House), 1977. Silver gelatin print, 22 x 28 in.

Courtesy Rosamund Felsen Gallery © Grant Mudford

Jesse Brink, Director of Communications and Marketing
Woodbury School of Architecture

WUHO Gallery | 6518 Hollywood Boulevard | Los Angeles, CA 90028

Peter_Aaron
Peter Aaron: Image Credit: © Peter Aaron/ OTTO; Image Caption: Villa dall’Ava by Rem Koolhaas. Shot in Paris, France, 1991.

Woodbury University’s Julius Shulman Institute Exhibition Showcases Innovative Photographers of Architecture and Design
New Exhibition — ‘Beyond the Assignment: Defining Photographs of Architecture and Design’ – Opens October 5 at Woodbury’s WUHO Gallery in Hollywood
LOS ANGELES (September 30, 2013) — The Julius Shulman Institute at Woodbury University presents Beyond the Assignment: Defining Photographs of Architecture and Design at WUHO (Woodbury University Hollywood) Gallery. The exhibition runs from Saturday, October 5 through Friday, November 1, with a public reception on October 5 at 6 p.m.

Curated by photographer Bilyana Dimitrova, Beyond the Assignment: Defining Photographs of Architecture and Design examines the work of ten of today’s leading architectural photographers in the United States who respond to the image making legacy of their predecessors, such as Julius Shulman and Ezra Stoller, while also challenging our basic understanding of architectural photography as a practice.

These photographers pursue innovative ways to create indelible images that make their subjects unforgettable. By expertly documenting and artfully interpreting the built environment, these artists provide a critical contribution to the history of photography, mass media, and the architecture profession.

Beyond the Assignment takes a long-overdue look at the way architectural photographers use visual storytelling, technical precision, and a unique visual sensibility to shape the way we see the built environment. These photographers move “beyond the assignment” and help immortalize today’s architecture and design.

The exhibition features the individual artists who are often hidden behind the projects that they document, including:
Peter Aaron, Esto Photographics Inc., NYC           Jon Miller, Hedrich Blessing, Chicago
Bilyana Dimitrova, Jersey City, NJ                      Undine Pröhl, Los Angeles
Joe Fletcher, Oakland                                        Tim Street-Porter, Los Angeles
Timothy Hursley, Little Rock                              Lara Swimmer, Seattle
Alan Karchmer, Washington, DC                         Paul Warchol, New York City

Hailing from Chicago, Washington D.C., Little Rock, Los Angeles, New York City, San Francisco, and Seattle, the selected photographers are responsible for creating lasting visual experiences that are part of our collective consciousness. They, like Peter Aaron, worked directly with the pioneers in the field or, like Lara Swimmer, represent more recent wave of photographers who can look to what is now the field’s long history.

The Julius Shulman Institute’s focus is on the exhibition and publication of artists who address landscape design, buildings, and cities through their photographic work. Through shows such as Beyond the Assignment, the Julius Shulman Institute lays the disciplinary foundations necessary to define this area of cultural production.

“Many of today’s seminal photographers remain unknown artists behind their images, despite the lasting imprint their work makes,” explains JSI Director Emily Bills. “The Julius Shulman Institute supports Beyond the Assignment as a means to begin shaping a much-needed history of architectural photography in the United States, taking as a key area of interest the work of mid-career photographers active today.”

An accompanying panel discussion that will include photographers in the exhibition, architects, and members of the media will take place on Saturday, October 5, 2013 at 5 p.m. at LACE (Los Angeles Contemporary Exhibitions), 6522 Hollywood Blvd.  The panel will ask significant questions, such as: What is the relationship between architect and photographer? How do architects use images as vehicles for self-promotion, and how do media outlets partner in this process? And what is a “beyond the assignment” photograph? It will also consider how the field of architectural photography has changed over time and how it is currently responding to digitization and the proliferation of imagery on the Internet.

Woodbury University School of Architecture is a network of hubs strategically sited within the Southern California megalopolis: Los Angeles, Burbank, Hollywood, and San Diego. Together, these sites form a critical infrastructure for architectural investigations. The school’s undergraduate and graduate programs in architecture and interior architecture train students as entrepreneurs, architect citizens, and cultural builders.

About the Curator

Bilyana Dimitrova was born in Sofia, Bulgaria and immigrated to the US with her parents as a young child. She grew up in NYC and studied Fine Art Photography with Stephen Shore and Larry Fink at Bard College, NY. She is the former photo editor of Metropolis magazine and the author of To Each His Home, published by Princeton Architectural Press. She has received commissions as an architectural photographer since 2002 and her photography has been published in books and magazines worldwide, such as: Architectural Record, Architectural Digest, The Architect’s Newspaper, Interni, Interior Design, Metropolis, New York Magazine,and The New York Times among others. Her writing on architectural photography has been published in the International Interior Design Association’s Perspective magazine and she has been a guest-lecturer at The Savannah School of Design, Kansas State University and The New School.
About The Julius Shulman Institute

Photographer Julius Shulman established The Julius Shulman Institute in 1995 with the goal of promoting an appreciation and understanding of the built environment, particularly as mediated by photography. This mission is carried out through public programming, educational outreach, and research opportunities. Focused on Shulman’s enduring involvement in the principles of modernism, the JSI is informed by Shulman’s sense of the social responsibility of the designer and imbued by his passion for teaching. The Institute sponsors exhibitions, lectures, seminars, tours, and educational workshops for community organizations and schools at all levels.

About Woodbury University

Founded in 1884, Woodbury University is one of the oldest institutions of higher education in Southern California. Woodbury offers bachelor’s degrees from the School of Architecture, School of Business, School of Media, Culture & Design, and Institute of Transdisciplinary Studies, along with an MBA program, Master of Architecture (MArch), Master of Science in Architecture (MSArch), and Master of Organizational Leadership. A San Diego campus offers bachelor of architecture, Master of Real Estate Development for Architects (MRED), and Master of Science in Architecture, Landscape, and Urbanism degrees.  Visit www.woodbury.edu for more information.

Woodbury University Hollywood Gallery (WUHO)

WUHO is Woodbury University School of Architecture’s center for experimental exhibitions and multi-disciplinary collaborations. The gallery is shared with the Los Angeles Forum for Architecture and Urban Design. Located on the iconic Hollywood Walk-of-Fame, WUHO is a gallery, event space, and lecture venue.

WUHO Gallery
6518 Hollywood Blvd
Los Angeles, Calif.  90028
Located between Wilcox Ave. and Schrader Blvd.
Hollywood & Highland nearest metro stop
Gallery Hours:
Thursday + Friday: 1 p.m. to 8 p.m.
Saturday + Sunday: 1 p.m. to 6 p.m.

For exhibition updates and news, visit:
www.beyondtheassignment.com

BilyanaBilyana Dimitrova:Image credit: © Bilyana Dimitrova; Image Caption: Fisher Center at Bard College by Gehry Partners. Shot in Annandale-on-Hudson, New York, 2003.

Joe_FletcherJoe Fletcher: Image Credit: © Joe Fletcher; Image Caption: Encanto Hotel by Miguel Àngel Aragonés Architect. Shot in Acapulco, Mexico, 2010.

TimothyTimothy Hursley: Image Credit: © Timothy Hursley; Image Caption: Alberta and Shepard Bryant pictured in Hay Bale House by Rural Studio. Shot in Masons Bend, Alabama 2000.

AlanAlan Karchmer: Image Credit: ©Alan Karchmer; Image Caption: Ben Gurion International Airport by Moshe Safdie & Associates Architects. Tel Aviv, Israel 2004.

Jon_MillerJon Miller: Image Credit: Jon Miller © Hedrich Blessing; Image Caption: WilmerHale by Lehman Smith McLeish, Washington DC 2007

UndineUndine Pröhl: Image Credit: © Undine Pröhl; Image Caption: Charles Deaton house by Charles Deaton Architect. Shot on Genessee Mountain, Colorado 2001.

Lara.1Lara Swimmer: Image Credit: © Lara Swimmer; Image Caption: Experience Music Project by Gehry Partners. Shot for Vulcan, Inc. in Seattle, Washington, 1999.

Tim_Tim Street-Porter: Image Credit: © Tim Street-Porter; Image Caption: Dennis Hopper Residence, shot for House & Garden magazine. Venice, CA 1995.

PaulPaul Warchol:
Image Credit: © Paul Warchol; Image Caption: Newly excavated tombs at Giza. Shot for Condé Nast Traveler in Egypt, 1990.

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