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Exhibitions and Events at Light Work
Light Work Newsletter #23
January 2006
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in this issue
Light Work would like to thank its friends and supporters for another successful year of exhibitions and programs. The major exhibitions for 2005 included Zoë Sheehan Saldaña's mixed media exhibition Meanwhile, the group exhibition Artist Work: CEPA Gallery at Thirty, Kanako Sasaki's spunky work View from Here, and Toby Old's Waterlog: The Beach Series. Exhibition descriptions are available online and, far expanded, in back issues of our publications, Contact Sheet. The new exhibition year begins with Pipo Nguyen-duy's hauntingly beautiful exhibition East of Eden, followed by Suzanne Opton's exhibition Soldier. |
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Pipo Nguyen-duy: East of Eden (exhibition) ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
As a child, Pipo Nguyen-duy remembers hearing gunshots
every day. Growing up in Vietnam during the Vietnam War, he
particularly remembers the Tet Offensive that claimed his
uncle's house and everybody in it only a day after he stayed
there for a visit. Years later, at age thirteen, he immigrated to
the United States as a political refugee.
While the photographic series East of Eden is not autobiographical, the work draws on his complex emotions regarding his childhood in Vietnam. These emotions did not surface in his photographs until 9/11 reawakened his memories of a state of existence tainted by uncertainty. As the artist describes, "With September 11th, the idea of universal fear and anxiety became very similar to my thoughts and my reactions while living in Vietnam during the war. That is, at any given time, something is going to go wrong." East of Eden describes a world that has failed in its promise of paradise and well-being. While the cause of the threat is not present in the photographs, the work is saturated with an underlying feeling that something is either very wrong or about to go amiss. The people in Pipo's images stand amid nature, frozen in their emotions by a realization or sudden awareness of something to come. So intense is the psychological impact of these private moments that the subjects in the images seem to have quite forgotten what they were doing just a moment ago. This mid-moment disconnection conveys a sense that time and existence has come to a standstill. Unlike a typical freezing of action through fast shutter speed of the camera, here all life has come to a quiet, uneasy stop waiting for uncertainty to reveal itself once more.
PIPO NGUYEN-DUY: East of Eden |
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Digital Transitions: Selections from the Light Work Collection (exhibition) ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Photography, unlike any other creative visual medium, has
always had a close tie with science and technology. Because of
this, its technical processes have been greatly affected by
important changes in current and developing digital
technologies. In the last two decades a quiet revolution has
taken place. For many artists and photographers, the very
essence of image-making has changed from an analog process
to a digital one—from
mechanical and chemical, film and camera to alpha-numeric
code and computer-monitor-printer. The wet darkroom has at
least partially been replaced by the computer lab as artists
continue to work with the magic of light but in different forms
and with new tools. This exhibition takes a look at some of the
artists who have participated in Light Work's Artist-in-Residence
program and who have incorporated digital technologies into
their work to various degrees. Light Work's permanent
collection is available online at www.lightwork.org. (Image: Ben Gest, Jessica and Her Jewelry, 2006)
Digital Transitions: Selections from the Light Work
Collection |
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Artist-in-Residence Beatrix Reinhardt (AIR program) ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
German artist Beatrix Reinhardt hunts for access at some of
the world's most illustrious clubs. Her new photography series
has taken her to places as far as Australia, Great Britain, and
China. She is currently participating in Light Work's Artist-in-
Residence program to print many images from the series and
to photograph some of the local neighborhood clubs. The
series was started somewhat by accident during an artist
residency in Australia, where she, like many locals, joined a
number of clubs to socialize.
Beatrix grew up in Jena, Germany and has lived in the United States off and on for the last ten years. She has shown her photography internationally. Recent exhibition venues have included the Minnesota Center of Photography (Minneapolis), Silver Eye Center for Photography (Pittsburgh), and Sam Romo (Atlanta). She is currently preparing for an exhibition in Finland. Beatrix has participated in residency programs in Australia, India, and China. |
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Elinor Carucci lecture (event) ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Photographer Elinor Carucci is coming to Syracuse to talk about
her work as an artist and her extraordinary career. Carucci's
images capture a feeling of intimacy through photographs of
her family. She started creating images at age fifteen, viewing
her mother as her "natural point of origin," and her "connection
to the world." The images of her mother helped Carucci
explore her femininity, and helped her grow and separate into
her own life. Her work has expanded from focusing on just her
mother; she now photographs her father, brother,
grandparents, among other family members. Her husband
Eran has become an important subject and source of
inspiration, much like her mother had been before. Carucci
works in both black-and-white and color photography, and feels
that color photography makes her work feel warmer and more
vivid.
The lecture has been made possible through the College of Visual and Performing Arts at Syracuse University. It is co-sponsored by Light Work.
Tuesday, February 7, 2006 at 6:30pm |
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Contact Information ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
email:
info@lightwork.org
phone:
315-443-1300
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