“Talking to Ants 3.”  All Images © Stephen Gill, courtesy of the artist

The exhibition, “Best Before End,” by the British photographer Stephen Gill incorporates a number of photographic series that Gill made in and around the London Borough of Hackney over the past fourteen years. His processes include burying photographs, making exuberant flower collages, placing objects inside the camera so that their traces could be encapsulated within the film emulsion thus adding confusion of scale. Gill’s most recent series, entitled “Best Before End,” resulted from part processing negatives in energy drinks, bringing forth the most fantastic, abstract and vibrantly coloured works that somehow reflect the intensity of modern inner city life.

This exhibition opens at the Foam Gallery in Amsterdam May 17 and runs through July 14, 2013.

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All Images © Aaron Ansarov

This collection of zooids (dactylozooids (the hunters), gastrozooids (the eaters), gonozooids (the reproducers) and the pneumatophores (the sailors) are more commonly known as the Portuguese Man o’ War. Not much is known about these creatures except that they sting. Aaron Ansarov turned them into beautiful works of psychedelic art, yet remains unharmed. Ansarov and his wife collected them from the shores of south Florida, transported them in a cooler full of sea-water to his nearby studio, photographed them on light tables (mirrored their image in Photoshop), and returned them to the shore, unharmed. To be clear, however, these creatures are on their death bed once they hit the beach. “When they drift ashore,” says Ansarov, “it is rare for them to survive the tide and be pulled back out to sea…sometimes they may get pulled back out, but it’s up to nature’s design.” To see more of Ansarov’s work, visit his website.

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“Collisions” (Grid of 9). © Karine Laval, 2012. Courtesy of the artist and Bonni Benrubi Gallery.

For her 4th solo exhibition at the Bonni Benrubi Gallery, Brooklyn-based French artist Karine Laval presents a selection of new photographs as well as a video installation. “Altered States” refers to physical transformations, altered states of consciousness and perception and challenges the way we see by combining the elements of photography – light, perspective, chemistry and optics.  A grid of nine photographs, pictured above, is the largest work in the exhibition, and highlights Laval’s experiments with Mylar. “Altered States” opens at the Bonni Benrubi Gallery in New York City on Thursday, April 18th and runs through May 24th.

“Certi,” Czech Republic, 2010-2011. All Images © Charles Fréger, Courtesy of the Gallery at Hermès.

Charles Fréger traveled across eighteen European countries from Finland to Greece from 2010 to 2011 for his series Wilder Mann. In search of the “wild man,” Fréger systematically cataloged people in elaborate costumes used during traditional rituals often pertaining to the seasonal cycle, fertility, life and death. The exhibition at the Gallery at Hermès on Madison Avenue in New York City opens April 11th. A complementary exhibition is on view at the Yossi Milo Gallery in Chelsea from April 11th through May 18th. The book, Wilder Mann, is available in four languages.

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“The Moonlight, Full Moon.” Courtesy Galerie Paris-Beijing. © Yang Yongliang

Photographer Yang Yongliang studied traditional Chinese painting and calligraphy with the great master Yang Yang in Shanghai. Today, Yongliang cleverly combines this ancient art with photography and new medias to create both a futuristic and age-old world. His pictures represent the contemporary Shanshui, a style of Chinese painting that depicts scenery or natural landscapes, using a brush and ink rather than more conventional paints. “The Silent Valley”, a solo exhibition of photography and video, opens today at Galerie Paris-Beijing in Paris, France, and runs through April 27th. Yongliang was born in Shanghai, and currently teaches at the Shanghai Institute of Visual Art.

“The Moonlight, New Moon,” 2012. Courtesy Galerie Paris-Beijing. © Yang Yongliang

“A Bowl of Taipei, n. 2,” 2012. Courtesy Galerie Paris-Beijing. © Yang Yongliang

“A Bowl of Taipei n. 5,” 2012. Courtesy Galerie Paris-Beijing. © Yang Yongliang

“The Silent Valley, Scorpion and Missle,” 2012. Courtesy Galerie Paris-Beijing. © Yang Yongliang

“The Silent Valley, Crocodile and Shotgun,” 2012. Courtesy Galerie Paris-Beijing. © Yang Yongliang