Exploring the space between personal and cultural histories

Transparent Studio at Bose Pacia is hosting Daniel Ballesteros as the artist-in-residence. The artist will utilize the space as a nontraditional portrait studio, open to the public, while also setting up his mobile darkroom in various locations in the DUMBO area.

Ballesteros explores the space between personal and cultural histories and the influence it has over the present by interacting with residents and documenting the DUMBO landscape using a wet plate collodion process, a press release states.

It adds, “Through this alternative photography process, Ballesteros will produce portraits and images on glass plates in his portable darkroom lending a performative aspect to his method. The public is invited to attend a demonstration of the artist’s wet plate collodion process on 13th December.This project is sponsored, in part, by Lund Photographics, ArtCraft Chemicals and Bostick and Sullivan.”

Launched in January 2012, Transparent Studio is an artist residency program founded by Bose Pacia. Emerging and mid career artists are chosen for the studio program through a submissions process based on project proposal and artistic merit. Residents are provided with a studio in the main gallery space for a 1-3 month period. By turning the transitional gallery space into temporary artist studios on the street-level in an active arts neighborhood, we are hoping to allow for an atmosphere of engagement and conversation around the creative process. During the residency, the public is invited to interact with the artist throughout their creative process allowing exchange and collaborative relationships.

Born in Springfield, Illinois in 1980, Ballesteros received his MFA from the University of Connecticut and his BA from Webster University in Saint Louis, MO. His work has been exhibited in New York, Chicago, Santa Fe, Saint Louis, Las Vegas, and several academic institutions. He is the recipient of a grant from the National Endowment for the Arts, and was selected to be part of Magenta Foundation’s Flash Forward 2012: Emerging Photographers as well as En Foco’s New Works in Photography awards. He lives and works in Brooklyn, NY.