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Kelly Akashi
Joe Biel
Jeff Cain
Penelope Davis
Lauren Hartman
Carry Kim
Mare Milin
Michael Sakamoto
Linda Carmella Sibio
Hannah Sim
Daniel & Elizabeth Wild

Curated by Michael Sakamoto

November 4 - December 22, 2006
ArtNight Reception event: Saturday, November 4, 6:00 - 8:30pm
1639 18th Street, Santa Monica

18th Street Arts Center presents 18th Street Arts Center presents “20/20,” an exhibition of new Polaroid portraits curated by Michael Sakamoto, November 4 – December 22, 2006, at 18th Street Arts Center, 1639 18th Street, Santa Monica, just north of Olympic Boulevard. The opening reception is Saturday, November 4, 6-8:30 as part of ArtNight at 18th Street, a free open house event with performances, gallery exhibits, and artist open studios.

“20/20” brings together photographers, visual artists, performance artists, and a small child to explore the highly personal and idiosyncratic nature of Polaroid instant integral photography through a special portraits project. Participants were paired up, asked each other 20 questions, and took 20 photographs of each other based on the answers. By utilizing instant integral film formats, the participants concentrate less on photographic technique or digital manipulation and more on the nature of the moment, the object, and the presence (or absence) of the subject. Based on the game of Twenty Questions, “20/20” examines an ephemeral nexus between issues of portraiture, object-based image making, and verbal communication, filtered through a variety of interpersonal relations.

Michael Sakamoto (Curator): “In the digital age, where the single, original photo image and print have practically ceased to exist in mainstream practice, Polaroid instant integral formats are one of the last bastions of a direct link between personal expression and pure object-making in photography.”

18th Street programs are supported by the James Irvine Foundation, California Community Foundation, Trust for Mutual Understanding, National Endowmwnt for the Arts, Santa Monica City Cultural Affairs Division, L.A. County Arts Commission, National Endowment for the Arts, Dana Foundation, J. Paul Getty Grant Program, and others.

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