Happy to be included in Mapping: Borders, Bodies, Memories!
Many thanks to Paula Tognarelli
For more info check out the Filter Photo website:
There is an interesting dynamic between the curator and the imagery. Often time it is the photographs themselves that fashion an exhibition. It is the narratives or repeating elements that tie one piece to another. These echoes and resonances hold all the work together. Each piece no longer stands as an individual element but as an orchestra of artwork that is served up within the whole ensemble. It was exciting to see
Mapping: borders, bodies, memories came to life and finally took its shape after many days of dress rehearsal. It was difficult to let go of work in assembling this exhibit because I truly love the topic. Also, the caliber of work was great and the interpretation of the theme was very innovative; from a birds eye to worms eye view of the world to a state of mind through to body contours and property lines. Many photographers presented representational or literal interpretations of mapping. Others offered up abstracted responses or made use of metaphor to articulate intent. No matter how a photograph was executed, each submission spoke to me, as juror, through the unique lens of its creator. The submissions taught me much about the topic. In the end, my image picks were made strictly because of the final assembled body of work.
How an image echoes another or vibrates because of another image influence what remains. I perceive imagery by finding relationships and sequences that make meaning; call it a stream of consciousness if you will. For example, I considered the image by Nicole White, because I also considered Mark Schoon + Dominic Lippillo’s image as well as the photograph by Goseong Choi. Aside from the photographers’ intent, all three images suggested mounds of land to me. White utilized a cameraless process to manufacture “the place an artist would view a landscape from in order to paint it.” In an effort to form a dialogue “about proximity, locality, and space versus place,” Schoon + Lippillo use the diptych format to express their ideas on domesticity, while being miles away from each other. I saw in their bed linens a mountain mass. It was Choi’s skin bumps, however that completed the visual sentence in the end. The cameraless plateau begot thoughts of the linen mountain that echoed the shapes from pulled hairs on skin.
I hope you enjoy the exhibit. I believe I selected an eclectic mix of work that reflects my personal vision and aesthetic. If you were selected to be included in this show, congratulations! If you were not selected, do not despair or lose enthusiasm for your art. Exhibiting artwork is an undulating process that moves at varying speeds.
My thanks go to all the artists who submitted to Mapping: borders, bodies, memories and to my colleagues at the Filter Photo Festival.
Two images made it into Abstraction at The Kiernan Gallery and one made it to the cover of the exhibition catalogue. Many thanks!!!
Images by Kat Kiernan
Like any abstract art, abstract photography is an exploration of color, form, movement, or other intangibles that need not be wedded to a recognizable subject. Unlike other mediums, photography was designed to reproduce the world as we see it with technical precision. Abstract photography uses this technological capability to break down our world, revealing it anew in surprising ways. Extreme close-ups, long exposures, and blurred subjects are just some of the ways that photographers chose and manipulate their subjects to express themselves. Such work is limited only by the imagination. For
Abstraction, The Kiernan Gallery seeks images that partially or fully obscure the recognizable world.
About the Juror:
Matthew Gamber is a Boston–based artist and critic. He has taught at The Art Institute of Boston / Lesley University, Boston College, School of the Museum of Fine Arts, College of the Holy Cross, Savannah College of Art & Design, Massachusetts College of Art & Design and has worked on digital preservation projects for Harvard University and the Boston Public Library. He is a founding editor of
Big Red & Shiny, an independent online art magazine for New England. His recent exhibitions include:
Second Nature: Abstract Photography Then and Now, deCordova Sculpture Park and Museum, Lincoln, MA, 2012, The 2012 deCordova Biennial, deCordova Sculpture Park and Museum, Lincoln, MA, 2012; Flash Forward 2011 Exhibition, Magenta Foundation, Toronto, CA, 2011; The Sum of All Colors, Sasha Wolf Gallery, New York, 2011.
Juror's Statement:
In taking a broad approach to the idea of abstraction, I selected images that took a certain element of risk in their visual approach. What was considered abstract only a couple of years ago has been absorbed into our visual language as artists (and as viewers). Abstraction, when utilized as an aesthetic principle in art, should not be easily recognized as art. As an aesthetic, abstraction is a moving target. If a particular aesthetic becomes collectively understood, and accepted as art (becoming a style, or trend), it no longer offers a divergent viewpoint.
I have tried to consider how certain images can resonate with viewers even if the subject matter of the photograph is not readily apparent. It requires a kind of evaluation that might not be required by artwork with subject-based content. As a juror, I identified with work whose content, scale, and materiality were not immediately recognizable. The variations were many; the final choice was difficult. For me, the most successful pieces were ones that focused on the idea of abstraction as a subtractive process, rather than additive. By removing information from concrete origins, one are left with a tenuous attachment to the original subject matter, generating the variations you now see in these images.
You can check out all the fantastic work here:
http://kiernangallery.com/abstraction/
Many Thanks to Matthew Gamber!
From
https://asmithgallery.com/Portal_Call_for_Entry.php:
por - tal
: doorway, entrance, opening, entry, gate, egress, opening, aperture, porte, exit, hatch, mirror, passage, threshold, cut, entrada, hole, scuttle, window, approach, camera, breach, mirror.
Portals have given photographers subject matter for their cameras since Niepce began experimenting with photography. There is an intrigue and mystery that begs the photographer and viewer to question and wonder what is on the other side. Elliot Erwitt's iconic image entitled California Kiss immediately pops into my minds eye. And what about Atget's images of store fronts in Paris? The Boulevard de Strasbourg image of the corset shop is just one of many images he captured. Sam Abell's image entitled Through Lace Curtains makes you feel like you are standing right there with him as he snaps the shutter. And we all will never forget the story about Alice and the rabbit hole written by photographer Lewis Carroll. Alice looked thru the opening and found a Wonderland.
Check out the accepted image here:
https://asmithgallery.com/Portal_Accepted_Images.php
You can view the exhibition catalogue on Blurb:
