UMBC's two art galleries offer shows by prominent Americanphotographers through March 16. The Albin O. KuhnLibrary Gallery's exhibition, Riding theTitanic!, features work by Nathan Lyons and includes 200 black andwhite photographs that reveal the artist's unique view ofAmerica and its social landscape.
The exhibition "is an exhibition ofan epic poem about life, America, the world, and so muchmore," says Tom Beck, chief curator of the Albin O. Kuhn Library."Lyons has long been interested in the relationshipbetween language and images, and how images may be used syntactically likewords to express thoughts poetically."
Nathan Lyons has exerted a profound effect on the field of photographyfor more than forty years. He began to photograph in the late1950s using a view camera to create images that emphasized the medium'sexpressive rather than documentary potential. In 1962, heswitched to a 35mm camera, and along with other photographers of hisgeneration such as Lee Friedlander and Garry Winogrand, lookedto contemporary culture for inspiration.
As the exhibition's title suggests, shadow is used within the images asa metaphor for the shifting visibility of the black population during thisperiod of political and cultural change. Shot with high-speed film anddigitally printed on drawing paper, the images have a rich pointillisttexture and the depth of ink on paper. Formally, they blend theauthenticity of full-frame street photography with a reductivistaesthetic. In their narrative, they reveal the subtle power of everydayactivities to illuminate a moment in the culture's transformation. Withinthe shallow stage of the picture plane, the viewer enters a space in whichpeople, place, and shadow each play a seminal role.
Lyons will visit UMBC to give a public lecture on Wednesday, February20, at 4 p.m. in the Gallery. A reception will follow. Formore information about the exhibition, visit the online artscalendar orcall the gallery at x52270. You can also read the onlinepress release.
The FineArts Gallery, located in the Fine Arts Building, presentsCasting Shadows: Photographs by Edward West. Shortly afterthe fall of apartheid in South Africa, West traveled thereto create Casting Shadows, a remarkable body of work depicting thedaily lives of black South Africans during this period ofsocietal transformation. A person of mixed race himself, West photographedin the country's communities of color-townships, squattercamps and other locations.
"By concentrating on everyday life being lived within blacktownships inSouth Africa," says Symmes Gardner, director of programs at thegallery, "Edward West's photographs allow us to recognizethe elementsof humanity that are continuously interwoven in the on-going struggle forequality. This exhibition continues our programming dedicated to theexamination of race and gender." Other recent exhibitions inthis series included Adrian Piper: A Retrospective and FredWilson: Objects and Installations, 1979 – 2000.
As the exhibition's title suggests, shadow is used within the images asa metaphor for the shifting visibility of the black population during thisperiod of political and cultural change. Shot with high-speed film anddigitally printed on drawing paper, the images have a rich pointillisttexture and the depth of ink on paper. Formally, they blend theauthenticity of full-frame street photography with a reductivistaesthetic. In their narrative, they reveal the subtle power of everydayactivities to illuminate a moment in the culture's transformation. Withinthe shallow stage of the picture plane, the viewer enters a space in whichpeople, place, and shadow each play a seminal role.
A gallery talk with Edward West will be held on Thursday, February28, from 7:30 to 9 p.m. For more information about theexhibition, visit the online artscalendar or call the gallery atx53188. You can also read the onlinepress release.
