Tomasz Lazar, photo courtesy of Tomasz Lazar
The publishing giant announces its pick of eight up-and-coming international artists with a creative and innovative vision for the medium, with Poland's 2012 World Press Photo winner among the winners
Tomasz Lazar has remained in the spotlight, ever since his 2012 World Press Photo win for the black-and-white series of photographs documenting the Occupy Wall Street protests. At age 27, his career has begun to take off. He has been named among the eight winners in the third Hearst Photography Biennial, singled out from more than 1,600 entries from all over the world. The jury was made up of eight experts in the field of photography, including Roberta Myers, editor in chief of ELLE magazine, Alexandra Kotur, creative director at Town & Country magazine, photographers Matthew Pillsbury and Timothy White, and gallery directors Yancey Richardson, James Danzinger and Yossi Milo.
"Great photography is essential to what we do at Hearst", said CEO Frank A. Bennack, Jr., "and over the years we’ve published the work of legendary artists, from Richard Avedon and Lillian Bassman to William Klein and Mary Ellen Mark". In his statement to the press at the announcement of the winners, Bennack said "I’m delighted to recognize these emerging photographers—it will be wonderful to see where their art takes them".
Lazar's winning photographs come from the Theatre of Life series, which applies Plato's concept of the Theatre of the World to the contemporary experience of society under the influence of mass media. The photographs depict people in major cities around the world - New York City, Berlin, Warsaw - all of them captured in uncanny, even absurd moments. Here reality blends in with the fiction of popular culture, creating a rather morose vision of society. There is mystery and poetry in Lazar's photographs, verging on a brink between documentary and reportage photography.
Ernst Haas spoke of photographs that "the less information, the more allusion; the less prose, the more poetry", which works to "stimulate the imagination". This poetic aspect is perhaps what many press publishers find to be an obstacle as Lazar's work is not so widely published - yet paradoxically he is a consistent winner of photography competitions. As Lazar says,
Some people take issue with my style of processing photos and the high contrast, which can be at odds with the newspaper style. This sort of photography is said to lose its quality in newsprint. Yet the press is changing. Many titles are moving to the Internet. And I'm not so concerned with appearing in the press. I'd prefer to earn a living on commercial projects and fund my own personal projects. I like this freedom.
The Hearst 8 X 10 Photography Biennial was launched in 2009, open to U.S. and international freelance, amateur and professional photographers and students, ages 18 to 35. There were eight winners named, along with ten honorable mentions. A showcase of these works opens at the Hearst Tower at its Alexey Brodovitch Gallery and at the Hearst Gallery in New York, on show between the 2nd of April - 31st of August 2013. A catalogue of the winning works will also be published in print and digital editions.
Upon hearing the news of his win, Lazar expressed his joy in an interview with Culture.pl, "This is a great honour for me. A great number of curators, gallery owners and photo editors from all over America will visit the gallery on the day of the exhibition opening. This is an award that will continue to grow in value".
2013 Hearst Photography Biennial Award Recipients
- Laura Morton, Calif.
- Michael Massaia, N.J.
- Jordan Baumgarten, Penn.
- Karen Miranda, N.Y.
- Tomasz Lazar, Poland
- Al Palmer, U.K.
Author: Kinga Kenig. Translated (with edits) by: Agnieszka Le Nart