Twice a month, Sara Distin from Jen Bekman Projects, Inc. contributes a post to Flavorpill about an artist or photographer who young collectors need to know. Jen Bekman Projects, Inc. includes Jen Bekman Gallery, 20×200 and Hey, Hot Shot!

Photographer Mike Sinclair works from the inside, out. Based in Kansas City, Missouri, his images literally begin in the middle of country. They contain the sort of deeply-centered observations that seep into the core of what it is to be an American, and eventually find their way out, tickling the skin with warm familiarity.

He has photographed Kansas City parks, fairgrounds and rodeos, basketball and baseball games, fireworks, and Christmas tree lots. Without a trace of irony or condescension, Sinclair observes spectators and participants alike. Gathered in large or small groups, figures are often photographed from an elevated angle or at a distance, and are humbled in scale. Frames are cleanly composed, sometimes giving the impression that scenes have been staged, resembling a Jeff Wall photo. Sinclair is not going out of his way to tell a story; he is instead, all-to-easily documenting the myth of “the way things were” by seeing and sharing, with us, his viewers, the way things are.

Sinclair is a part of the Museum of Contemporary Photography’s Midwest Photographers Project and is also one of our most recent Hot Shots. We’ll have an edition befitting this weekend’s holiday from him this Wednesday, on 20×200. He’s the first 2009 Hot Shot to be featured on the site this year; stay tuned to see great work from all our up-and-comers!

Image credit: from Popular Attractions by Mike Sinclair