BILL ARMSTRONG: C-print, BA #490, 2009

Bill Armstrong to Lecture

April 14, 2011

Opening: Thursday, April 14 - 7pm

Bill Armstrong, NY based photographer represented in NY by ClampArt and in the UK by Hackelbury, will give a talk about his abstract color work that spans over 30 years. Armstrong has exhibited at the Philadelphia Museum of Art, The Smithsonian Institute, Hatward Gallery - London; Musee de l'Elysee, Lausanne; and FOAM, Amsterdam. This lecture at SVA is presented by teh Photography Department.

209 East 23rd Street, 3rd Floor ampitheatre. Free and open to the public

JANUSIAN by MITCHELL

at
THE VIEWING ROOM

551 West 21st Suite #402 – 4th floor New York, NY 10011

An inaugural New York Solo Exhibition of abstract photographs
June 2nd-4th daily 10am-5pm by appointment

Opening Reception: June 3, 2010, 5-8pm

Mitchell’s 14 piece Janusian collection referencing "Janusian thinking", a thought process characterized by the concept of merging view points to reach a conclusion or decision will be presented at The Viewing Room for a very limited one night exhibition. The term, “Janusian” stems from “Janus”, the Roman god of gateways and doors who is usually illustrated as a two headed figure facing in opposing directions. But it is the interplay of perspectives – the exchange of information and communication which Mitchell alludes to in his minimal and dichotomous compositions; the point of engagement whereby the transference of ideas occurs.

Dunham will also include works from the Multifarious and Linear collections – both of which are also rooted in minimalism.

ABOUT MITCHELL
Contrary to the assumption that photography is about representation, pure abstraction in which the notion that something representational must be depicted is rejected in the vast majority of work. The images themselves along with the process of image making are the subject rather than the depiction of something identifiable. Images are shot with the purest of intuition and from a perspective largely influenced by aura occurrences associated with Temporal Lobe Epilepsy.

“I am searching for those slow motion frames from the mislaid footage of our lives, those elongated experiences we lost or slept through, echoes of memories, some thing in the mist of personal history, the blinkered image, the half frame peep beyond the curtain, it’s almost audible; the sound of snow—slightly deaf in one eye”, says Mitchell.

Immersion into the artist’s abstracted and mesmerizing imagery may be equated to visually experiencing ambient sound; in much of his work he engages senses beyond sight. It may not be the factual world we envision through the artist’s eyes nor lens, but what we experience through his introspective mind which is so compelling. He transports us to a realm of contrasts within which we find ourselves between definition and uncertainty; past, present and future; reality and the imaginary; even life and death. In his work these opposites coexist in a paranormal state as we are transported to a limbo where the unreal becomes real, the subliminal becomes obvious and disturbance becomes peripheral. In this semi-conscious disconnect he imposes; the amorphous becomes transformed to a clear and tranquil reality. Although the creative process for Mitchell has been inherent throughout his fashion and commercial career, it is in his fine art work that he reaches a higher level of aesthetic and conceptual thinking to which both his imagery and titles are testament. His inspiration is internally and externally environmental. Some years ago he was diagnosed with a neurological condition associated with aura oriented seizures which can create a temporary altered state of consciousness. In these episodes his physical and mental awareness can become intensified and dimmed concurrently. The onset of this condition has enhanced his sensory perception denoting a pivotal point in his career. We all may be memory collectors from our plastic camera holidays but behind the lens there are those of us who take pictures and those of us who are artists. Undeniably when Mitchell is behind the lens, he is a consummate artist.

ABOUT THE VIEWING ROOM: The Viewing Room, home to artists’ studios and fine art dealers/consultants has been featuring First Thursday openings for some time. It is the location for both the Manhattan studio of painter, James Kennedy and exhibition annex to Surface Library. Surface Library is an atelier and gallery in the Springs historic district of East Hampton, New York just across the road from the Pollock Krasner House. The gallery exhibits works of proprietors painter, James Kennedy and ceramicist, Bob Bachelor among others.

The Edge of Vision: The Rise of Abstraction in Photography

APERTURE
Text by Lyle Rexer

From the beginning, abstraction has been intrinsic to photography, and its persistent popularity reveals much about the medium. The Edge of Vision: The Rise of Abstraction in Photography is the first book in English to document this phenomenon and to put it into historical context, while also examining the diverse approaches thriving within contemporary photography. Author Lyle Rexer examines abstraction at pivotal moments, starting with the inception of photography, when many of the pioneers believed the camera might reveal other aspects of reality. The Edge of Vision traces subsequent explorations--from the Photo Secessionists, who emphasized process and emotional expression over observed reality, to Modernist and Surrealist experiments. In the decades to follow, in particular from the 1940s through the 1980s, a multitude of photographers--Edward Weston, Aaron Siskind and Barbara Kasten among them--took up abstraction from a variety of positions. Finally, Rexer explores the influence the history of abstraction exerts on contemporary thinking about the medium. Many contemporary artists--most prominently Ilan Wolff, Marco Breuer and Ellen Carey--reject photography's documentary dimension in favor of other possibilities, somewhere between painting and sculpture, that include the manipulation of process and printing. In addition to Rexer's engagingly written and richly illustrated history, this volume includes a selection of primary texts from and interviews with key practitioners and critics such as Edward Steichen, László Moholy-Nagy and James Welling.

ABOUT THE BOOK COVER: Bill Armstrong's work featured on the cover of Rexer's latest book

The Mandala photographs are loosely based on Buddhist paintings known as mandalas. Mandalas are concentric circles of images that depict central themes in Buddhism, such as the Wheel of Life or the Map of the Cosmos. Through abstraction, simplification and blur, I hope to create a context for the exploration of these broad spiritual themes that, rather than relying on a codified system, remains open and invites the viewer's personal interpretation.
Like the other portfolios in the Infinity series, the Mandalas are made from collages that have been photographed with the camera's focusing ring set on infinity. Extreme defocusing allows me to create rhapsodies of color that change as one gazes into them: they pulsate as if alive. This sense of "being" within the inanimate invites an inquiry into the idea of the interconnectedness of all things.

Whether seen as celestial spheres, imaginary objects, or microscopic details, the Mandalas are meant to be meditative pieces--glimpses into a space of pure color, beyond our focus, beyond our ken. Their essential purpose is to create a sense of transcendence, of radiance, of pure joy!

I am at NeoCon Chicago representing works by Robert Brasher, R.R. Lyon, Vince Romaniello and David M. Mitchell. Mitchell's work is particularly apropos to the commercial interior design as his large scale c-prints are a available in multiple sizes. Although the work has commercial appeal, he maintains the status of fine artist in that editions are very limited.