Exhibition in Berlin

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Three prints from The Unchosen Ones project are exhibited in Berlin, Germany as part of “Portraits Without Borders” group show, Fotogalerie Friedrichshain through Feb 4, 2022. The show brings together 29 artists from Europe, Asia, the Middle East, South America, and North America, selected from 260 applications last fall.

Fotogalerie Friedrichshain doesn’t follow the “pay to play” notion, prevalent in the US photo exhibition scene. They’ve stood the test of time, as they were the first art gallery in former East Germany to focus only on photography. Exhibition opportunities like this are a wonderful opportunity to connect with other artists and see work in a similar vein. Thank you to Claire Ducresson-Boët for the installation photographs.

These pastoral studies feature Carlana, Eric, and Hannah from The Unchosen Ones (pictured left to right).

Star Tribune feature

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“Chins up, heads high, The Unchosen Ones faced the camera again,” wrote Jennifer Brooks in her article, “New book celebrates Minnesota kids who didn't win at the county fair” in the Star Tribune on November 27, 2021. She quoted several of the kids from the project, offering lessons on resillence. Thank you, Jennifer, for spending time sharing the project!

Read Article >>

Kol and Annabell at the 2016 Anoka County Fair. From the upcoming book, “The Unchosen Ones,” by R.J. Kern.

Kol and Annabell at the 2016 Anoka County Fair. From the upcoming book, “The Unchosen Ones,” by R. J. Kern.

19th-century farm portrait awarded IPA 1st Place

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Work created from The Unchosen Ones project in 2020 was awarded 1st place in the Portrait / Lifestyle category by the International Photography Awards, affiliated with the Lucie Foundation, a charitable foundation whose mission is to honor photographers, discover, and cultivate emerging talent and promote the appreciation of photography.

Hannah and her family live on a Century Farm, a farm with continuous ownership by a family for 100 years or more. Nearly 11,000 Minnesota farms have been recognized as Century Farms since 1976, a way to promote agriculture and honor historic family farms in the state.

Hannah, Pastoral Study, 2020, archival pigment print

Hannah, Pastoral Study, 2020, archival pigment print

ACP 2021 "Ones to Watch" Exhibition

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Atlanta celebrates photography! “What We Known: ACP 2021 Ones to Watch,” exhibition at MINT gallery, curated by Mary Stanley in conjunction with the 2021 Atlanta Celebrates Photography Festival. Exhibition runs through November 6, 2021. Works for sale.

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Special thanks to the gregarious, every loving Mary Stanley for the invitation to be apart of this experience.

Concordia College: Visiting Artist Workshop, Exhibition & Artist Talk

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Concordia College invited me recently to be a visiting artist, complete with a series of lighting workshops for undergrad photo students, an exhibition of nine works, and an artist talk. I also made it my “unofficial book reveal” as well as a short documentary series I’ve been working on for the last year. Three participants from The Unchosen Ones project: Kenzi, Rylie, and Louis, stood up with a round of applause during my talk. I was proud to see them in the audience, along with their significant others. I brought the same backdrop and lighting equipment used for the series whiling indulging students in the nuances of how to “hide your main light with your fill” as well as other technicals.

After almost a year in production for the book, this experience offered reason enough for the effort. Special thanks to Chris Mortenson for the invitation and the Faculty of Fine Arts for their support. You make this artist SWOON! Photo credit: Chris Mortenson

The college newspaper, The Concordian, did a nice write-up, thanks to David Lindgren >>

The exhibition was installed in the Gallery Bridge at Concordia College, depicted below at night. Photograph by R. J. Kern.

Critical Mass 2021 Top 50

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I’m honored my work from my project The Unchosen Ones: Portraits of an American Pastoral has been chosen for Critical Mass 2021 Top 50. I appreciate the support of Photolucida and the jurors for this opportunity to share my work. When I began this project in 2015, I never had sights on the critical-acclaim that would follow. I couldn’t have done this alone and appreciate the support from mentors, my gallerists at Burnet Fine Art & Advisory and Olson Larsen Galleries, and the trusting participants from #TheUnchosenOnes project. I want to give a special thank you to Sarah Leen for believing in this project from the beginning, Alison Nordström for writing for the book, Paula Tognarelli for offering my first museum solo at Photolucida, and MW Editions for making the trade book possible (early copies arrive soon!). Ewa Zebrowski thank you for being a lovely writing buddy and Hans Weise for collaboration with the upcoming video documentary.

David, Pastoral Study, 2020

David, Pastoral Study, 2020

110th Minnesota State Fair Fine Arts Exhibition

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I’m honored to have my work awarded an Honorable Mention by Carla Rodriguez, juror of the 110th Minnesota State Fair Fine Arts Exhibition in St. Paul, MN. The show runs through Sept 6. I hope to make it to the fair this weekend to see all the art in the show, the largest juried art exhibition in the state. Scroll to the end to see the winning photograph.

I want to share with you the back story not only of the exhibited photograph, but the project as a whole, and the specific sheep featured in the photograph, Tantor. The story features a poetic ending. First, the backstory.

Josilin and Tantor, 4-H Lamb Lead Show, Minnesota State Fair, 2015.

Josilin and Tantor, 4-H Lamb Lead Show, Minnesota State Fair, 2015.

The Unchosen Ones began with a visit to a quintessentially American event, the state fair. I was in Minnesota, where I live, which still has a strong community of small family farms. My longstanding interest in animals and their connection to humans drew me to the 2015 Minnesota State Fair. For my previous project, Divine Animals: The Bovidae, I photographed goats and sheep in lush landscapes throughout Western Europe. I knew I wanted to continue photographing domesticated animals, but my ideas about a new series were still inchoate. As I was canvassing the fair looking for inspiration, I took in all the carefully tended-to animals and their owners, often young children. After the 4-H Lamb Lead show, I met the fourth-place finishers, Josilin, and her sheep, Tantor. I could see Josilin was disappointed, yet she held her head high. Her determination inspired me, and I made a portrait of them. Photographing the pair spurred me to think about my own childhood and its run-of-the- mill disappointments. I had a supportive family and a fulfilling childhood, yet I still vividly remember being picked last for the basketball team and not earning a ribbon at the local science fair, even though I had tried my best. As I grew older, I knew well the feeling of not being chosen—for a job, or for love. But not being chosen for something can have a valuable upside: it can create empathy. Empathy connects people and forges bonds. Later that year, I included the portrait in a Minnesota State Arts Board grant application, and that act would shape my artistic journey.

I began to look for a certain typology: exemplary youth and animals from a small but geographically diverse area in Minnesota. I chose goats and sheep because they were competition animals that also fit within the constraints of the six-foot-wide backdrop I was using. The formality of the backdrop elevated the subjects and also allowed a story to emerge between the animal and the child. My strobe lights failed to flash during my initial session, so I used the diffuse, ambient light of the overcast skies. This serendipitous accident produced a soft tonality I loved: the light fell onto my dignified subject, rendering shadows as though from a painter’s brush. I was drawn to this aesthetic.

Josilin and Escapé, Benton County Fair, Minnesota, 2016 (left) and Josilin and Tantor, Benton County, Minnesota, 2021 (right).

Josilin and Escapé, Benton County Fair, Minnesota, 2016 (left) and Josilin and Tantor, Benton County, Minnesota, 2021 (right).

In 2016, I made 65 portraits of youth contestants at Minnesota county fairs. Each participant—some as young as four years old— spent a year raising an animal, which they entered into a 4-H livestock competition. None of the youth I photographed succeeded in winning an award, despite the obvious care they have given to their animal.

Four years later, in 2020, I returned to photograph the young subjects, asking them what they carried forward from their previous experience. Some of them have continued to pursue animal husbandry while others developed other interests. We imagine some of these kids will choose to continue running their family farms, an unpredictable and demanding way to make a living.

As I created the second group of photographs, I asked them what were their thoughts, their dreams, and their goals for the future? How do they fit in the future of agricultural America?

Place matters to me, especially since these portraits were not taken in a studio. Using a wide-angle lens, I stepped back to view the pastoral environment, with farm machinery and architecture and the occasional barn kitty or chicken cameo.

In January 2021, while completing the book project (forthcoming MW Editions, November 2021), I felt the urge to photograph. I called up Josilin and checked in on how Tantor was doing. She was aging with grace, I learned. I also was told female sheep with “masculine” names, like Tantor, perform better in livestock competitions.

Honorable Mention, 110th Minnesota State Fair Fine Arts Exhibition, Juror Carla Rodriguez:

Josilin, Pastoral Study, 2021, by R. J. Kern, from the upcoming monograph, The Unchosen Ones: Portraits of an American Pastoral (MW Editions, 2021). Archival pigment print mounted on dibond, 37 x 50 inches, Edition 1 of 3 + AP, 2021, $3600 framed.

Josilin, Pastoral Study, 2021, by R. J. Kern, from the upcoming monograph, The Unchosen Ones: Portraits of an American Pastoral (MW Editions, 2021). Archival pigment print mounted on dibond, 37 x 50 inches, Edition 1 of 3 + AP, 2021, $3600 framed.

Although there is abundant evidence that this way of life is disappearing as kids leave the farm, the crisis of climate change and a concern for both sustainability and stewardship of the land point to a path for survival for these agricultural practices and traditions. I hope county fairs will still be around in a hundred years.

Tantor passed away two weeks after our portrait session.

Tantor, Benton County, Minnesota, 2021 (unpublished)

Tantor, Benton County, Minnesota, 2021 (unpublished)

Life Framer, Editors’ Pick

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A diptych of portraits created on the fairgrounds in Anoka County (Minnesota), were featured as a Editor’s Pick by Life Framer in their most recent online them, Youthhood. View editor’s list here >>

My work straddles multiple genres, not specific to portraiture or landscape, and I love the freedom it gives me as a photographic artist. When it comes to entering contests, I don’t want to be put into a box. I like the Life Framer themes are focused on storytelling with themes open to boundary pushing, not compartmentalization.

While not selected for the big prize, my work was chosen as an “Editors’ Pick” with thoughtful comments, published on their website. Editor’s comment:

Some of us – for many reasons – have to grow up faster than others, and few more so than those working on family farms. Farmland is a wonderful place to explore as a child, but it is also full or responsibility and care, where you can at times witness birth, life and death in quicker succession than normally experienced in an urban setting. There is so much joy and pride in this image, underpinned by a strong selection of tones and shades. I truly feel the confidence of the subject, enjoying their childhood and the duties that accompany it, seemingly unaffected by the past years obstacles.

What makes this pairing unique in the project is it is the only location that remained the same in both 2016 portrait and 2020 portraits. Special permission and access was required to create the 2020 portrait.

Kol and Annabell, Anoka County Fair, Minnesota, 2016 (left) paired with Kol and Annabell, Anoka County, Minnesota, 2020 (right).

Kol and Annabell, Anoka County Fair, Minnesota, 2016 (left) paired with Kol and Annabell, Anoka County, Minnesota, 2020 (right).

Communication Arts Photography Annual 62 {Award of Excellence}

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Years ago in high school photo class, paging through Communication Arts Photography Annual served up a wonderful dose of inspiration, offering creative ideas for my next project. I’m honored that my 2020 project is published in the July / August 2021 issue. Communication Arts magazine, a professional journal for those involved in creativity in visual communications, publishes results in a stunning magazine. Of the 2,328 entries submitted to the 62nd annual photography competition, my entry was one of 109 selected by a jury of respected creative professionals.

My son was as curious about the metal trophies as seeing my work in print.

Kenzi and Hootie, Anoka County, Minnesota, 2020 published in Communication Arts Photography Annual 62.

Kenzi and Hootie, Anoka County, Minnesota, 2020 published in Communication Arts Photography Annual 62.

The Independant Photographer {Portrait Award}

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I’m pleased to share the photograph, Blake and P. T., Hubbard County, Minnesota, 2020, was selected as one of the 15 Editor’s Picks for The Independent Photographer Portrait Award. The photograph will be featured in my forthcoming monograph, The Unchosen Ones: Portraits of an American Pastoral (MW Editions, 2021).

View the gallery >>

“A portrait is not made in the camera but on either side of it.” — Edward Steichen.

Blake and P. T., Hubbard County, Minnesota, 2020, archival pigment print

Blake and P. T., Hubbard County, Minnesota, 2020, archival pigment print

Rourke Art Museum 62nd Invitational Exhibition

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If I was a champion sheep, you’d call me “Salty Frog.” I’d have an earring with my name badge, too. Only fitting, “Salty Frog” will be exhibited at the Rourke Art Museum as part of the 62nd Invitational Exhibition, running 18 June - 5 September 2021. Theme: On the Autobiographical Impulse. This is the fifth year I’ve been apart of the show. I always look forward to re-connecting with the community where I had my coffee shop show in 2014 which helped launch my career as a fine-art photographer.

Supreme Champion Ewe (Salty Frog) 2018 Minnesota State Fair. This salt over pigment print was the exhibition print during my solo Burnet Fine Art exhibition in 2019. Ed 1 of 5, 20 x 24 inches. $3000

Supreme Champion Ewe (Salty Frog) 2018 Minnesota State Fair. This salt over pigment print was the exhibition print during my solo Burnet Fine Art exhibition in 2019. Ed 1 of 5, 20 x 24 inches. $3000

Time Capsule

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Juror Shamim M. Momin, Director of Curatorial Affairs at The Henry Art Gallery, selected my work for inclusion in an exhibition, Time Capsule, at the Photographic Center Northwest (PCNW) Gallery on view June 24 – August 12, 2021. This exhibition will represent a photographic time capsule of an extraordinary time in history. 

“Photographs open doors into the past, but they also allow a look into the future.” -Sally Mann

Juried for exhibition: Carlana and Donkey, Pastoral Study, Minnesota, 2020 from the series The Unchosen Ones. Archival pigment print, 20 x 24 inches, Edition 1 of 10 + 2 AP, 2021.

Juried for exhibition: Carlana and Donkey, Pastoral Study, Minnesota, 2020 from the series The Unchosen Ones. Archival pigment print, 20 x 24 inches, Edition 1 of 10 + 2 AP, 2021.

PCNW's 24th Annual Juried Exhibition, TIME CAPSULE, June 24 - August 12, 2021. Installation photo by Erin Spencer.

PCNW's 24th Annual Juried Exhibition, TIME CAPSULE, June 24 - August 12, 2021. Installation photo by Erin Spencer.

Artist Talk at Leepa-Rattner Museum of Art

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On Friday, May 7, I gave a free artist talk, hosted by the Leepa-Rattner Museum of Art in Tarpon Springs, Florida. The talk was recorded and I posted it above.

“Focus Friday” is the name of their artist talk series, showcasing the work of artists in their permanent collection. I shared a preview of work featured in my new book, The Unchosen Ones: Portraits of an American Pastoral (MW Editions, 2021), due November 2021.

In 2019, the Leepa-Rattner Museum of Art acquired two of my photographs for the the permanent collection: Josilin and Escapé, Benton County Fair, Minnesota, 2016 and Escapé (pron. es cahp é), Benton County, Minnesota, USA (see below). I also shared a special story about this pairing with a poetic ending.

Thank you to Christine Renc-Carter and Teresa Wilkins for inviting me to speak about my work.

On Friday, May 7 from noon - 1 p.m. ET R. J. Kern will be giving a free artist talk, hosted on Zoom by the Leepa-Rattner Museum of Art in Tarpon Springs, Florida.

On Friday, May 7 from noon - 1 p.m. ET R. J. Kern will be giving a free artist talk, hosted on Zoom by the Leepa-Rattner Museum of Art in Tarpon Springs, Florida.

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