Rachel Herman: The Imp of Love

Rachel Herman—The Imp of Love
January 14–March 12, 2010
Gallery Reception: January 28, 2010, 5:00–7:00pm

Light Work is pleased to announce the exhibition The Imp of Love, featuring the work of Rachel Herman. The photographs capture moments between two people who were once lovers, but are now trying to maintain their relationship as just friends. According to Herman, she hopes to depict visually “how love bends but doesn’t break.”

This attempt to maintain a friendship where there was once a more intense love can lead to awkward or painful moments, or in some cases tender and confusing interactions between the couples. Many of the images in this exhibition capture affection that is, in the artist’s words, “loaded, layered, complicated, or unrequited.” Yet the couples are willing to endure this discomfort in an attempt to retain a friendship with their former lover, and not cut off contact entirely.

Herman holds an MFA in Visual Arts/Photography from The University of Chicago, and a BA in English Literature from the University of Michigan. Her work has been exhibited nationwide, including at such galleries as Photographic Center Northwest in Seattle, WA; Anderson Ranch Arts Center in Snowmass Village, CO; Photo-Four Gallery at South Suburban College in South Holland, IL; and H.J. Johnson Gallery at Carthage College in Kenosha, WI, among others. She was an Artist-in-Residence at Anderson Ranch, and participated in Review Santa Fe. She is currently a photography instructor at Columbia College in Chicago, IL; Dominican University in River Forest, IL; Evanston Art Center, and is an adjunct faculty member in the art department of South Suburban College in South Holland, IL.

Also on view at this time is the Transmedia Photography Annual exhibition. This exhibition features work by seniors and graduate students studying photography in Syracuse University’s College of Visual and Performing Arts, Transmedia Department.

Light Work will host a gallery reception on Thursday, January 28, 2010 from 5–7pm to celebrate these exhibitions.

Gallery hours for these exhibitions are Sunday to Friday, 10am–6pm, and by appointment. To schedule an appointment, please call 315-443-1300. Both the exhibition and reception are free and open to the public. Paid parking is available in the Marion Parking Lot and Booth Garage.

Light Work invites groups and individuals to schedule tours and gallery talks of the exhibition and facility. Light Work is a non-profit, artist-run organization dedicated to the support of artists working in photography and electronic media. Light Work is a member of CMAC, the Coalition of Museum and Art Centers at Syracuse University.

For more information about any of these exhibitions, please contact Jessica Heckman at Light Work, 315-443-1300 or jhheckma@syr.edu.
**Digital press images and image information from both exhibitions are available upon request.

As It Happens special event

If you’re in NYC on Thursday, January 14, 2010, make sure to stop by for a special event at Palitz Gallery. Currently on view there is the exhibition As It Happens, which celebrates the Light Work Artists-in-Residence program. The show features work by recent residents, including Kelli Connell, Christine Osinski, Lisa M. Robinson, Kerry Skarbakka, Amy Stein, Krista Steinke, and Marla Sweeney, among many others. The reception starts at 6, and then at 6:30 David Ross and Light Work Executive Director Jeffrey Hoone will be in conversation about Light Work and its renowned residency program, supporting artists, and recent developments in photography.

If you can’t make it on the 14th, the exhibition will be on view until February 11.

Image: Amy Stein, Peri, Route 64, Outside Lexington, Kentucky, 2005

As It Happens
Lubin House: Palitz Gallery
11 East 61st Street, NYC
212-826-1449

We're going to LA

Happy new year from all of us at Light Work! We’re starting out the year with preparations for photo LA, which will be held this year at the Santa Monica Civic Center from January 14-17. We’ll be there, along with an impressive list of other exhibitors, in support of our mission and our 2010 Subscription Program. We’re looking forward to seeing friends we made at photo MIAMI as well as to making some new ones. Many thanks to Stephen Cohen for making it possible for us to participate! Stop by the Light Work booth and also make sure you take advantage of the wonderful programming that’s been planned around the fair.

Kerry Skarbakka opens at Irvine Contemporary

2006 Light Work Artist-in-Residence Kerry Skarbakka opens his exhibition The Struggle to Right Oneself: A Survey tomorrow night at Irvine Contemporary in Washington, DC. In this series, the artist trips, falls, and generally loses his balance in ways both everyday and almost comically epic. Ultimately, the images reference the existential battle to remain upright in a challenging world. Included in the exhibition are several photographs that have not been exhibited previously, including Window Crash, 2009, at right.

At Light Work, we’re showing a video from Skarbakka’s series Elements of Attraction in conjunction with our upcoming exhibition Rachel Herman: The Imp of Love. Skarbakka’s video, which shows the artist falling down a sandy embankment in slow motion, makes a poignant counterpoint to Herman’s portraits of once-couples.

Kerry Skarbakka
The Struggle to Right Oneself: A Survey

December 19-January 30, 2009
Opening: December 19, 6:30-8:30pm
Irvine Contemporary
1412 14th St., NW
Washington, DC 20005
202-332-8767

Keith Johnson stops by for a visit

Today 2005 Artist-in-Residence Keith Johnson stopped by Light Work and Community Darkrooms on his way back home to Connecticut after spending some time at Visual Studies Workshops in Rochester. We got the chance to see some beautiful work from his Extended Landscape, Suite Niagara, and Grids series.

At left, we (l-r Mary Goodwin, Keith, Hannah Frieser) enjoy a couple pictures from the Grids series as well as some of Keith’s great stories from his travels to places as diverse as the Mayan ruins of the Yucatan Peninsula and St. Louis.

Review over at Dodge & Burn

Selina Roman over at the blog Dodge & Burn wrote a review about photo MIAMI 2009 which features Light Work and former Light Work Artist-in-Residence Carrie Mae Weems. Click here to see the review as well as other recent posts including interviews with Neelakshi Vidyalankara and María Fernanda Hubeaut.

Light Work Collection grows

This week 2009 Artist-in-Residence Yolanda del Amo sent us a gorgeous digital c-print of her image Winfried, Brigitte, 2006, for the Light Work Collection, which currently contains almost 3,500 pieces. The collection is comprised mainly of gifts, such as del Amo’s, from the hundreds of artists who have spent time at Light Work since we began our residency program in 1976. The collection also features the archive of Rita Hammond’s work, which was donated upon her death in 1999.

You can view each piece in our collection online. Each image is accompanied by detailed information about the photograph and the artist who made it. The My Favorites feature of the online database is a wonderful tool for teachers and students. This feature allows you to group images together onscreen, making is a fun and effective way to learn about curating. Researching in our online collection is free, and you can access it 24 hours a day. Check it out and curate a show of your own.

Welcome Priya Kambli

Our December Artist-in-Residence, Priya Kambli, has arrived just in time for the first major snowfall of the year in Syracuse. Good thing that Priya plans on spending most of her time indoors at Community Darkrooms making multiple editions of prints from her series Color Falls Down.

The series takes its name from a popular Hindi movie song, which speaks to the artist’s ultimate goal with the work: to bring together her roots in India with her life in America. Priya uses digital collage to combine the different cultures, generations, and identities that inform her life and work.

At right, the photographer keeps close tabs on various iterations of proofs as she works with Digital Lab Manager John Mannion to perfect her prints. Today the first full-scale print rolled off the 9900 in the new digital service area, with many more to come soon.

Miss Florida, art lover, at photo MIAMI

Miss Florida Rachael Todd dropped in at the Light Work booth at photo MIAMI. A collector, who had just purchased the Hank Willis Thomas platinum print Branded Chest, asked Rachel to pose with the print, and she obliged.

Call Light Work to check the availability of Branded Chest for your collection. We only have a handful left of this beautiful print.