The Long of It
Portrait of Jen Bekman by Stefan Ruiz for Foam Magazine
Bio: The Long of It
Jen Bekman is a gallery owner, a writer and a native New Yorker. When prevailed upon to describe herself and detail her accomplishments, she refers to herself in the third person so as not to seem like a swell-headed bragger.
Her eponymous gallery in NYC is on the Eastern edge of Spring St, where it meets the Bowery. The founding editor of the design blog Unbeige, she now publishes Personism, (you’re soaking in it!) a blog about photography, design, current events and issues, along with maintaining blogs for the gallery itself: Jen Bekman news and the gallery’s quarterly photo competition, Hey, Hot Shot!. Established in 2005, Hey, Hot Shot! debuts ten new talented photographers to the public four times a year with dedicated shows at Jen Bekman Gallery. Her most recent venture is 20×200, a site that offers limited edition art prints at ridiculously affordable prices.
Propelled by a mix of curiosity, naiveté and hubris, Jen has explored numerous careers and interests. Born and raised in New York City where she attended Stuyvesant High School and later Hunter College, she’s been a switchboard operator, a jewelry designer and dabbled in jazz publishing and producing. Her interest in writing, design and media led her to a career directing community and editorial efforts for groundbreaking internet companies such as New York Online, Electric Minds and Netscape. She went on to oversee Interactive Programming efforts at Disney/GO Networks. In 2000, she moved back to NYC and continued her internet career as the Chief Creative Officer at an AOL-funded streaming video company and then later at Meetup, where she was the VP of User Development.
In 2003, Jen struck out in an entirely new direction and opened her gallery. Her internet experience, integral to her PR and marketing strategy, and her fresh perspective on the art world helped the gallery quickly establish itself as an exciting, unique space with a critically acclaimed program, focusing on emerging artists and innovative group shows.
Jen and her gallery have been featured in various magazines and newspapers including The Wall Street Journal, The New Yorker, New York , The New York Post (on Page Six no less!), The New York Times, The New York Daily News, The New York Sun, The Boston Phoenix, Metro NY, Ready Made, Dwell, The Village Voice and W; multiple online publications including Daily Candy, Manhattan Users’ Guide, Apartment Therapy, Curbed, Gawker and Gothamist and in art-related publications including Art in America, ARTFORUM, Artnet, From the Floor, Photo District News and Photograph.
In January of 2007, American Photo named Jen an Innovator of the Year. Jen frequently makes public appearances, participating in panels and portfolio reviews and leading seminars. She has spoken at the AIGA annual conference and participated in portfolio reviews at Review Santa Fe, Parsons, The New York Foundation for the Arts, PhotoExpo and the Minnesota Center for Photography. She recently juried the 30th Anniversary Member’s Exhibition for the Photographic Resource Center @ Boston University and has participated in the Mentors Program at the School of Visual Arts for several years.
In her copious free time, Jen does some rabble-rousing and freelance writing. She is a vociferous proponent of gender diversity on speaker rosters at conferences and maintains the List of Women Speakers For Your Conference to help conference planners achieve that goal. She has also published articles and interviews in GOOD Magazine and photo-eye Booklist.
Articles by Jen Bekman
photo-eye Booklist (Fall 2007)
Minnesota to Paris - a conversation with Alec Soth about Paris Minnesota, his edition of Magnum Photos Fashion Magazine
photo-eye Booklist (Summer 2007)
Where We Live - a review of the Getty exhibition and its accompanying catalog.
GOOD Magazine (Issue #3 May/June 2007)
Stimuli: Jen Bekman on Art - an article about art collecting and the Internet.