Gomma Photography Grant 2018
Down by the Hudson
Photographer
Caleb Stein
Down by the Hudson
04 Feb, 2022
'Down by the Hudson' is a two-year project on Poughkeepsie, a small town in upstate NY. It's an exploration of the city's struggling, character-filled Main Street that with time led me to an Edenic watering hole on the outskirts of town by a drive-in movie theater. I’ve become fascinated by America, by how my initial conceptions of it can be altered and complicated through photographing, talking and walking. The more I photograph, the more I realize that small towns hold so many of the symbols of what it means to be an American.
About the photographer
Caleb Stein
Caleb Stein (b. 1994, UK) is a U.S.-based artist. He graduated from Vassar College in 2017 with a degree in art history. His work explores the fragility of memory through an embrace of community and the dynamic, energetic interactions that occur within it. Questions surrounding mythology and narrative as they relate to the United States and the international influence it exerts sit at the core of much of Stein’s work, as he grapples with his relationship to the country that has become his adopted home. Stein often works as an artist duo with Andrea Orejarena to explore these concerns together. Stein’s work has been exhibited internationally, including the Palm* Photo Prize at Photo London, Red Hook Labs in New York, Photo Vogue Festival in Milan, Pole Gallery in Lago di Garda, Vincom Center for Contemporary Art in Hanoi, Vin Gallery in Ho Chi Minh City, Rose Gallery in LA, Carmel Center for Photographic Art in California, and Broken Screen Festival in Buenos Aires. Awards include a nomination for the 2019 Burn Emerging Photographer Fund, a nomination for the 2020 W. Eugene Smith Grant (jurors include Teju Cole), selected by Legacy Russel (chief curator at the Kitchen) in a LensCulture open call, and a nomination for the 2021 Foam (Fotografie Museum Amsterdam) talent Long List. Orejarena & Stein were also selected as a Juror’s Choice in the prestigious Hariban/Benrido Prize, Kyoto by Yasufumi Nakamori (Senior Curator, Tate Modern) for their work ‘Long Time No See’. Nakamori will write a text dedicated to this body of work, to be published in the award’s catalogue in the spring of 2022. Most recently, Orejarena & Stein won Photolucida’s Michael Reichmann Grant for their work ‘Long Time No See’.Stein’s work has been published in The New York Times, The Guardian, i-D Vice, Vogue Italia, Dazed, WePresent, LensCulture, It’s Nice That, Der Grief, Hamburger Eyes, and Paper Journal Magazine, among other places.Stein has given artist talks for Sotheby’s Institute of Art, Christie’s Education, the International Center of Photography (ICP), UCL, Philadelphia Photo Arts Center, and Daisie App. His critical writing has appeared in catalogues for the Frances Lehman Loeb Museum of Art, New York.Orejarena & Stein’s, ‘Long Time No See’ will be published by Jiazazhi Press (forthcoming), with texts by Forensic Architecture and Äá»— TÆ°á»ng Linh, designed by Brian Paul Lamotte. His work is a part of several private collections including the Ann Tenenbaum and Thomas H. Lee Collection. His work is also included in the permanent collection of the Frances Lehman Loeb Art Museum in New York and the Nguyen Art Foundation in Vietnam.Stein’s work is available through The Curator’s Room in Amsterdam, Vin Gallery in Ho Chi Minh City, and Rose Gallery in LA.
