WINTER 2016 JUDGES 

CHARLOTTE COTTON  Independent Curator and Writer

Charlotte Cotton is an independent curator and writer.  She is currently curator in residence at the International Center of Photography, NY and the Metabolic Studio, LA.  She has held positions including curator of photographs at the Victoria and Albert Museum, head of programming at The Photographers’ Gallery, London, and head of the Wallis Annenberg Department of Photography at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art.  She is the author of ‘The Photograph as Contemporary Art’.  Her most recent exhibition was ‘Public, Private, Secret’, which opened the ICP’s new 250 Bowery exhibition and event space in June 2016. Her most recent book, ‘Photography is Magic’ (2015) surveys the practices of eighty-five contemporary artists that are reshaping the idea of photography.

NICHOLAS FAHEY   Curator, Fahey/Klein Gallery, Publisher Glitterati Magazine, Photographer

Nicholas Fahey is a Los Angeles native whose roots are deep in the area's fine art photography community. Fahey grew up in the Fahey/Klein Gallery participating in installations while watching the fine art careers of photographers like Herb Ritts and Bruce Weber mature as artists before his young eyes. While continuing to work in fine art photography galleries producing exhibitions throughout the coast of California he completed a degree in photography. He then returned to LA where he quickly received work shooting for magazines, catalogs and other clients. He has also done photographic work for such prestigious organizations as Parson's, where his original photographic style was used to document their charity work all throughout greater Los Angeles. His work has been exhibited at fine art organizations in New York City, Los Angeles, and San Francisco. 

Fahey also spent several years traveling the Arctic with photographer Howard Ruby documenting the plight of the polar bear. In 2007 Nicholas and Andrea Bell founded Glitterati Media Inc. He now spends his time creating living photography, curating contemporary exhibitions for the Fahey/Klein gallery and publishing Glitterati Magazine while developing his photographic portfolio He looks forward to participating in the creation of visual content and helping to advance the future of media. 

WENDY POSNER   Posner Fine Art , contemporary fine art consultant

Wendy Posner is an influential contemporary fine art consultant in the Los Angeles. She is the owner of Posner Fine Art, a full-service international art enterprise that focuses on acquisitions, commissions, curation and installation of art collections for both private and corporate clients.

Posner was born and raised near Milwaukee, Wisconsin, where her mother Judith started the historically important Posner Art Gallery in 1960. Wendy grew up in the art business, surrounded by modern and contemporary art, ethnic artifacts, and vintage collectibles, and she socialized with artists, museum curators, gallerists and collectors. After graduating from Boston University she relocated to Los Angeles, her current home, and has been dealing art for more than 25 years.

PAST FOCUS photo l.a. JUDGES

EVA CHIMENTO  Chimento Contemporary, Los Angeles

Eva Chimento opened Chimento Contemporary in the fall of 2015.  After working as an arts professional in Los Angeles for the last 24 years, she wanted to exhibit to a range of artists concentrating on established and mid-career artist who live and work in Los Angeles.

SOO KIM  Photographer, Program Director of Photography

Soo Kim’s work has been the subject of solo exhibitions at Angles Gallery, Los Angeles; Sandroni Rey Gallery, Los Angeles; Julie Saul Gallery, New York; The Pasadena Museum of California Art; and the Pomona College Museum of Art.

Her work has been included in exhibitions at the Getty Center, Los Angeles; The 2002 Gwangju Biennale, Korea; Weatherspoon Art Museum, North Carolina; the Orange County Museum of Art, Newport Beach; Art Sonje, Korea; Islip Art Museum, New York; the Museum of Photographic Arts, San Diego; Susan Hobbs Gallery, Toronto; Frances Lehman Loeb Art Center at Vassar College, New York; Seoul Museum of Art, Korea; and the Honolulu Museum of Art.

Kim’s work is in the public collections of The J. Paul Getty Museum, The Broad Foundation, The Albright-Knox Art Gallery, the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Museum of Photographic Arts, San Diego, North Carolina Museum of Art, and The Escalette Collection of Art, Chapman University.

Currently she is Professor and Program Director of Photography, and heads the Critic-in-Residence program at Otis College of Art and Design in Los Angeles. 

JOANNA SZUPINSKA - MYERS   Curator of Exhibitions at the California Museum of Photography

Joanna Szupinska-Myers is Curator of Exhibitions at the California Museum of Photography, part of UCR ARTSblock in Riverside, since January 2013. Previously she was Marjorie Susman Curatorial Fellow at the Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago in 2011-12. She earned her MA in Curatorial Practice at California College of the Arts, San Francisco, and her BA in Art at University of California, Los Angeles.

JUSTIN FISET  Art Photography Advisor
Justin Fiset has worked for nearly a decade advising on and managing photography collections in the Los Angeles area.  His photography has been shown and published internationally.

SARAH LEE  Art Photography Dealer
Sarah Lee ran "Sarah Lee Artworks & Projects" gallery at Bergamot  Station specializing Japanese and Korean photography for 14 years. She now is a private dealer and consultant.

EVE SCHILLO  Curatorial Assistant, Wallis Annenberg Photography Dept, LACMA
Eve Schillo has worked on numerous exhibitions in her 15+ years with LACMA, ranging from Cuban photography after the revolution, multi-media work by author/artist William S. Burroughs, a self-portraiture series culled from the Irmas Collection, and still and moving imagery by California-based Katy Grannan and Charlie White.  More current exhibitions she contributed to, along with their accompanying catalogues, include Larry Sultan: Here & Home, John Divola: As Far As I Could Get and See the Light–Photography, Perception, Cognition: The Marjorie and Leonard Vernon Collection. She continues to curate exhibits highlighting the permanent collection for multi-media galleries dedicated to American, Latin American, Modern, Contemporary and Japanese Art, spanning photographic history.  Recent exhibitions beyond LACMA include Road Trip: Photography of the American West, an exchange between sister cities Los Angeles and Bordeaux.

SHANA NYS DAMBROT  Art Critic, Author
Shana Nys Dambrot is an art critic, curator, and author based in Los Angeles. She is currently LA Editor for Whitehot Magazine, Arts Editor for Vs. Magazine, Contributing Editor to Art Ltd., and a contributor to the LA Weekly, Flaunt, Huffington Post, Palm Springs Life, and KCET’s Artbound. She studied Art History at Vassar College, writes loads of essays for art books and exhibition catalogs, curates one or two exhibitions each year, recently published her first work of short fiction, exhibits photography, and speaks in public with alarming frequency. An account of her activities is sometimes updated at sndx.net.

CAT JIMENEZ  Executive Director of the Lucie Foundation
Cat Jimenez is the Executive Director of the Lucie Foundation, a position she has held since 2005. The Lucie Foundation's mission is three tiered: to honor master photographers; to discover and cultivate emerging talent; and to promote the appreciation of photography through various programs, which Jimenez has spearheaded during her tenure. Cat Jimenez is also the founder of Edition One Hundred, an online art gallery providing beautifully packaged and produced art and photography at prices within reach. 

HANNAH SLOAN  Gallerist
Hannah Sloan started SLOAN PROJECTS in 2015. Before this new venture, she was a director at ROSEGALLERY for over 10 years - an internationally renowned gallery of photography and works on paper. In addition to advising private collectors and museums Hannah independently funds and curates ambitious art installations and is the chief curator and exhibition coordinator for the Motion Picture & Television Fund. SLOAN PROJECTS will combine Hannah's expertise in the art market with her love for installation and innovative display through highly focused, thematic exhibitions and a personalized approach to art advising.