I found out one of my photographs, Skylines (Illinois), will be in the “Architecture and Landscape” online
show at Black Box Gallery, a gallery based out of Portland Oregon. http://blackboxgallery.com/Home.html
This is exciting news. I admire Black Box’s mission to
promote contemporary photography. Goodie!
Now is probably a good time to write about black and white
photography and its place in the contemporary art scene/world/market/whatever
you want to call it when people get together for all things art. My perception
(meaning no concrete evidence except a few strained critiques) is that non-photographers
(yes I say that) believe black and white prints are dated. Or, that black and
white imagery is a superficial trick artists employ to make photos look more “artsy”
aka more sellable.
Sure. I have seen and even represented artists who knowingly
create gimmicks to make their work seem more
artistic/good/interesting/palatable/whatever. It IS annoying. My biggest pet
peeve: the artists who apply the “paint” filter (in Photoshop) to their
photographs. It’s a bad idea but people tend to love it so what do I know.
Anyway, it has been a struggle to get some of my Wanderlust photos in contemporary art exhibitions.
Grant it, people may not enjoy the imagery, which is fine. I accept that. But,
I can think of two other reasons. First, it is fair to say that only certain
galleries are going to show black and white photography and it takes some
research to find those spaces. That’s why I am glad to have found Black Box
gallery.
The second reason may be the juried exhibition format
itself. When I do see black and white photographs in juried exhibitions of
“contemporary” art, the photo’s subject matter ranges from obscene to sardonic.
And usually, the photograph tells an obvious story about a person, place, or
thing.
Artists who create a series of works struggle to find a place
within the group, juried exhibition format. I am one of those artists. Wanderlust is an example. It is a
photo-essay and the images should be displayed together, in a specific sequence.
In short, the images needs to be exhibited together to adequately do the job of
saying what the project intends to say. The Wanderlust
project is about modern travel; how dizzying it is, its rhythm, shapes, and
patterns. These things are hard to describe with just one photograph.
I call the opposite type of image-making, “one-note” meaning
you can see only one piece and get the gist of what the artist wants to
communicate. One may be enough and it has to be for juried group exhibitions
where an artist is likely to have only one or two works included. That piece must
encompass who the artist is and what the artist does. I believe in the
corporate world this is called “branding.”
It is fascinating how capitalism affects every social
interaction, even exhibition formats. In our boom and burst economy, privately
funded galleries stay afloat by juried, group exhibitions where artists seeking
exposure pay for entry. Don’t get me wrong; the format is mutually beneficial
for galleries and artists. But it seems these exhibitions are largely comprised
of the “one-noters,” the pieces I hope (but don’t strive) to create so that I
have something to enter into juried exhibitions. This has been my experience.
This crowdfunding strategy is popular for art galleries as
state-based support wanes more and more. In the latest news, crowdfunding has
generated a lot of attention and even controversy as a business model. For
instance, the potato salad affair: http://www.forbes.com/sites/kevinharrington/2014/07/17/what-potato-salad-teaches-us-about-crowdfunding-a-thriving-kickstarter-for-potato-salad-holds-2-big-lessons-for-business-owners/
For the time, I am pursuing a solo exhibition of the Wanderlust project so that all the
photographs may be exhibited together. Until then, I’ll enjoy the increased
exposure via the juried, online show format. Cheers.
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