One of the great pleasures of JBP is getting to work with artists in several different capacities. Today we were pleased to release Rookery Bay National Estuarine Research Reserve, Florida, a contemplative and beautifully quiet photograph by 2009 First Edition Hot Shot Daniel Cheek over on 20x200. The image comes from his series Where We Go, a collection of works about "where people go to enjoy nature, and how we rarely have an unadulterated experience of it." He offers quiet commentary on the places we visit to simulate the experience of the wild, without its true harshness.

In today's newsletter, Associate Director of JBP, Sara Distin describes the visceral experience of running in a snowstorm and how the experience of really feeling the impact of the wind, snow and cold on her face made her understand Daniel's sentiments even more.

She writes:

In the midst of this visceral experience of Brooklyn, albeit abated by concrete, buildings, and bridge, I was keenly aware of Daniel's sense of our separation from it all and realized that he was right and that that might not be such a bad thing. There is value in creating space to look and think from a distance and more so, in highlighting that this is what we're doing. Like the chairs that dot horizons in paintings by Hopper, the empty rockers at Rookery Bay serve to remind us that in these endeavors, we shouldn't separate ourselves from each other, too. In other words, if you're in the snowbound East like we are, rustle up your nearest and dearest and go make some snowmen.

As we mentioned last week, Daniel's work is also currently on view in America Now at the Montserrat College of Art Gallery in Beverly, MA, alongside images by Ben Huff, Shane Lavalette, Laura McPhee, Alec Soth and Zoe Strauss.