Viewpoint Exhibit History

Visual & Verbal is the theme of the 11th annual juried show, TWELVE. Visual & Verbal focuses on the relationship of words to pictures, specifically to photographs. These two realms, visual and verbal, come from different portions of our brains and obviously have different roles in communication. But they are partners. The exhibit Twelve: Visual & Verbal explores that complex and stimulating partnership. The photographic subject matter and methods are wide open, limitless. However, words should accompany photographic entries in one or both of the following ways:

1. The image contains whole or partial letters, words or numbers in any language as a design element. These textual elements might appear in the original photograph, such as a street signs, or may be added to the image, for example, handwritten or digitally applied text.
2. The title extends the meaning of the photograph.

Umbilicus is a creative response to motherhood and the transformative nature of the female body.  The spherical form that appears in my work references the womb, the first dark hollow we inhabit. The uterus can resist or allow potential candidates for occupancy. Once occupied, the long wait ensues, and then - the inevitable surrender. The cord will be cut, but the tether remains. There is a sense of biology in my work, where organic forms meet graphic elements.  These elements allude to the pull from the outside world - the man-made world, where straight lines come from.  Some images in the exhibition began as lumen prints, born in the sun. I enjoy the playfulness of objects on a wide array of papers and the reference to historic photographic methods. I shoot film and experiment quite a bit with alternative processes.  I like when outcomes cannot be predicted, and control is relinquished to the light.

Mircea Ouatu-Lascar finds great joy being outdoors to photograph nature, architecture and  occasionally people.  Although he likes to travel, Mircea enjoys very much photographing close to home, in our local parks and around town.

Looking through the viewfinder with the lens wide open the fences disappear, the subject comes close, and for a brief fraction of time the crowds also seem to disappear leaving the impression of an intimate ‘one-on-one’ moment. Bringing the viewer into the world of animals through his lens and his heart, Mircea advocates for wildlife conservation, care and education.  Perhaps a photograph can start a conversation, which leads to awareness that grows into compassion, which in turn motivates positive action.

Traveling was always part of her life, and when her husband’s occupation made it possible for them to live abroad, her travel photography opportunities expanded. Armed with her camera and a ready smile, Cecilia ventured out on her own to explore her new surroundings.

Since 2007, she has lived in Republic of Georgia, Egypt, Tajikistan, Macedonia, Ukraine, Moldova, Serbia, Kyrgyzstan, and in April 2019 a short return to North Macedonia (formerly known as Macedonia or the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia (FYROM)). In total, she has set foot on all continents and made photographs in more than 78 countries plus Transnistria, a “country” that no other country recognizes.

In summer 2018, I began asking friends, family and other participants to choose a few objects that they live with and that are special in some way: sentimental, frequently used or just interesting looking. I tried not to give them too much direction so that the participant had total control over the objects to be photographed. I then shot the objects in the room in which they exist. The backgrounds remain consistent in that the object is on a solid surface with a blank wall behind but they change in color and texture due to the style of the room.  The photographs are put into grids based on common characteristics of the owners or the objects themselves.

Emergent technologies give rise to novel art forms, yet the panoramic app installed on smart-phone cameras still awaits its artists. Responding to this conspicuous neglect, Fotographic Phictions proposes a new visual practice that bridges still photography and motion pictures. Peter Sutherland calls it cubist panoramics -- if by cubist you simply mean combining multiple perspectives in a single image.
In 2012, while exploring the panoramic app on his first smart-phone camera (a Samsung-SGH), Sutherland discovered a glitch in its Android operating system, that frees photography from the dominance of Renaissance perspective and the cardinal rule of panoramics -- not to shift the camera’s viewpoint, while you sweep it through the scene to be recorded. Doing so normally aborts the algorithm’s routine, whose early Samsung/Android version divided the sweep into eight separate stills, then stitched them into a seamless panorama.

Reece Metzger has always had an interest in photography and its role in fine art. 

A visit to Western Australia in 2016 was particularly inspirational allowing him to produce a collection of photographs of man-made and natural geography.  These landscapes are reflected in Australian aboriginal art:  themes, designs, colors, and patterns.  By manipulating selected images, Reece’s photos become abstract elements he inkjet transfers to fabric.  He stitches collages adding a three-dimensional aspect.  The result is the joining of landscapes influenced by aboriginal art expressed with Western perspectives.

The current series titled 16 Hours Ahead - Images of Western Australia is a collection of photo constructions reflecting his impressions of this land.  Reece’s desire is to share this captured atmosphere of the other side of the world.

Reece attempts to present a mystery as to how the pieces were achieved.  The viewer asks ‘How was this manufactured and with what materials?’  Each individual construction emerges slowly with the paring of desired colors and textures into an expressive and relaxing composition.

Just as the sun rises and sets each day, we engage in ritualistic practices to seek transformation. Viewing a figure in motion is to experience a duration of time invisible to the unaided eye.

Under attack, our bodies and souls seek protection and preservation. Beneath a veil of opposition, we are hidden from the light which is our life source. At times, life can seem a blur as we move across the surface of the earth. We mechanically move through the in-between spaces, trusting that the light of self-knowledge will be revealed to us. As we stay in motion, we repeat ourselves season after season, but we are never the same.

Slowly, over time, we expand to allow ourselves space for healing. Through ritual, we learn to navigate the dualities of darkness and light, stillness and movement.

Special Presentation--FREE
Adventures in Mongolia, by Kerik Kouklis
Talk, Slide Show and Documentary Film Screening

Wed. March 27 at 6:30 p.m., Viewpoint Photographic Art Center

Join exhibiting photographer, fledgling film maker and Viewpoint Board President Kerik Kouklis for a night celebrating Mongolia. Kerik will share stories and images from his expeditions. He will also screen a 30-minute documentary he produced in 2017, “Mongolia in Winter”. 

THE EXHIBIT: For as long as he can remember, Kerik Kouklis has liked to make stuff. He discovered early on that he really like to make photographs. Taking pictures and making prints has been part of Kerik’s life ever since his dad set up a basement darkroom for him when he was twelve. Kerik would spend hours experimenting (and he says mostly failing) to make something interesting. But every once in a while, something good would result, leading him to continue my pursuit of the next good picture, the next good print.  Kerik has never been in the “image is everything” camp of photography. It’s important to him that the image takes the form of a physical object – something that can be touched, or held, or maybe even hung on a wall.

Kerik states that his job is to deliver the message, the mood, the thought, the emotion. The image is the starting place, and printmaking is the language. He makes all his prints in his darkroom, using hands-on processes — wet plate collodion, platinum/palladium and gum bichromate. These experience-based processes allow him to shape the way an image is interpreted – and they bring him the satisfaction of creating something with his own hands. To Kerik, that physical connection between maker and object confers value on both.