FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE April 30, 2013

Contessa Gallery Announces Exhibition, Lens of a Legend: Harry Benson Photographs, May 31 – July 7, 2013

Contessa Gallery is pleased to present a one-man exhibition by the award-winning photographer Harry Benson. Arriving in America with the Beatles in 1964, Benson has spent his six-decade career photographing politicians, musicians, actors, athletes, writers, artists, soldiers, and activists. Considered the finest photographic chronicler of American pop culture, Benson has photographed every U.S. president from Eisenhower to Barack Obama. He was feet away when Bobby Kennedy was assassinated; in the room when Nixon resigned; with Martin Luther King, Jr. on the Meredith march; and with Coretta Scott King at her husband’s funeral. Benson chronicled the building of the Berlin wall and its fall, and covered the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. Benson has had more than forty solo gallery exhibitions and has had sixteen books of his photography published. Contessa Gallery’s exhibition, Lens of a Legend: Harry Benson Photographs, is in conjunction with the release of Benson’s newest book, The Beatles: On the Road 1964-1966. 

Contessa Gallery is pleased to share that Harry Benson is featured in the May 2013 issue of Art & Culture Magazine in John Loring's article, "The Canny and Eloquent Mr. Benson."

Contessa Gallery is proud to announce that its exhibition, The Image Within: Alex G. Cao (November 16 - December 31, 2012), was well-received by Steven Litt in his "Review: Alex G. Cao" for the March 2013 edition of ARTnews.

The fair will take place at the following location:

The Art Miami Pavilion
Midtown Miami | Wynwood
3101 NE 1st Avenue (between 31st and 32nd)
Miami, FL 33137

Please visit us at Booth B17.

The fair will take place at the following location:

Palm Beach County Convention Center
650 Okeechobee Boulevard
West Palm Beach, Florida 33401

Please visit us at Booth 210.

David Drebin Photographs is an exhibition celebrating the artist's newest series, the exclusive U.S. release of Drebin's newest book, Beautiful Disasters, and the premiere of his newest work, Dreams of Rome. This is Drebin's third exhibition at Contessa Gallery. Drebin has earned an international reputation, with admirers including Sir Elton John and Diane Von Furstenberg, and his photography has been published in magazines such as Vanity Fair, GQ, ESPN Magazine, Elle, and The New York Times Magazine.

Drebin's scenes of captivating landscapes and glamorous women staged against architectural and natural backdrops capture the beauty and romance of everyday life. The scenes in David Drebin Photographs are all-at-once mysterious, lovely, humorous, melancholy, and exciting. Drebin explains his approach to "directing" the scenes which he captures: "If I were not a photographer I would have probably attempted to become a psychologist, or a ring master at the circus... I like pictures that are often dupilicitous, the ones with hidden meanings, that are ultimately gripping and stay in my mind far beyond the moment of looking at them for the first time... the pictures within the pictures... within the pictures... Coming from a perspective based on how I see the world with my eyes, heart, ears, and brain; I like to think of myself not only as a photographer... but as a psychographer."

The opening reception will be an opportunity for collectors to acquire Drebin's newest photography and meet the artist. Beautiful Disasters and a special edition of the book which includes a limited edition Drebin print will be available for purchase during the reception.

The fair will take place at the following location:

Delamar Greenwich Harbor
500 Steamboat Road
Greenwich, CT 06830

Please visit us in Booths 102 and 104.

Contessa Gallery is looking forward to participating in the inaugural Art Southampton, an international contemporary and modern art fair, taking place July 26 - 30, 2012 with a VIP opening preview on July 26.

The fair will take place at the following location:
Art Southampton Pavilion, Southampton Elks Lodge 
605 County Road 39
Southampton, NY 11968

Please visit us at BOOTH AS17.

Our fantasies can be alluring but also bittersweet. It is this tension that makes David Drebin's sensuous imagery so spellbinding. In his latest collection, this acclaimed contemporary photographer creates bout visual narratives around each of his luschious heroine's voyages of seducton. Aloof, yet irresistible, the women remain tantalizingly anonymous even though there are a few mega stars among them. Set against a global backdrop of sophistication, the locales range from New York to Jerusalem, Miami to Istanbul. Whom will they seduce? Whom will they reject? Follow this spellbinding photographic master of intrigue as he takes us on a journey that could shock but might also lead to bliss in his new book "Beautiful Disasters."