Gallery Photographers Image City Feature Articles
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Peter Marr's and Partner David Perlman and Jim Patton Peter Marr and Gallery Partner's have chosen their "Picks of the Show" click here to return to the details of the exhibit
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Slow Freight Passing Along with a distinguished career in academia,
David has devoted much of his spare time fulfilling his artistic
creativity, by combining his love of photography and his engineering
design expertise, to produce many memorable images. His renowned
virtuosity has definitely been aided by the onset of the digital era,
which he has cleverly utilized in his striking print,
Slow Freight Passing. His artistic ability was clearly evident in
his oil painting of the train station, though it is not apparent why it
took him an extra ten years from the age of 15 to finish the work,
although I would surmise that High School and College were of more prime
importance than a career as a painter of fine art. What I admire in
David’s epic digital construction, is that he has superbly combined his
original art work with his passion for engineering, resulting in a final
print that spans many decades of his life. The original oil painting
beautifully captures the quietness and ambience of a rural train
station. There is a true 3-dimensional feel to the picture from the
houses in the background to the woman artistically painted in front of a
tall vertical placard and the shadowy figure on the station platform.
This peaceful setting is interrupted by the powerful black and white
arms of a rail crossing barrier which dominates the left-hand side of
the picture. In the final digital print, the artist has elegantly
retained all the features of the oil painting, except that he has
replaced the crossing barrier with a fairly modern but ageing freight
train. This rail leviathan dwarfs the rural railway station and cleverly
bridges the technology gap from when the author was 15 until the present
time. As an added bonus of accentuating this passage of time, David has
graced the sky with an old World War II fighter plane, a P-51 Mustang,
an aircraft that was very prevalent in the early years of his life, and
one which would be contemporary with early freight trains. This
impressive nostalgic image has been beautifully put together by the
author, and is a fitting reminder of some of the important milestones in
his life.
Dressed Up
Once again Jim’s
uplifting photographic expertise and remarkable insight into the daily
lives of the Cuban populace has resulted in a truly memorable exhibition
at the Image Gallery. From so many impressive images, I finally chose
Dressed Up to comment further
on. This captivating portrait of an elderly lady is moving and
inspirational. Despite living a long life enduring poverty and hardship,
her smile and demeanor exudes warmth and a glow that would light up any
room. Against an outside corner wall, one which had not seen fresh paint
for decades, Jim was able to place an elegant high-back chair that was
in remarkably good condition, and was probably the prized household
possession. Not only was this delightful lady agreeable to be
photographed in this chair, she used this auspicious opportunity to wear
her best dress, one reserved only for weddings. Coupled with a vintage
hat that was a little too big and her favorite long string of beads, she
proudly sat for her portrait. The soft ambient lighting with perhaps a
little fill light was ideal for this situation. The end result was an
enchanting and memorable portrait of a woman whose smile and grace were
truly genuine. There was no shame in that she had no teeth, or that her
thin bone structure revealed her wrinkled skin. There was a pride and
happiness in how she had lived her life, and even through hardship, her
hands and beautifully kept nails were evidence of how she had cared for
herself. Every detail of her lovely blue patterned dress fitted in
wonderfully against the rich wood color and texture of the chair, and
the pale pastel hues of the walls provided an ideal background. Having
lived through difficult times, refreshingly, this lady has no regrets
and the smile and exhilaration on her face is certainly emblematic of
her courage and determination in surviving a lifestyle that has little
changed for many decades. Jim did an outstanding job in capturing this
portrait to perfection.
Peter A. Marr
Blending In
Steve’s
photographic and artistic talents have always been very evident in
exhibitions of this work at the Image Gallery. What is remarkable in his
versatility in displaying a wide range of subject matter, and this is
very evident in his current exhibition in the East Gallery. He has
daringly and brilliantly displayed a series of Black-and-White prints
that incorporate partial or complete images of a female mannequin. Not
only that, the very model that he used is currently on display in the
corner of the room. One on my favorite images is
Blending In, where the
headless mannequin is displayed standing in a tangled mass of reeds and
cattails that are anxiously awaiting the return of Spring and Summer.
Thankfully, the model has been deliberately placed there, not thrown
into the habitat like a discarded piece of trash. At this juncture, I
would like to state that even without her detached head, this mannequin
is fully cognizant of her thoughts and feelings, just like for example
flowers that can touch and feel and communicate with nature. She has
retained her dignity, and memories of a life of importance in the
display of fashion at a prominent retail store, although she is
particularly perturbed by the absence of her head. She is also very
proud of her beautifully sculptured female body. Although this body is
showing a little wear and tear, it is nothing that could not be fixed or
covered by parts of a clothing display. What this mannequin does not
know, is that with retail stores closing because of the high demand for
online shopping, her job, particularly in high-end stores has been
eliminated. Her owner has graciously placed her carefully in the reeds
in the hope that a smaller retail outlet will be glad to use her for
displays. This mannequin has no knowledge of any of this information,
instead her insight is that she has been discarded into an environment
that appears to be evidence of how nature is being slowly destroyed.
When I look intently at Steve’s absorbing and thoughtful study, I also
have thoughts that parallel the model’s. Steve’s creative and uplifting
image has a strong symbolism between the loss of retail stores
represented by mannequins no longer being needed, and the destruction
and demise of vast areas of nature, represented here by the tangled
growth of a marshland, even though here, some of it will grow back.
Peter A. Marr
Oak Meadow
In
his artist statement Dick states that "great photographs are created
less by technique and equipment but much more by the personal vision of
the photographer".
In Oak Meadow he has created a
photograph which provides the viewer a strong impression of what an
early morning walk can be like. It is not a landscape displaying
razor-sharp images with strong, vibrant colors, but rather is a
photograph built with soft muted colors, almost pastel in nature.
This is the way that the landscape looks on an early morning walk, a
peaceful and calming time to be walking though the land.
Dick successfully mirrors the main tree in the foreground with the
second tree in the background--bringing a sense of balance to the
composition which complements the color and mood of this photograph.
Although the focus is intentionally somewhat soft, there is more than
enough detail to provide the viewer with a great deal of information
about the landscape. | ||||||||||||
Image City Photography Gallery ♦ 722 University Avenue ♦ Rochester, NY 14607 ♦ 585.271.2540 In the heart of ARTWalk in the Neighborhood of the Arts |