Holy photographs on Congress St. in Portland
If you’re looking for a place to worship on Congress St. in Portland, stop in at Susan Maasch Fine Art and Space Gallery and take your pick from two very different styles of service. Or get ecumenical and enjoy both in the same half hour.
I have no shortage of visceral reactions to photographs and am fortunate to see many stupendous images. But, even in a crowded gallery on First Friday a couple of days ago where I was viewing the works included in “212: A Portrait of a City” at Susan Maasch Fine Art, my first view of Tom Baril’s photogravure “Chrysler Building” transported me instantly to a very still and beautiful place.
Chrysler Building © Tom Baril. All Rights Reserved
On Mr. Baril’s website, it says there is a portfolio of architectural images available of photogravures hand-pulled by Jon Goodman. The images exhibited in the “212″ show are printed by Jon Goodman.
Rarely have I seen such air in a photograph and the tones are so endless and lush that even this little electronic version of the image makes me hold my breath.
The “212″ show is small but well-selected and also includes 2-3 works each on view in a variety of processes from Scott Peterman, Todd Watts, Jack Montgomery, Keliy Anderson-Staley, and one 1972 silver gelatin print of Berenice Abbott’s “Greyhound Bus Terminal” (1936) reproduced below with the permission of Susan Maasch Fine Art.
Todd Watts’ two dye transfers are intriguing and mysterious, frankly. Although way too often photographers are asked “How did you do this?” and I disapprove of such a question, it would be the first thing out of my mouth if I happened to meet Mr. Watts in front of his two images in the show.
Brooklyn Bridge (Artifice and Artifact) © Todd Watts. All Rights Reserved. Courtesy Susan Maasch Fine Art
Jack Montgomery, known for his portraits of people, is bringing the same intimacy and concentration to his portraits of NYC. Small and emanating a sense of the deeply personal, these photographs beg you to push your face into them and spend some time reading their dark beauty. Wish there were more on view to round out an impression of this body of work. They are not represented on his website.
Brooklyn Heights © Jack Montgomery. All Rights Reserved. Courtesy of Susan Maasch Fine Art.
All of the artists in “212″ have more work available at the gallery for viewing so use the ones on view as a starting point. Then ask to see the remaining images and indulge in a full gallery experience. You know those people who work there? That’s what they are there for – to expand your world. Take advantage of it.
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Across the street and east a few feet is the cavernous SPACE GALLERY. Luckily Mark Rockwood told me yesterday about the show of Bill Daniel‘s work there or I would not have known about it – so I’m passing it on with high enthusiasm. I went right over Saturday afternoon and had the gallery to myself which I appreciated. It takes some concentration to put a full value on what you are viewing.
The most compelling pieces in the Bill Daniel show are the four fantastic black and white photographs of abandoned gas stations printed on big white tarps. I e-mailed Andy Graham at Portland Color to ask if they had been created there and the answer is yes. I don’t know about you but I have never seen anything like these. I have no image to pass on to you here but if you don’t get in to see this show sometime in August you will miss a very unique thing. Many of the walls are filled with other photos of varying sizes and mood, together with detritus described in the SPACE brochure as “unmapped photo-based work that is presented as the ‘ground score’ of an itinerant, obsessive collector of socioeconomic marginalia.” No way I could have paraphrased that one.
I took away the postcard SPACE printed about the show and will put it on my wall. It’s of my favorite photograph in the show: “Sailvan in Arizona (2006)”. Sometimes the simplest of objects are the most holy.
Sailvan in Arizona © Bill Daniel. All Rights Reserved.
For the hours of worship for both of these destinations, check out their websites.
August 14, 2010 at 12:11 pm
To answer your “How did you do this?” question, my photograph of the Brooklyn Bridge, “Artifice and Artifact”, was made at the centennial of the Brooklyn Bridge. I chose the point of view to emulate the Currier and Ives lithograph of the celebrations at the opening of the Brooklyn Bridge in 1893. The photograph was made as an in-camera color separation on 8 X 10” black and white film. The prints are Dye Transfer and were made in an edition of 100 for the BAM 2 portfolio published by Parasol Press for the Brooklyn Academy of Music. Each print is unique. The two examples in the exhibition are the last of the edition.
August 14, 2010 at 3:00 pm
THANK YOU! Very impressive images and I appreciate the process explanation, Todd.