 Laura McPhee,Irrigator's Tarp Directing Water America Now Explores Cultural And Geographic Diversity Through the Eyes of Six American Photographers
Beverly, MA January 12, 2010 -
America Now, an exhibition on view at Montserrat College of Art Gallery February 5 through April 10, 2010, presents a selective visual commentary on regional identity within the context of the increased globalization of culture. America as seen through the eyes of six American photographers: Daniel Cheek, Ben Huff, Shane Lavalette, Laura McPhee, Alec Soth and Zoe Strauss. The work is based in five regions of the US, including Alaska, the West, the Mid-West, the Northeast and the Southeast. Each artist conveys a specific sense of place in the form of a photo essay.
Curators Leonie Bradbury and Shana Dumont sought artists who create counterpoints to both the proliferation of cheap, quick images in popular culture and the fashionable photographs that depict the homogenous nature of American culture. The selected images document cultural and geographic diversity with photographic landscapes, both urban and scenic, and portraiture. An additional criterion was the artists’ engagement with their subject matter for a significant length of time. Whether the image depicts a fisherman in Alaska, the Teton mountain range in Idaho, or street vendors in Philadelphia, the works define American cultural geography in a manner that opposes homogeneity of settings, such as the standard highway system, big-box stores and restaurants labeled with recognizable neon signs.
Many of the photos appear at first to be documentary, but their content and effect is portrait-like, thanks in part to the subjective vision of the artists that is apparent in each series. Their carefully produced images are not accidental, though they may at first appear that way. For example, the images from Daniel Cheek's West series appear at first like the snapshots taken while on a road trip, partly because they are reproduced as eight by ten inch contact prints. Upon closer examination, the time and care that the artist spent devising each image becomes evident. The photos’ initial similarity to more casual, amateur photographs is a purposeful choice to examine the difference of fine art photography to personal photographs.
Boston-based photographer Laura McPhee's dramatic images of Idaho have a grandiose luminosity more in common with grand master oil paintings than digital photographs. Her photos are remarkable for their rich colors, radiant use of light, and evocative compositions. They are printed at a large scale, with the largest printed on 8 x 6 feet paper, in strong contrast to Cheek’s eight by ten inch prints. Cheek and McPhee are but two examples of how each artist, with different techniques and regions, offers a unique portrait of place. As low quality, user-generated photographs proliferate popular culture, the photos in America Now exemplify the continued relevance and impact of fine art photography.
ARTIST INFORMATION
Daniel Cheek was born in Michigan and is now based in California. His photos explore how people relate to the land, often focusing his lens on the signage, fencing and pavement that tourists avoid in their photos. All of his images are photographed with 4 x 5 or 8 x 10 inch cameras; his series in America Now, “The West,” was shot with an 8 x 10 inch-camera. His photos have been exhibited at the Pulp Lab, Seattle, WA, the Nevada Museum of Art in Reno, NV, and Jen Bekman Gallery, New York, NY.
www.danielcheek.com
Ben Huff was born in Iowa and is now based in Alaska. He photographs the people and scenery along Alaska’s major thoroughfare: the Dalton Highway. Work from his series “The Last Road North” is included in America Now. His work has been exhibited at the Pratt Museum, Homer, AK, the Annex, Fairbanks, AK, and Daniel Cooney Fine Art, NYC.
www.huffphoto.com
Shane Lavalette was born in Vermont and is now based in Massachusetts. Lavallette’s photos focus on capturing the moody, poetic elements of a place, with recent series in Coney Island, the Burren, Ireland, and New England. A selection of images from his “Northeast” series are featured in America Now. His work was recently published in Humble Arts Foundation’s book The Collector’s Guide to Emerging Art Photography and exhibited at the Musee de l’Elysee, Lausanne, Switzerland and Carpenter Center at Harvard University, Cambridge, MA. Lavalette is also the Publisher and Editor of Lay Flat, a journal of contemporary photography.
www.shanelavalette.com
Laura McPhee was born in New York and is now based in Massachusetts. McPhee’s large-scale, exquisitely detailed photos, taken with a large-format 8-by-10 view camera, document the evidence of humanity and the enduring vastness of landscapes including Calcutta and Sri Lanka. Three photos from her series “River of No Return,” documenting the Sawtooth Valley of central Idaho, are in America Now. Her work was exhibited at Emory University Art Museum, Atlanta, GA, Vision Gallery, Jerusalem, Israel, Cornell University Art Museum, Ithaca, NY, The Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, and Bonni Benrubi Gallery, NY. McPhee’s work is represented by Carroll and Sons, Boston, MA.
www.lauramcphee.com
Alec Soth, a Minnesota native, creates his lush, large-scale prints with a large-format 8-by-10 view camera. Taken during long car trips along the Mississippi River, the images are frontal, direct and often elegiac in their muted palette and stark atmosphere. Four images from his “Sleeping by the Mississippi” series are in America Now. In 2010 Soth’s work will be on view at the High Museum of Art, Atlanta, GA, and the Williams College Museum of Art, Williamstown, MA, among other venues. He has recently exhibited work at the National Portrait Gallery, Washington, DC, the Minneapolis Institute of Arts, MN, and the Museu Collecao Barardo, Lisbon, Spain. He is represented by Gagosian Gallery, NYC and Magnum Photos.
www.alecsoth.com
Zoe Strauss, born and based in Philadelphia, is self-trained. Her photos are magnetizing with their engagement with the subject and the unflinching quality with which the artist captures at times difficult-to-see segments of urban Philadelphia. Strauss will install a site-specific installation incorporating recent photographs in America Now. Her work has been exhibited in the 2006 Whitney Biennial, NYC, Bruce Silverstein Gallery, NYC, The Art Institute of Chicago, and Wonderland Art Space, Copenhagen, DK.
www.zoestrauss.com
What: Exhibition: America Now
Where: Montserrat College of Art Gallery, 23 Essex Street, Beverly, MA
Exhibition Dates: February 5 - April 10, 2010
Reception: Thursday, February 4, 6-8 pm
Contemporary Cocktail: Friday, February 5, 7-9 pm. A conversation with Zoe Strauss, Shane Lavalette and Montserrat Photography Faculty Ron DiRito.
Public Artist Talks:
• Tuesday, February 2nd, 11:30 am: Zoe Strauss.
• Wednesday, March 24th: Shane Lavalette.
• Tuesday, April 6th: Art Historian William Kaizen, Professor at UMass Lowell
All public artist talks are held in Room 201 of the Hardie Building, 23 Essex Street, Beverly, MA.
The exhibit and related events are free and open to the public unless otherwise noted.
For more information about the exhibit, please contact Shana Dumont at 978-867-9604 or visit us at www.montserrat.edu/galleries.
Events hotline: 978.921.4242 Option 3
Montserrat College of Art is an accredited, private, residential college of art and design offering the Bachelor of Fine Arts degree, art education certification and year-round classes and workshops for adults through its Continuing Studies programs. Gallery programs and lectures are free, open to the public. Visit us at www.montserrat.edu.
The vision of Montserrat College of Art is to be recognized as the nation’s premier independent, small art college. |
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