December 11th 2009 – February 5th 2010

The opening of HotShoe Gallery earlier this autumn, in times best characterised as uncertain, celebrates our confidence in contemporary fine art photography. The perceived market slowdown has done nothing to stop the abundant creativity in London and elsewhere, nor take away the need for bold venues to show this off.

The Gallery Director has taken a novel approach to running the Gallery, choosing to collaborate with a range of Associate Curators to show fresh and inspiring talent. Not to say that HotShoe Gallery will ignore more established artists; this show sees work by Rut Blees Luxemburg, Karen Knorr, Melanie Manchot and Clare Strand in addition to emerging artist Anna Linderstam, winner of Hasselblad’s 2007 Victor Fellowship. These five female artists have shown their work extensively in the UK and abroad and accumulated meters of press praise. We are extremely proud to be able to present their work under one roof for the first time.

A sensitivity to and consideration for ones’ space is evident in all the works in this show. Clare Strand and Rut Blees Luxemburg both have an outspoken interest in locations and events specific to London and its history, and look at the relationship between humans and the space they inhabit. Melanie Manchot and Anna Linderstam investigate human interaction and notions of changing identity. Karen Knorr’s work, created in locations with both art-historical and architectural significance (Le Corbusier’s Villa Sayove or the Louvre for example), can be read as commentary on the politics of the museum space with references to well-known fables, classical greek sculpture or the paintings of Goya. Marthe Fjellestad, Curator

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The Gallery Director has written more extensively on the photographs of both Karen Knorr (issue 159) and Rut Blees Luxemburg (issue 163) in HotShoe Magazine, which is for sale in the gallery, a number of book stores in London and New York, and through subscription via the website.