©Danny Goodwin, Penrose Triangle

Photography is historically a vehicle for illusion. The very make-up of the process is alchemic—turning silver into sentiment, sediment into pixels—all while fragmenting information to articulate an event. For Sleight of Hand we called for practicing prestidigitators with a single, simple prompt—Trick us. Out of 80 submissions, these 17 photographers embraced this prompt, sharing work that is aware of its visual challenges and deceptions, yet still commands to be understood.

LENSCRATCH would like to thank Awagami Papermill in Japan for sponsoring this exhibition and offering a prize of $500 worth of Awagami Inkjet Papers. Awagami Inkjet Paper are revolutionary WASHI Japanese papers crafted for high quality inkjet printing for artists, photographers, and designers. I am excited to announce the winner of the prize is Danny Goodwin with his image above, Penrose Triangle. His image is such a simple nod to one of the oldest optical illusions, but one that has been completely contextualized into a contemporary trend. I find myself repeatedly going back to this image, tracing the shape, and trying to stabilize its form with no avail.

Congratulations to all of the participating artists:
David Avazzadeh, Matthew Bradley, Danny Goodwin, Joshua Hobson, Dorotka Kaczmarek, Amy Kim, Chaoyu Li, Wen Hang Lin, Rebecca Martinez, Jan Q. Maschinski, Sonia Melnikova-Raich, Julianne Nash, Adam Neese, Zak Alexander Rose, Benjy Russell, Jaclyn Wright, and Anna Yeroshenko

©Jaclyn Wright, Debris of Logic, III

©David Avazzadeh, Cubes

©David Avazzadeh, Duck

©Matthew Bradley, Untitled 1

©Jaclyn Wright, Untitled (panopticon)

©Jaclyn Wright, Visible and Unverifiable, II

©Julianne Nash, Untitled (Grandpa’s Flowers)

©Zak Alexander Rose, Boquet :)

©Zak Alexander Rose, Melt (Rainbow #2)

©Anna Yeroshenko, Hidden Dimensions

©Anna Yeroshenko, Hidden Dimensions

©Matthew Bradley, Untitled 3

©Matthew Bradley, Untitled 2

©Amy Kim, Seeing It Through II

©Sonia Melnikova-Raich, Sleight of Hand I

©Danny Goodwin, Invisible Duct Tape

©Danny Goodwin, Invisible Impossible Object

©Anna Yeroshenko, Hidden Dimensions

©Chaoyu Li, Prototype

©Benjy Russell, Altar 34°50’12.9″N 111°49’18.3″W (Dying played forward and then in reverse)

©Benjy Russell, Altar 33°42’31.1″N 118°17’38.4″W (The reparation of man)

©Benjy Russell, Altar 35°45’19.1″N 85°47’26.4″W (A heart inside of a womb)

©Adam Neese, Rainbow Over Sky Blue

©Adam Neese, Survey Limits

©Adam Neese, Holding On

©Dorotka Kaczmarek, Untitled

©Dorotka Kaczmarek, Untitled

©Zak Alexander Rose, Walker Ranch

©Rebecca Martinez, Stanchions

©Chaoyu Li, Hand on Basketball

©Joshua Hobson, Untitled (from the series Fracture Factura)

©Joshua Hobson, Untitled (from the series Fracture Factura)

©Jan Q. Maschinski, choke

©Jan Q. Maschinski, choke

©Wen Hang Lin, Fly to a Place No One Know My Name

©Wen Hang Lin, Blue Shadow Behind Everything Dazzling

©David Avazzadeh, Fabric

©Julianne Nash, Untitled (Floral Still Life 001)

©Julianne Nash, Untitled (Species)