Show's photos blur the line between digital, darkroom

Published: September 7, 2008

A show of photography that demonstrates the blurred line between realism and surrealism, as well as that "between darkroom and digital,” is on view at JRB Art at the Elms.

"Blending of old and new is what makes contemporary photography so compelling,” said Dustin Hamby, co-curator of the "PhotoFest” show with Sean Stone. "The lines between darkroom and digital are more blurred than we might think.”

Underlining this point are five black-and-white, silver gelatin prints by Jerry Uelsmann, a Detroit native who "produces composite photographs with multiple negatives and extensive darkroom work.” A mountain-locked body of turbulent white water seems to flow into the upper body of a half-sleeping woman, leaning back toward us, in Uelsmann's "Figure/Waterfall,” for example.

Equally striking are Uelsmann's multiple-image prints of a meditating man seated in a lotus position on a stone, and of a young person who appears to be standing on clouds. Even more magical in some ways are five black-and-white, silver gelatin prints of horses by Loretta Young-Gautier, who studied with Uelsmann and Denver photographers Ronald Wohlauer and Ray Whiting.

A band of horses trots toward us "Out of the Mist,” their hooves seeming to not quite touch a watery beach in which their bodies are reflected, in one of Young-Gautier's most haunting multiple images. No less impressive is Young-Gautier's picture of a dark horse in front of a low-lying cloud, whose mane seems to stand up by itself, making it resemble the winged "Pegasus” of myth.

Also erring toward the surreal, but giving her color pigment prints the interior, studio set-up feel of a much earlier era, is Cleveland, Ohio-born photographer Maggie Taylor. Particularly startling is "Subject to Change,” Taylor's photo of a man with folded arms, leaf-covered shoulders and bizarre beard, who seems to have a small tree growing out of the top of his head.

A noted photojournalist as well as fine art photographer who was born and raised in Fort Gibson, Ron Tarver has "devoted much of his professional career to documenting African-American experience.” In the current exhibit, there is something mood-producing, intentionally vague and almost abstract about Tarver's black-and-white photo of a giant "Cuban Flag” hanging at the end of a narrow, nocturnally lighted street.

David Michael Kennedy's black-and-white, palladium print images of Southwest subjects have a timeless feel that evokes the 19th century. A photographer in northern New Mexico since 1986, Kennedy's photos of a "San Juan Eagle Dancer,” a "Sundancer” and a "Tesuque Buffalo Dancer” — all captured in motion — are especially memorable.

Offering a stark contrast are Elena Dorfman's large, bizarrely vivid color photos of "extreme fans” who "dress up and live as characters from video games” and printed cartoons. Other photographers in the show are Steven Katzman, Mitch Dobrowner, Jeff Conley, Sara Theis, Robert Dohrman, Ken Rosenthal and the late Brett Weston.

— John Brandenburg

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