Military Visual Journalism

Military Visual Journalism
Exhibition Dates: February 13–March 8, 2012
Gallery Reception: Thursday, February 23, 5–7 pm

The exhibition features the work of ten photographers enrolled
in the Newhouse Military Photojournalism Program:
Ryan Courtade/USN, Christopher Lee Griffin/USAF, Venessa Hernandez/USA, Brian A. Lautenslager/USMC, Andrew J. Lee/USAF, Efrén López/USAF, Manuel J. Martinez/USAF, Kyle T. Ramirez/USMC, Justin Stumberg/USN, and Bobby J. Yarbrough/USMC.

Guest curated by Efrén López.

About the Military Visual Journalism Program at Syracuse University:

The Newhouse School is home to two Department of Defense sponsored programs which teach active-duty military personnel photojournalism and broadcast journalism. The Military Photojournalism (MPJ) and Military Motion Media (MMM) programs consist of students from the Navy, Marine Corps, Army and Air Force. These enlisted service members have been serving as mass communication specialists, combat photographers and military journalists. They come to the school for ten months to learn how to become better storytellers.

While at Newhouse, MPJ and MMM students earn 30 credit hours. Military students arrive in August for an intensive English and grammar refresher. Following this two-week course, students attend a one week workshop on photography before they begin classes in the regular semester. While most classes taken by MPJ and MMM students are exclusively for the 16 students in each program, for one class each semester the students are mixed with our regular student population for communication classes.

Light Work invites groups and individuals to schedule tours and gallery talks of the exhibition and facility. Light Work is a nonprofit, 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, please contact Jessica Reed at Light Work, 315-443-1300 or jhreed01@syr.edu.

Amy Elkins & Jen Davis: looking & looking

Amy Elkins & Jen Davis—looking & looking
Exhibition Dates: January 17–March 8, 2012
Gallery Reception: February 23, 5–7 pm

Light Work is pleased to announce the exhibition Looking & Looking, featuring photographs by Jen Davis and Amy Elkins. Both artists create work that focuses on gaze and identity, with Davis looking at herself and Elkins looking at young male athletes. The images in the exhibition explore the perception of how men and women are supposed to appear in society—men should be strong and confident, women should be beautiful—and the crafting of a self-image.

Jen Davis creates self-portraits that deal with issues surrounding beauty, identity, and body image of women, and challenges the perceptions and stereotypes of how women should look in their physical appearances. Amy Elkins depicts the more aggressive, competitive, and violent aspects of male identity in her series Elegant Violence, which captures portraits of young Ivy League rugby athletes moments after their game. Elkins’ images explore the balance between athleticism, modes of violence or aggression, and varying degrees of vulnerability within a sport where brutal body contact is fundamental.

Both artists focus on the construction of identity—the players are astutely aware of how they are presenting themselves while Davis draws attention to her own self-image in a more emotional way. Shown together, the works of Davis and Elkins urge the viewer to consider expectations and perceptions (both societal and individual) of identity.

About the Artists

Jen Davis received her MFA from Yale University, and her BA from Columbia College Chicago. Her work has been exhibited internationally, including at Musée de l’Elysée in Lausanne, Switzerland; Joy Wei Gallery in New York; SI FEST: Savignano Immagini Festival in Italy; Museum of Fine Arts, Boston; Center for Photography at Woodstock; Stephen Daiter Gallery in Chicago, IL; Milwaukee Art Museum; and Galerie Priska Pasquer in Cologne, Germany, among others. Her photographs are in the collections of the Art Institute of Chicago, The Sir Elton John Photography Collection, and The Library of Congress. Davis is represented by Lee Marks Fine Art.

Amy Elkins received her BFA in Photography from the School of Visual Arts in New York City. Her work has been exhibited both nationally and internationally, including shows at Kunsthalle Wien in Vienna, Austria; The PIP International Photo Festival in Pingyao, China; Gallery Elsa in Busan, South Korea; National Arts Club, Tina Kim Gallery, and Yancey Richardson Gallery in New York, among many others. Amy Elkins and Cara Phillips co-founded wipnyc.org, a platform for showcasing both established and emerging women in photography. Elkins is represented by Yancey Richardson Gallery in New York.

Also on view at this time is the exhibition Wounding the Black Male, featuring photographs from the Light Work Collection. The exhibition was co-curated by Cassandra Jackson and Sarah Cunningham, both from The College of New Jersey in Ewing, NJ.

Gallery hours for these exhibitions are Sunday to Friday, 10 am–6 pm (except school holidays), 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 Booth Parking Garage.

Light Work invites groups and individuals to schedule tours and gallery talks of the exhibition and facility. Light Work is a nonprofit, 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, please contact Jessica Reed at Light Work, 315-443-1300 or jhreed01@syr.edu.

Wounding the Black Male: Photographs from the Light Work Collection

Photographs from the Light Work Collection—Wounding the Black Male
Exhibition Dates: January 17–May 31, 2012
Gallery Reception: Thursday, February 23, 5–7 pm

Light Work is pleased to bring the exhibition Wounding the Black Male to Syracuse. The exhibition was curated by English Professor Cassandra Jackson and Gallery Director Sarah Cunningham, both from The College of New Jersey (TCNJ). The exhibition was on view in the TCNJ Art Gallery in 2011.

The central ideas of the exhibit are rooted in Jackson’s most recent book, Violence, Visual Culture, and the Black Male Body (Routledge, 2010). Her book deals with the ways in which the black male body has been visually exploited, and the ways in which contemporary artists have called into question the paradigmatic construction of the black body in American society. The exhibit displays thirty-one photographs by nineteen contemporary artists of African descent, seventeen are from the United States, two from Britain. Their work comments on the various representations of black bodies in Western visual culture. These artists confront stereotypes about black male appearance, sexuality, violence, and family, and highlight the ways that visual culture has contributed to the marginalization and exclusion of the black community.

Violence, and more specifically the ways in which wounds have been used to control black masculinity, is central to Jackson’s research. The wounding and modification of the black body is a theme which runs throughout many of the photographs in the exhibit, most notably in the striking photographs of New York City based artist Hank Willis Thomas. Featured in the exhibit, Branded Chest (2003) from his Br@nded series, is a photograph of an anonymous African American male torso, with a scar of the Nike symbol etched on its left pectoral. Willis Thomas is commenting on the appropriation of the black body in American advertisement and consumer culture, and the implied values that American society assigns to the male body.

Gallery hours for these exhibitions are Sunday-Friday, 10am-6pm (except school holidays), 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 Booth Parking Garage.

Light Work invites groups and individuals to schedule tours and gallery talks of the exhibition and facility. Light Work is a nonprofit, 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, please contact Jessica Reed at Light Work, 315-443-1300 or jhreed01@syr.edu.

Scott McCarney: Visual Books

SCOTT McCARNEY–VisualBooks
Light Work Main Gallery
November 1 – December 16, 2011
Gallery reception: November 3, 5-8pm

Light Work is pleased to announce the exhibition VisualBooks, featuring work by Scott McCarney. This unique and beautiful exhibition explores the book as a sculptural object that employs a variety of image-making processes. McCarney’s carefully hand-bound editions and found-altered books incorporate photographic imagery and utilize the space of the gallery to explore reading as display (on pedestals and shelves, hanging from the ceiling, mounted on the wall).

McCarney creates his sculptural objects and photo-based editions as one-of-a-kind, hand-made pieces as well as small runs of print-on-demand books. According to Hannah Frieser, director of Light Work,”Scott McCarney rethinks the book form, considering books as a starting point rather than a mere vehicle for information and images.”

The gallery reception on Nov. 3 (5-8 pm) celebrates the exhibition, and also serves as the kickoff event to the Society of Photographic Education (SPE) Northeast/Mid-Atlantic regional conference titledPhotographers + Publishing, which will be hosted by Light Work and Syracuse University. Light Work is publishing a special conference edition of the award-winning publication Contact Sheet in a run of 250, which will include original art by McCarney.

About the Artist
McCarney’s work has been exhibited internationally, including at the Center for Book Arts and Printed Matter Inc. in New York City; Tower Fine Arts Gallery in Brockport, NY; Minnesota Center for Book Arts in Minneapolis; University of the West of England, Bristol, UK; and other locations throughout the United States, the UK, Australia and more. He received his BFA from Virginia Commonwealth University in Richmond, VA, and his MFA from SUNY Buffalo and Visual Studies Workshop in Rochester. He has received numerous awards, including the New York State Foundation for the Arts Fellowship (printmaking/drawing book arts) and multiple Special Opportunity Stipends from NYFA/Rochester Arts & Cultural Council). McCarney’s work is featured in many permanent collections, including those of the Getty Center in Los Angeles; Museum of Contemporary Art in Chicago; the Museum of Modern Art Library, New York; and the Photographic Resource Center in Boston, among many others.

Also on view at this time is 2011 Light Work Grants, an exhibition of work by the winners of the 2011 Light Work Grants in Photography Competition: Neil Chowdhury, Danielle Mericle and Ahndraya Parlato. In addition, bobCollignon:Outdoorsman is on view in the Community Darkrooms Gallery.

Gallery hours for these exhibitions are Sunday to Friday, 10am-6pm. (except school holidays), 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 Booth Parking Garage.

Light Work invites groups and individuals to schedule tours and gallery talks of the exhibition and facility. Light Work is a nonprofit, 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, please contact Jessica Reed at Light Work, 315-443-1300 or jhreed01@syr.edu.

En Foco/In Focus: Selected Works from the Permanent Collection

EN FOCO/IN FOCUS:
Selected Works from the Permanent Collection
On view in the Robert B. Menschel Photography Gallery
Schine Student Center, Syracuse UniversityExhibition Dates: Sept. 1, 2011–Jan. 31, 2012

Light Work is pleased to announce the exhibition EN FOCO/IN FOCUS: Selected Works from the Permanent Collection, featuring photographs from the permanent collection at En Foco. Since its founding in 1974, En Foco has been dedicated to promoting cultural diversity in the field of photography. It has nurtured and supported photographers of diverse cultures, beginning with Latinos in New York, eventually broadening its mission to embrace photographers of African, Asian and Native American heritage across the United States.

The exhibition features the earliest works in the collection, dating to the 1970s and 1980s, which reflect the documentary impulse that characterized photographic work produced during and in the aftermath of the Civil Rights era. The exhibition also traces En Foco’s mission as it broadened its scope beyond Latino photographers. In doing so, the organization reflected the multicultural discourse of the 1990s, one that pressed for the inclusion of many cultural and ethnic voices in the spheres of culture, politics or the media, and looked at photography as a medium to examine identity, otherness and social and cultural contexts that shape perspectives on the self. Finally, the exhibition looks at En Foco through the youngest photographers represented in the collection, who provide a glimpse into the contemporary art scene’s global landscape. Whether dealing with local or universal themes, photographers of the current generation approach photography with great freedom, drawing from multiple photographic traditions, cultural histories and creative modes. These artists have come of age as digital technologies matured and essentially replaced the old, analog processes, and as virtual realities and communities have assumed an influential role in the way we perceive the world.En Foco has become recognized in the field of photography for its publications, annual New Works fellowship program, workshops and exhibitions. Much less known is a collection it has amassed of works by many of the photographers who have taken part in its programs. It now numbers nearly 700 prints dating from the 1970s to the present day, encompassing not only a plurality of voices but also subject matter, photographic approaches and points of view. The images presented in this exhibition offer an introduction into this significant photographic collection.

In addition to Light Work, the EN FOCO/IN FOCUS exhibition is sponsored by the National Endowment for the Arts, Nathan Cummings Foundation, Elizabeth Firestone Graham Foundation, the Bronx Council on the Arts, Canson Infinity, Archival Methods, and Syracuse University’s Division of Student Affairs Co-curricular Fund.

Gallery hours for the Robert B. Menschel Photography Gallery in Schine Student Center are Sunday to Saturday, 10 a.m.–10 p.m., except school holidays. You can also view the exhibition by appointment—to schedule an appointment, please call 315-443-1300.

Light Work invites groups and individuals to schedule tours and gallery talks of the exhibition and facility. Light Work is a nonprofit, 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, please contact Jessica Reed at Light Work, 315-443-1300 or jhreed01@syr.edu.

Keliy Anderson-Staley: [hyphen] AMERICANS

Keliy Anderson-Staley–[hyphen] AMERICANS
Exhibition Dates: August 8–October 14, 2011
Gallery Reception: October 6, 5:00–7:00pm

Light Work is pleased to announce the exhibition [hyphen] Americans, featuring stunning tintype portraits created by photographer Keliy Anderson-Staley. The exhibition title speaks to the multicultural character of American identities (Irish-American, African-American, etc.). Although a person’s heritage might be inferred by looking at their features and clothing, viewers of Anderson-Staley’s work are encouraged to, according to the artist, “suspend the kind of thinking that would traditionally assist in decoding these images in the context of American identity politics.”

According to the artist, “There are so many technical variables in the process, and there can be flaws and defects that enter the image at every stage of the process, and in many ways this makes it a perfect vehicle for portraits—it is truer to the reality of human imperfection. My images are titled only with the first name of the individual, and I very deliberately try not to draw attention to differences like race, because I want to challenge photography’s role in defining difference. At the same time, I want every person I photograph to stand out very sharply as an individual, to be defined as much as possible by the expression on their face.”Anderson-Staley makes portraits with the nineteenth-century wet-plate collodion process. She uses wooden view cameras, nineteenth-century brass lenses and chemicals she hand-mixes according to the traditional formulas. In this series she focuses on just one plane in the face—usually just the eyes. The exposures are long, lasting anywhere from ten to sixty seconds, so the images capture a full moment of thought. Because of these characteristics of the process, there is an introspective quality to each portrait, as if each person has been caught looking at him or herself in a mirror.

The portraits in the Light Work exhibition are mostly individuals from the broader Syracuse community photographed during Anderson-Staley’s residency in 2010. This collection of tintypes, numbering over one hundred, is thus as much a portrait of a diverse community as it is a series of individual portraits.

This exhibition is part of Syracuse Symposium™. Syracuse Symposium™ is presented by the Syracuse University Humanities Center for the College of Arts and Sciences, with a 2011 theme of Identity.

About the Artist
Keliy Anderson-Staley’s work has been exhibited in solo and group exhibitions internationally and published widely in print and online. She has received numerous awards and fellowships, including a New York Foundation for the Arts Fellowship and a Puffin Grant. Anderson-Staley has given artist talks at many colleges, universities, and organizations. She received her BA from Hampshire College in Amherst, MA and her BFA from Hunter College in New York, NY.

Also on view at this time is 2011 Light Work Grants, an exhibition of work by the winners of the 2011 Light Work Grants in Photography Competition: Neil Chowdhury, Danielle Mericle, and Ahndraya Parlato.

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 Booth Parking 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, please contact Jessica Reed at Light Work, 315-443-1300 or jhreed01@syr.edu.

Jeffrey Henson Scales: That Year of Living

JEFFREY HENSON SCALES–That Year of Living
March 22 – July 10, 2011 (extended)
Reception: April 7, 5–7pm
Light Work Hallway Gallery

Light Work is pleased to announce the exhibition That Year of Living featuring stunning black-and-white photographs by Jeffrey Henson Scales. Diagnosed with cancer in 2008, Scales was forced to, in his words, weigh the possibilities of his own demise, and whether he had achieved what he felt he was put here to do. It was this diagnosis and contemplation, along with the urging of his wife, Meg Henson Scales, which led him to return to making photographs on a daily basis.

The images in That Year of Living were made in the year following his cancer diagnosis and surgery. Scales photographed mainly in and around Times Square, depicting the part of New York City that he visited every day going to and from work at The New York Times. The images capture the certain hardness mixed with joy, sadness, determination, and bewilderment that is found in the faces of young and old alike in New York City. Created in the months following his own experience with mortality, the photographs explore the journey of life and death found in the faces on the streets of New York.

According to Scales, “I believe the world outside is never a static experience. Life on the street in New York City is always changing and I have and always will love to see what it looks like, photographed. I never bore of the state of contemporary life as it is reflected in the faces of people, the states of nature, the stuff of life itself. As such, I hope to always be making photographs of this thing: life—even when it transmogrifies into its natural endpoint.”

About the Artist
Scales has spent more than forty years as a documentary photographer. His work has been exhibited internationally, and has appeared in numerous photography books, magazines, and anthologies. His work is included in the permanent collections of The Museum of Modern Art, the George Eastman House, and the Baltimore Museum of Art. Scales has been a photography editor for The New York Times since 1998, editing The Week in Review, The Book Review, and co- editing The Year in Pictures. He is also an adjunct professor at the Tisch School of the Arts of New York University. He and his wife own the Harlem-based photo archive, HSP Archive, and the multimedia production company, Henson Scales Productions. His work can be viewed atwww.jeffreyscales.com.

Also on view at this time is Canaries, an exhibition of photographs by Thilde Jensen. The images in this exhibition are a personal account of the life Jensen has lived with Multiple Chemical Sensitivity, and the people she has met who suffer the same condition. People with this sensitivity have been dubbed “human canaries,” and they are the casualties of what Jensen calls a “ubiquitous synthetic chemical culture.” Jensen became so sensitive to chemicals in the air that she could not sit in traffic, read a book, or sit next to someone wearing perfume. She was forced to wear a gas mask when entering banks, supermarkets, and doctor’s offices. She left her life in New York City, her husband and her career, and moved to the country where she lived in a tent away from the regular chemicals such as laundry detergents, pesticides, and exhaust fumes.

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 Booth Parking 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, please contact Jessica H. Reed at Light Work, 315-443-1300 or jhreed01@syr.edu.

Thilde Jensen: Canaries

Thilde Jensen–Canaries
March 22 – May 27, 2011
Reception: April 7, 5–7pm
Light Work Hallway Gallery

Light Work is pleased to announce the exhibition Canary, an exhibition of photographs by Thilde Jensen. The images in this exhibition are a personal account of the life Jensen has lived with Multiple Chemical Sensitivity (MCS), and the people she has met who suffer the same condition.

Jensen, born in Denmark, moved to New York City in 1997 to study photography after an early exploration into film making. Six years later her life and career as a documentary and editorial photographer were cut short by a sudden development of severe MCS. The urban life she had previously navigated with ease transformed into a toxic war zone. Her immune system crashed, forcing her into a survivalist journey, unraveling the comfort and construct of her previous life. The ensuing years were a lesson in basic survival—camping in the woods and wearing a respirator when entering supermarkets, doctors’ offices, and banks.

To her surprise an otherwise invisible subculture of people emerged who shared this isolated existence. Photographing became a medium for sanity and meaning in this hyper-sensitive dimension of reality. Her photographs are a personal account of life on the edge of modern civilization as one of the human canaries, the first casualties to a ubiquitous synthetic chemical culture.

Since World War II the production and use of synthetic chemicals has exploded. During the course of an average day, people come into contact with a host of chemicals. Just walking into a supermarket one might be breathing as many as 20,000 different synthetic compounds. As a result of the prevalence of these synthetic chemicals, it is believed that more than 10 million Americans have developed MCS.  Many people with MCS are forced to live in remote areas in tents, cars, or retro-fitted trailers, away from dangers of neighbors’ chemical use. Others are prisoners of their homes, with advanced air filter systems to keep outside air from contaminating their breathing space.

Gallery hours for this exhibition is 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 Booth Parking 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, please contact Jessica Reed at Light Work, 315-443-1300 or jhreed01@syr.edu.

Marna Bell: Hudson Past/Perfect

Marna Bell–Hudson Past/Perfect
Community Darkrooms Gallery
Exhibition Dates: January 18–March 8, 2011
Gallery Reception (at Light Work): February 3, 5:00–7:00pm

Light Work is pleased to announce the exhibition Hudson Past/Perfect, featuring photographs by Marna Bell, the winner of the Light Work/Community Darkrooms Members Juried Exhibition competition. Juror Stephen Mahan, director of the Photography & Literacy Project at Syracuse University, picked Bell as the winner, and awarded five Honorable Mentions to Jeremy Decharzo, Andy Frost, Genevieve Marshall, Meghan Schaetziel, and Mindy Lee Tarry.

In 2005, after the sudden death of her mother, Bell picked up her camera after a twenty year hiatus from painting and began photographing nature. Her focus in both painting and photography has been on reclaiming visions of the past and her connection to nature.

According to Bell, “Many trips back home to New York City on the train have helped me remember lost pieces of time where life seemed simpler and less veiled. It was a natural progression for me to record the cycle of change in my Hudson Past/Perfectseries. By revisiting the same landscapes in different seasons and under different weather conditions, I was able to capture the past before it disappeared. I am drawn to the meditative quality of the Hudson River and the sacred aspects of the natural environment.” The series is reminiscent of a more romantic era, when God and Nature were viewed as one.

About the Artist
Marna Bell received her BFA from Pratt Institute and her MFA from Syracuse University. Her paintings and photography have been featured in exhibitions throughout New York State as well as at the Brenda Taylor Gallery in San Diego, CA. She received the Best in Photography Award in the Manhattan Arts International Online Exhibition, The Healing Power of Art (New York, NY).

Also on view at this time is Penumbra, a suite of three video installations by Demetrius Oliver, and theTransmedia Photography Annual exhibition, featuring photographs by seniors in Syracuse University’s Department of Transmedia, part of the College of Visual and Performing Arts.

Gallery hours for this exhibition 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 Booth Parking 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, please contact Jessica Reed at Light Work, 315-443-1300 or jhreed01@syr.edu.

Demetrius Oliver: Penumbra

Demetrius Oliver–Penumbra
Exhibition Dates: January 18–March 8, 2011
Gallery Reception (at Light Work): February 3, 5:00–7:00pm

Light Work is pleased to announce the exhibition Penumbra, a suite of three video installations by Demetrius Oliver, which reconnects viewers to their place in the universe by playing with earthly and human forms against a backdrop of the cosmos. In Penumbra, explorations of light and scale, movement and the rhythm of the natural world suggest journeys both physical and metaphysical.


Light Work Gallery: Mare, January 18–March 8, 2011

In Mare, a circular image of a wave crashes against an unnamed shore; the image spins within itself and simultaneously orbits the gallery. As the image rotates, the lines of the wave begin to resemble the layered surface of a Jovian planet such as Jupiter. Visitors to the gallery become part of the work as the projection reflects off their bodies. Joining the sea with both corporal and heavenly phenomena, the installation recreates the awe felt when looking at the night sky and the increasing smallness of human existence within the ever-expanding universe.

Oliver
Demetrius Oliver
Perigee

Urban Video Project Everson Site:
Perigee, February 2011

At the Everson Museum of Art Urban Video Project site, Oliver will install the workPerigee, which echoes the same circular image of a wave that appears in Mare. A perigee occurs when one orbiting body, in this case the moon, is closest to earth, which makes tidal waves generally stronger. The movement of the video describes the rotation of both planets and the alternate rising and falling of the sea. Its projection on the site, framed perfectly against the stars, transports the viewer into the celestial continuum where earth and its inhabitants are affected by larger bodies in space.

Oliver
Demetrius Oliver
Penumbra

Robert B. Menschel Photography Gallery (Schine Student Center): 
Penumbra
, January 18–March 3, 2011

Penumbra, which will be installed in the Menschel Gallery at Schine Student Center, is a three-channel video in which Oliver’s head acts as a stellar body fading away as another body emerges to conceal it. The three videos play simultaneously, allowing Oliver to stretch time, the body, and space as the circle of his head becomes both a macrocosm of the universe and a microcosm of the body.

About the Artist
Demetrius Oliver lives and works in New York, NY. He received his BFA from the Rhode Island School of Design, Providence, RI and his MFA from the University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA , and attended the Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture, ME. From has participated in artist residencies at the Core Program, Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, TX and The Studio Museum in Harlem, New York, NY. Oliver was a Light Work Artist-in-Residence in 2009. His work has been exhibited widely, with recent solo exhibitions at Virginia Commonwealth University, Richmond, VA; Rhodes College, Memphis, TN; D’Amelio Terras, NY; the Atlanta Contemporary Art Center, GA; and The Contemporary Arts Museum, Houston. Most recently his workJupiter was installed on the Highline Gallery in New York City.

Also on view at this time is the Transmedia Photography Annual exhibition, featuring photographs by seniors in Syracuse University’s Department of Transmedia, part of the College of Visual and Performing Arts.

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 Booth Parking 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, please contact Jessica Heckman at Light Work, 315-443-1300 or jhreed01@syr.edu.

Transmedia Photography Annual Exhibition: Best of Show Award

Transmedia Photography Annual Exhibition–Best of Show Award
Exhibition Dates: January 18–March 8, 2011

Light Work is pleased to announce the Transmedia Photography Annual exhibition, featuring photographs by seniors in Syracuse University’s Department of Transmedia, part of the College of Visual and Performing Arts. For this exhibition, Light Work has collaborated with Innova Art Ltd to award a Best of Show and two Honorable Mentions.

Juror Scott Conarroe, a visiting artist from Canada, selected the recipients of the Best of Show Award and two Honorable Mentions. John O’Toole, recipient of the Best of Show Award, will receive $700 worth of Innova paper, plus $200 worth of digital printing at Community Darkrooms. The two recipients of the Honorable Mention Award, Genevieve Marshall and Varvara Mikushkina, will each receive $150 worth of Innova paper. Other finalists in the competition were Soloman David Schechman and Mary Gannon.

According to Conarroe, “It was a real pleasure for me to spend time with the work in this show. The quality of the images and the scope of inquiry were more than interesting; this is an inspiring collection of photographs. I am particularly grateful to John, Genevieve, and Varvara for this early glimpse into what I expect will be significant practices in the years to come. Congratulations and thank you to everyone who contributed to this Transmedia exhibition.”

John O’Toole — Best of Show Award
O’Toole’s series What Was Once Familiar… depicts Catholic Memorial, an all boys private Catholic school in Massachusetts for grades 7-12 attended by the artist. These images explore schools both as places that are consistently in a state of flux, with students graduating and teachers moving on, but also as environments that remain constant and familiar to the community of people that grow together within these institutions.

Genevieve Marshall—Honorable Mention Award
Marshall’s work investigates the complexity of feelings she has toward her father and their relationship. Since her parents divorced in 1995, her father has never owned a home, and as a result, their time together is spent occupying public space (diners, job sites, etc.). Marshall uses this series as an opportunity to assess her place within his world, and create meaning from the spaces that meant nothing to her.

Varvara Mikushkina—Honorable Mention Award
Mikushkina photographs her family, capturing how certain immigrant tendencies are inescapable. The work communicates what she likes to call, “the immigrant soul.” The images communicate an understanding of intimacy and the invitation to someone’s cultural home, where that specific culture is sustained within foreign grounds that it inhabits.

About Innova Art Ltd:
When it comes to color-critical digital printing, INNOVA delivers to the photographer, artist, print production house and print buyer. INNOVA’s un-paralleled line of fine art digital printing products include award winning FibaPrint®, Photo, Fine Art, Eco-solvent and Book Art papers, available in cut sheets and rolls up to 60″ wide. Innova also offers internationally recognized canvas, new INNOVA Art Cards, and the patented JetMaster Display System. For more information about INNOVA, visit www.InnovaArt.com

Also on view at this time is the exhibition Penumbra, a suite of three video installations by Demetrius Oliver, which reconnects viewers to their place in the universe by playing with earthly and human forms against a backdrop of the cosmos. In Penumbra, explorations of light and scale, movement and the rhythm of the natural world suggest journeys both physical and metaphysical.

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 Booth Parking 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, please contact Jessica H. Reed at Light Work, 315-443-1300 or jhreed01@syr.edu.

Pipo Nguyen-duy: East of Eden: Vietnam

Pipo Nguyen-duy–East of Eden: Vietnam
Exhibition Dates: Through December 23, 2010
Lecture: November 17, 6:00pm

Light Work is pleased to invite you to view East of Eden: Vietnam featuring photographs by Pipo Nguyen-duy. These large-format color photographs bear witness to scars on the landscape and its people, caused by the Vietnam/American War.

To create East of Eden: Vietnam, Nguyen-duy traveled across Vietnam on a moped looking for war survivors—both afflicted civilians and amputee ex-combatants—and photographed them against the idyllic Southeast Asian landscape.

According to Sam Lee Gallery, “In East of Eden: Vietnam, Nguyen-duy has not veered far from his signature art practice, focusing on producing images that employ a blend of documentation and performance. Using the landscape as a post-apocalyptic ‘Eden,’ Nguyen-duy points out the horrific evidence of violent conflict and also focuses on the persistence of the human spirit. Each image conjures a narrative that hints at the past but also looks to the future.”

Pipo Nguyen-duy was born in Hue, Vietnam. Growing up within thirty kilometers of the Demilitarized Zone of the 18th Parallel, he describes hearing gunfire every day of his early life. In 1975 he immigrated to the United States as a political refugee. Nguyen-duy has taken on many things in life in pursuit of his diverse interests. As a teenager in Vietnam, he competed as a national athlete in table tennis. He also spent some time during the mid Eighties living as a Buddhist monk in Northern India. In 1983 he earned a BA in economics at Carleton College. He then moved to New York City where he worked as a bartender and later as a nightclub manager. While living in the East Village in the Eighties, or as Nguyen-duy describes, “the crux of creativity in New York,” and meeting people such as musician Don Cherry and artist Keith Haring, his interests turned to art. In 1992 he earned a MA in Photography, followed by a MFA in Photography in 1995, both from the University of New Mexico at Albuquerque. He participated in Light Work’s Artist-in-Residence Program in 2004 and was featured in an exhibition in the Light Work Main Gallery in 2006.

Light Work will feature a lecture by the artist on Wednesday, November 17 at 6:00pm. This exhibition and lecture are co-sponsored by the 2010 Syracuse Symposium and the Co-Curricular Fund from the Division of Student Affairs at Syracuse University.

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, please contact Jessica Heckman at Light Work, 315-443-1300 or jhheckma@syr.edu.