Traditional
to Digital
26th Annual
Photo Regional Exhibit
Fulton Street
Gallery, through May 15
by Pam
Barrett-Fender
Metroland
Online
Since the
invention of photography not quite 200 years ago, the evolution
of technology and the nature of artistic curiosity have greatly
expanded its use: From strictly recording events and communicating
information, it has evolved to include the more complex roles
of telling stories, conveying meaning, changing perceptions, and
creating realities. Each spring, our local galleries take turns
presenting the annual Photography Regional Exhibit in honor of
this evolution.
The Photo
Regional was created 26 years ago, in reaction to the exclusion
of photographic art from the Mohawk Hudson Regional Exhibit. This
exhibit is a tradition born of the insistence of photographic
artists on having a voice, and on being taken seriously as a creative
force in their community. Of course, the Regional has long since
come to accept photography as fine art, but the Photo Regional
remains the preeminent showcase for regional contemporary photography.
Hosted
this year by the Fulton Street Gallery in Troy, organized by Susan
Myers, and juried by (photographer, Yale graduate and Bard professor)
Tanya Marcuse, this show has more points of interest than I can
address in this limited space. It’s worth a look.
The 71 pieces (by 44 artists) hanging in the Fulton Street Gallery
represent a fairly broad range of styles, modes and concepts—without
much danger of falling over the cutting edge. (Every piece is
a two-dimensional wall-hanging pictorial image.) There are a surprising
number of traditional, chemically processed prints, including
silver gelatin, cyanotype and liquid light to balance the less
surprising plethora of digital images. The work ranges from crisp
and contemporary to dreamy and nostalgic, from choreographed to
serendipitous, from austere to effusive.
The top prizes,
not surprisingly, go to some of the area’s most noted photographers.
Dedee’s View, Coinand France by David Brickman won
first place. The color image shows a view out an open window,
of a French vista, its lush vegetation and moody sky both anchored
and juxtaposed by the angular frame of the window.
Mark McCarty
was the second-place winner, with his Jean, a poignant
black-and-white portrait of a woman of advanced age. Her eyes
are closed as she holds her face in her brittle, aged hands in
an intense moment of reverie.
The third
prize goes to Jeri Eisenberg for her dreamy, (very) softly focused,
high-contrast black-and-white image of lakeside trees. Lake
Edge evokes a feeling of being between states of consciousness,
in a realm of fantasy or memory.
As it happens,
all the prize-winning photographs, and an honorable mention or
two, are within 15 feet of the front door. Interestingly, the
prizes were awarded (by the juror) after the exhibit was hung
(by the curator.) Is this coincidence, or subtle curatorial influence?
It is clear that a good deal of attention went into the presentation
of this exhibit, from the clever, spacious groupings, to the PowerPoint
presentation of the “salon.” It is a thoughtful, cogent
and well-paced exhibition—an honor to the show’s history,
and a welcome upswing for a community gallery run largely by artist
volunteers.
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