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Sun February 28, 2016

Self & Others

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RayKo Photo Center is proud to feature the latest exhibition of Aline Smithson’s work from her recent monograph, opening Thursday, January 21st, 6-8pm in San Francisco. Self & Others: Portrait as Autobiography (Magenta Foundation) is an almost 20 year culmination of portrait photographs by the award-winning photographer Aline Smithson, who lives and works in Los Angeles, where she was born and raised near Hollywood and Vine. A leading force in the international photography community, she is highly respected as a prolific artist as well as a curator, educator, and founder and editor of the acclaimed photo blog LENSCRATCH. Smithson’s much anticipated first major monograph Self & Others presents eighteen bodies of work and over 120 photographs that focus on themes such as the poignancy and innocence of childhood, the pathos of aging and relationships, adolescence, beauty, and nostalgia.

Smithson’s photographs reflect her sense of humor and humanity, her love of Hollywood movies and movie stars, fashion, culture from popular to highbrow, and storytelling. Her work, especially her color images, is informed by her background as a painter, and her many years as a fashion editor in New York City working alongside the greats of fashion photography.

Self & Others begins with Smithson’s early black and white photographs of her family, including portraits of her daughter Charlotte who would remain the artist’s muse and photographic partner for fifteen years. Many of the images were taken during summer vacations on a lake south of Boston that Smithson describes as “a magical corner of the world that I pack in my heart each time I leave. It is my paradise.” During this period Smithson was experimenting with composition, light and subject to create series that include “Paradise,” “Regarding Henry” (portraits of Smithson’s son), “Daughter” and “Inside Out,” featuring a poignant capture of childhood and charged, sometimes unsettling portraits of friends and family wearing masks.


The book and exhibition continue with Smithson’s hand painted portraits that include her defining series Arrangement in Green and Black: Portraits of the Photographer’s Mother that combines humor and family to create a universal expression of motherhood. The series shows Smithson’s 85-year-old mother seated in profile—an homage to the famous Whistler painting of his mother—dressed as Elvis, a convict with ball and chain, an animal trainer, a bather, a Geisha, a participant in The Last Supper, a clown, among other notable ensembles. In the hand painted series, Recreating History, Smithson constructs meticulously detailed 19th century tableaus inspired by life histories experienced in another era. Smithson is particularly drawn to Japanese postcards made at the turn of the 20th century that depict women adorned in colorful gown and kimonos and holding umbrella to shield them from the sun.



The book is completed by Smithson’s most recent work, color projects that include Hollywood at Home, an homage to the staged photographs of the 1940’s and ‘50s of Hollywood movie stars at play and at home. Smithson’s series spotlights her own family and friends who she transforms into glamorous movie actors, dressing them in found-vintage clothing. In Spring Fever, she creates floral backdrops of vibrant colors in front of which she places seven-year-old girls who are wearing perfectly coordinated clothing and jewelry, and spring floral hats. These images examine the physical and emotional connections of girls as they move into adulthood. In Revisiting Beauty, Smithson captures girls between the ages of 14 and 17 on the cusp of womanhood not yet fully aware of their own loveliness and physical presence. This work is inspired by portrait paintings from the eighteenth to the twentieth century, and the artist’s own background in as a painter.

At the heart of Smithson’s work is her ability to recognize the inner self of her subjects. She considers all her portraits a reflection of herself and the stories she wants to tell, and in that way, she has created a visual language that is her own unique autobiography.
In her foreword, Karen Sinsheimer, curator of photography at the Santa Barbara Museum of Art writes that Smithson’s portraits “seem to break new ground through her ability to bring the viewer along. Part of the impetus behind her portraiture is the attempt to explore and reveal her own life: the memories of family and friends; influences in those fragile growing-up years—the various moments, large and small; and most of all, the loves and losses that each human being experiences along the way … Unlike many photographers who roam the planet in search of or inventing subject matter, each of Smithson’s series references a piece of her autobiography and draws upon every aspect of her past experience.”

Aline Smithson writes, “For me, making portraits is a collaborative process where the experience becomes a two-way gaze when both the subject and I reveal ourselves to each other … For the most part, I create work close to home, using subjects that are family, friends, neighbors, and friends of friends. That familiarity with place and person allows for an intimacy and camaraderie, where my sitters trust in my desire to present them with dignity or with humor, but always in a way that celebrate who they are.”



Self & Others also includes texts by Aline Smithson and an introduction by Paula Tognarelli, Executive Director and Curator, Griffin Museum of Photography.

About Aline Smithson-- After a career as a fashion editor in New York City, Aline Smithson discovered the family Rolleiflex and never looked back. An artist now represented by galleries in the U.S. and Europe and published throughout the world, Smithson continues to create her award-winning photography with humor, compassion, and a 50-year-old camera. She has exhibited widely, including solo shows at the Griffin Museum of Photography, the Center of Fine Art Photography, the Fort Collins Museum of Contemporary Art, the Lishui Festival in China, the Tagomago Gallery in Barcelona and Paris, and the Wallspace Gallery in Seattle and Santa Barbara. In addition, her work is held in a number of museum collections. Her photographs have been featured in publications including PDN (cover), the PDN Photo Annual, The New York Times, Communication Arts Photo Annual, Eyemazing, Visura, Fraction, Artworks, Lenswork Extended, Shots, and Silvershotz magazines, among others.
In 2012, Smithson received the Rising Star Award through the Griffin Museum of Photography for her contributions to the photographic community. She also was presented with the 2014 Excellence in Teaching Award from CENTER. In 2014, her photographs were selected for the Critical Mass Top 50, the PDN Photo Annual, and Review Santa Fe.Smithson founded and writes the blogzine, LENSCRATCH that celebrates a different contemporary photographer each day and offers opportunity for exhibition. She is also a regular contributor to other magazines, and has provided the forwards for numerous artist’s books. Smithson was an overall juror in 2012 for Review Santa Fe, a juror for Critical Mass from 2009-2015, a juror and curator for Flash Forward, and is a reviewer at many photo festivals across the United States. She is also a founding member of the Six Shooters collective.

About the Publisher: Established in 2004, The Magenta Foundation is Canada’s pioneering non-profit, charitable arts publishing house. Magenta was created to organize promotional opportunities for artists, in an international context, through circulated exhibitions and publications. Projects mounted by Magenta are supported by credible international media coverage and critical reviews in all mainstream-media formats (radio, television and print). Magenta works with respected individuals and international organizations to help increase recognition for artists while uniting the global photography community.
Book Details:

Hardcover, 11" × 12"

208 pages with foldout section

45 B&W photographs and 60 color photographs

List Price: $60


For jpegs or more information, please contact:

Artist media contact: Andrea Smith / Email: [email protected] / Cell: +1-646-220-5950

RayKo Photo Center contact: Ann Jastrab, Gallery Director: [email protected] / 415-495-3773
RayKo Photo Center is proud to feature the latest exhibition of Aline Smithson’s work from her recent monograph, opening Thursday, January 21st, 6-8pm in San Francisco. Self & Others: Portrait as Autobiography (Magenta Foundation) is an almost 20 year culmination of portrait photographs by the award-winning photographer Aline Smithson, who lives and works in Los Angeles, where she was born and raised near Hollywood and Vine. A leading force in the international photography community, she is highly respected as a prolific artist as well as a curator, educator, and founder and editor of the acclaimed photo blog LENSCRATCH. Smithson’s much anticipated first major monograph Self & Others presents eighteen bodies of work and over 120 photographs that focus on themes such as the poignancy and innocence of childhood, the pathos of aging and relationships, adolescence, beauty, and nostalgia.

Smithson’s photographs reflect her sense of humor and humanity, her love of Hollywood movies and movie stars, fashion, culture from popular to highbrow, and storytelling. Her work, especially her color images, is informed by her background as a painter, and her many years as a fashion editor in New York City working alongside the greats of fashion photography.

Self & Others begins with Smithson’s early black and white photographs of her family, including portraits of her daughter Charlotte who would remain the artist’s muse and photographic partner for fifteen years. Many of the images were taken during summer vacations on a lake south of Boston that Smithson describes as “a magical corner of the world that I pack in my heart each time I leave. It is my paradise.” During this period Smithson was experimenting with composition, light and subject to create series that include “Paradise,” “Regarding Henry” (portraits of Smithson’s son), “Daughter” and “Inside Out,” featuring a poignant capture of childhood and charged, sometimes unsettling portraits of friends and family wearing masks.


The book and exhibition continue with Smithson’s hand painted portraits that include her defining series Arrangement in Green and Black: Portraits of the Photographer’s Mother that combines humor and family to create a universal expression of motherhood. The series shows Smithson’s 85-year-old mother seated in profile—an homage to the famous Whistler painting of his mother—dressed as Elvis, a convict with ball and chain, an animal trainer, a bather, a Geisha, a participant in The Last Supper, a clown, among other notable ensembles. In the hand painted series, Recreating History, Smithson constructs meticulously detailed 19th century tableaus inspired by life histories experienced in another era. Smithson is particularly drawn to Japanese postcards made at the turn of the 20th century that depict women adorned in colorful gown and kimonos and holding umbrella to shield them from the sun.



The book is completed by Smithson’s most recent work, color projects that include Hollywood at Home, an homage to the staged photographs of the 1940’s and ‘50s of Hollywood movie stars at play and at home. Smithson’s series spotlights her own family and friends who she transforms into glamorous movie actors, dressing them in found-vintage clothing. In Spring Fever, she creates floral backdrops of vibrant colors in front of which she places seven-year-old girls who are wearing perfectly coordinated clothing and jewelry, and spring floral hats. These images examine the physical and emotional connections of girls as they move into adulthood. In Revisiting Beauty, Smithson captures girls between the ages of 14 and 17 on the cusp of womanhood not yet fully aware of their own loveliness and physical presence. This work is inspired by portrait paintings from the eighteenth to the twentieth century, and the artist’s own background in as a painter.

At the heart of Smithson’s work is her ability to recognize the inner self of her subjects. She considers all her portraits a reflection of herself and the stories she wants to tell, and in that way, she has created a visual language that is her own unique autobiography.
In her foreword, Karen Sinsheimer, curator of photography at the Santa Barbara Museum of Art writes that Smithson’s portraits “seem to break new ground through her ability to bring the viewer along. Part of the impetus behind her portraiture is the attempt to explore and reveal her own life: the memories of family and friends; influences in those fragile growing-up years—the various moments, large and small; and most of all, the loves and losses that each human being experiences along the way … Unlike many photographers who roam the planet in search of or inventing subject matter, each of Smithson’s series references a piece of her autobiography and draws upon every aspect of her past experience.”

Aline Smithson writes, “For me, making portraits is a collaborative process where the experience becomes a two-way gaze when both the subject and I reveal ourselves to each other … For the most part, I create work close to home, using subjects that are family, friends, neighbors, and friends of friends. That familiarity with place and person allows for an intimacy and camaraderie, where my sitters trust in my desire to present them with dignity or with humor, but always in a way that celebrate who they are.”



Self & Others also includes texts by Aline Smithson and an introduction by Paula Tognarelli, Executive Director and Curator, Griffin Museum of Photography.

About Aline Smithson-- After a career as a fashion editor in New York City, Aline Smithson discovered the family Rolleiflex and never looked back. An artist now represented by galleries in the U.S. and Europe and published throughout the world, Smithson continues to create her award-winning photography with humor, compassion, and a 50-year-old camera. She has exhibited widely, including solo shows at the Griffin Museum of Photography, the Center of Fine Art Photography, the Fort Collins Museum of Contemporary Art, the Lishui Festival in China, the Tagomago Gallery in Barcelona and Paris, and the Wallspace Gallery in Seattle and Santa Barbara. In addition, her work is held in a number of museum collections. Her photographs have been featured in publications including PDN (cover), the PDN Photo Annual, The New York Times, Communication Arts Photo Annual, Eyemazing, Visura, Fraction, Artworks, Lenswork Extended, Shots, and Silvershotz magazines, among others.
In 2012, Smithson received the Rising Star Award through the Griffin Museum of Photography for her contributions to the photographic community. She also was presented with the 2014 Excellence in Teaching Award from CENTER. In 2014, her photographs were selected for the Critical Mass Top 50, the PDN Photo Annual, and Review Santa Fe.Smithson founded and writes the blogzine, LENSCRATCH that celebrates a different contemporary photographer each day and offers opportunity for exhibition. She is also a regular contributor to other magazines, and has provided the forwards for numerous artist’s books. Smithson was an overall juror in 2012 for Review Santa Fe, a juror for Critical Mass from 2009-2015, a juror and curator for Flash Forward, and is a reviewer at many photo festivals across the United States. She is also a founding member of the Six Shooters collective.

About the Publisher: Established in 2004, The Magenta Foundation is Canada’s pioneering non-profit, charitable arts publishing house. Magenta was created to organize promotional opportunities for artists, in an international context, through circulated exhibitions and publications. Projects mounted by Magenta are supported by credible international media coverage and critical reviews in all mainstream-media formats (radio, television and print). Magenta works with respected individuals and international organizations to help increase recognition for artists while uniting the global photography community.
Book Details:

Hardcover, 11" × 12"

208 pages with foldout section

45 B&W photographs and 60 color photographs

List Price: $60


For jpegs or more information, please contact:

Artist media contact: Andrea Smith / Email: [email protected] / Cell: +1-646-220-5950

RayKo Photo Center contact: Ann Jastrab, Gallery Director: [email protected] / 415-495-3773
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