Photography: New Work

July 23, 2012 through May 27, 2012

Photography: New Work

Since the opening of Carrie Haddad Gallery in 1991, photographers have figured prominently on the gallery’s roster producing glistening silver gelatin prints as well as albumen and bi-chromate using a variety of cameras and always giving special care to paper. Today, over a decade into the 21^st Century, nearly everyone has converted their darkrooms into walk-in closets, and traded their Kodachrome for iPhones and memory cards. And yet, as we delve farther into the digital age, there is no question that this new process, although utilizing different techniques, inherently remains photographic.

The artists in the upcoming exhibition all diverge from traditional forms of photo making, utilizing modern technologies and techniques to achieve varying effects. Among the works on display, in our upcoming exhibit, not one is a silver gelatin print, however many do reference styles from the past. David Seiler renders the landscape in sepia tones, and David Halliday strikes a note of vintage glamour with stark, formal still-lifes. Anna Collette’s landscapes – alternately lush, green gardens and blue barren forests – instill a contemporary emotional atmosphere into classic compositions.

Some artists depart from representational depiction to explore the physicality of the medium itself. Melinda McDaniel, who has formerly shown sculptural works made out of photographic paper, creates swimming-pool shaped collages made out of tiny “found” images of swimmers. In the works of Birgit Blyth, we are indirectly shown her process of pouring chemicals onto the photographic paper itself, creating abstract works redolent of Jackson Pollock’s scattered, all-over compositions. David Lebe, also uses fundamental photo materials and practices to achieve his ethereal hand-colored photogram landscapes and “light drawings”. An experimental approach to the photographic medium—its limitations and its possibilities—pervades this exhibition.

Kim McLean, on the other hand, employs an architectural software program to create his images. Using a scanner as his camera, he creates 3-D layers of everyday images like pages in the phonebook, embodying similar aspects to that of painting, photography, and sculpture. Although, in process and effort his works seem un-photographic, his photographically lit compositions are reminiscent of a stage set. Similarly, Lisa Frank manipulates, duplicates and layers photographic elements to create works which could not be achieved without digital programs yet appear organic and insired by tradition photographic still life.

The exploration of the ever changing technologies is further explored through the works of Kahn and Selesnick who originally used a box camera to capture and piece together their photo novellas. Each image in their upcoming Snapshots exhibit, today shot using an iphone, seems to bridge the gap between past and present, earthly and alien, real and unreal. Lependorf & Shire as well as Jeri Eisenberg also sit on the edge of representational depiction and abstraction, challenging what is seen and can be seen. This question of perception, view point and the photographic essence of documentation continues to be asked again and again as this medium splinters and forms new genres within itself. Seen together, the artists in this exhibit exemplify the range of possibility and approach to new photographic work in the 21^st century.

A reception will be held on Saturday, April 21, from 6-8pm. All are invited to attend.