Image City Peter's Picks Exhibition

January 26 – February 20, 2011

The show, unlike any other I’ve seen so far at the Image City, represents an extraordinary variety of motifs. You’ll find documentary, cityscapes, landscapes, abstracts, and portraits. Many are beautifully framed and some are unconventionally mounted. A lively assortment of the images will keep you busy and  interested.
It was such a soulful experience to see many traditional photographic prints, a majority of which  were created by Peter Marr, who goes an extra mile (literally and figuratively) to find the objects of his affection.  Marr captures nature’s heartbeats magnificently, as well as he masterfully develops his prints. Must see!
For those of you who enjoy aviation, Donald Race’s photograph – F15E – will pull you in at its first sight.  A deceptive stillness of the aircraft against brilliant blue sky is breathtaking.  Race’s image induces such a romantic and inspiring notion that you may wish to look at it once more before you leave the gallery.

Jesse Thayer’s – a guest photographer – presentation in the East wing of the gallery is a collection of chromogenic and black and white images that are sincere and moving.  Among many great shots, my favorite were a heartbreaking Wild Dogs and seductive and sensuous Milan’s Beauty.

Jeno Horvath’s Selfportrait, being comprised of numerous images of himself, each taken in a different setting but presented within the same space, is mind-twisting. I promise that it will make you smile.  Let me know if it doesn’t – I would want to know why.
Enjoy!

Yours truly,
Aida

Oxford Gallery Invitation

I treated myself to Souvenirs de France this weekend at the Oxford Gallery (corner of Oxford and Park Avenue). I like the gallery for its old building that hosts such a retrospective space. It reminds me of the old-fashioned New York City galleries, some of which still exist.
I must mention that when I write an exhibition review, I always follow my rule: describe what I like the most, the rest is for others to discover.
So here it is.

Chris Baker paints in gouache and creates architectural motifs intervened with human figures. If I could describe his style, I would name it an elaborate solidity. Baker knows how to define and emphasize textures: bricks, pavement, sidewalks, stucco, and many more elements that constitute an architectural motif. All these details are painstakingly worked out to show us what the artist observed when looking at the scene. Interestingly, Baker gives a ‘face’ to a building but takes it away from a human figure. His personages seem featureless and silent but they do speak through posture and gesticulation.

Wayne Williams’ sculptures – Black Nun and Daughter of Charity – were certainly the highlights of the exhibition for me. The smooth, almost perfect surface of the nuns’ scapular and tunic stand out dramatically against the very textured and ‘seen-it-all’ skin of their faces and hands. Nuns may tend to the homeless and the sick, pray for the ones who can’t or don’t know how, work tirelessly to maintain cloister warm and dry, and just keep up with everyday chores. That was the story I ‘read’ when looking at the human figure that stood still but moved me so. Will it do the same for you?
Let me know how it goes!

Yours truly,
Aida