“Books, which as objects of desire have seemed to have scant place in Hollywood’s slick, visual sensibility, have a new role in the business of television. Reality stars, who as nonunion actors are unreliably compensated (mostly in perks), have begun to see books as nearly mandatory, if they’re to cash in on their celebrity. A wide range of TV personalities — Chelsea Handler, Kate Gosselin, Bethenny Frankel, Countess LuAnn de Lesseps, Kathy Griffin, Melissa Gilbert, Mary Tyler Moore and Tori Spelling — have all produced memoirs and advice manuals recently. Maybe book publishing and the TV business, both of which are endangered by the Internet juggernaut, are a match made in heaven. TV gives books visibility; books give TV solidity and gravitas.”

Photo by Kevin Van Aelst: “Kevin was born in Elmira, New York and did most of his growing up in central Pennsylvania. He recieved a B.A. in Psychology from Cornell University in 2002 and an M.F.A. from the University of Hartford in 2005. He currently lives and works in New Haven, Connecticut. He has taught photography classes at the University of Hartford Art School, Middlesex Community College, and currently is teaching at Quinnipiac University and ACES/Educational Center for the Arts High School Program. He is a recipient of a 2008 fellowship grant from the Connecticut Commission on Culture and Tourism. Photos of his can be seen weekly illustrating “The Medium” in the New York Times Magazine.” (Van Aelst’s biography).

You may already know some of his work: the apple sculpted like the world, the fingerprints series, the fractal egg, and much more.

Artist’s statement: “My color photographs consist of common artifacts and scenes from everyday life, which have been rearranged, assembled, and constructed into various forms, patterns, and illustrations. The images aim to examine the distance between the ‘big picture’ and the ‘little things’ in life—the banalities of our daily lives, and the sublime notions of identity and existance. While the depictions of information—such as an EKG, fingerprint, map or anatomical model—are unconventional, the truth and accuracy to the illustrations are just as valid as more traditional depictions. This work is about creating order where we expect to find randomness, and also hints that the minutiae all around us is capable of communicating much larger ideas.”