Jen Bekman Gallery is pleased to present Hey, Hot Shot! 2009 First Edition, an exhibition featuring eighteen works from five photographers: Michelle Arcila, Daniel Cheek, Mike Sinclair, Parsley Steinweiss and Kurt Tong.

The gallery will hold an opening reception on Wednesday, September 9, 2009 from 6:00 – 8:00 p.m. The show will be on view Thursday, September 10 through Saturday, September 19, 2009 at Jen Bekman Gallery, 6 Spring Street, New York, New York.

With work ranging from conceptual to documentary, Hey, Hot Shot! 2009 First Edition presents the full diversity of contemporary photography. Daniel Cheek and Mike Sinclair establish diverging meditations on the American experience while working within rich landscape traditions. Michelle Arcila creates narratives both comforting and melancholy in their familiarity. Parsley Steinweiss’s photographs of stacks of books and magazines represent the type of post-photographic investigation vital to today’s art. And Kurt Tong’s celebrated work from China will be accompanied by a new project made in Labrador, one of the most isolated places in the world.

The photographers in this exhibitions were selected from hundreds of submissions to Hey, Hot Shot!, the premier international photography competition. Twice a year, a distinguished panel of arts professionals chooses five artists for their unique contributions to photography and awards them with a group show at Jen Bekman Gallery. Since its inception five years ago, Hey, Hot Shot! has debuted over a hundred photographers, receiving critical acclaim from The New York Times, The New Yorker, Aperture, Art in America, PDN, and The Village Voice.

Gallery and Hey, Hot Shot! founder Jen Bekman says of this showcase:

“As Jen Bekman Projects grows and evolves, Hey, Hot Shot! plays an increasingly important role, affording us the opportunity not only to review work from ambitious photographers all over the world, but also the privilege of working with the best and brightest artists out there. This latest exhibition illustrates the uncompromising talent of the photographers and the diversity of their subjects and approaches, which have come to define Hot Shots past, present and future.”