A statue more than 200 years old of the water nymph Sabrina has been vandalized with blue crayon, British conservation charity the National Trust said in a statement.
Sculpture over 200 years old vandalized with blue crayon
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Argyle photographer captures personalities, makes memories
Miranda Longoria can trace her love of photography back to her childhood.
“As a child, I was the one who had the little camera with the drop-in film,” she said. “I would show up at our friends’ birthday parties or the [high school] senior trip, and I was the one documenting, taking the pictures.”
She took photography classes while attending Sam Houston State University, where she earned her Bachelor of Arts degree in journalism and public relations. In the early 2000s, while running her custom greeting card business, her clients had a new request.
“My clients started saying, ‘I want me and my fiance’s picture on our save-the-date invitation; can you take the picture?’ Or they wanted their baby’s picture on the announcement,” Longoria said. “So, I started taking pictures for the clients.”
Eventually, she found she was taking more photos than doing actual design work. So, in 2011, she and her husband, Eric Longoria, opened Miranda Longoria Photography. “He carries equipment, and he’s been known to scout out locations for me,” she said. “He’s kind of the right-brain, and I’m the left-brain. When I need administrative advice, I go to him.”
The top three requests she receives for photography sessions are weddings, senior portraits and family portrait sessions.
“I capture moments as they happen versus trying to force the moments,” Longoria said. “A lot of times, the first thing I tell my clients is I’m going to put you in a pose, but feel free to laugh, breathe, giggle, snuggle and kiss, because we want to capture real moments.”
Prior to a session, Longoria will visit with clients to get a feel for their personalities.
“I like to narrow down the [photo session] locations based on what their personalities are,” she said. “Are they outdoor people or more urban people? Are they more active or more sit at home and cuddle on the couch? We’re not trying to make magazine layouts here. We want it to be real representations of who they are.”
Miranda Longoria Photography
972-313-5739
The big review: Peter Doig at the Courtauld Gallery in London
The first painting you see in the Courtauld Gallery’s Peter Doig exhibition is a self-portrait. Dressed like a trendy teenager in sneakers and slacks, the artist’s face looks like an anatomical dummy with the skin peeled back. Doig’s posture mirrors that of a sweaty man in his earlier painting, Stag (2002-05), who slouches for rest against a tree trunk in an empty forest. In the weird artificial light of Night Studio (Studiofilm & Racquet Club) (2015), we move back and forth from an earlier moment in Doig’s life to another, from a place of fevered tropics to an air-conditioned studio, and from reality into fiction. Another man’s head, older and in green with a beard, and almost indistinguishable from unchecked ivy, impossibly peers over the artist’s shoulder as though forewarning the future. We are everywhere and nowhere all at once.
Doig has spent much of his life travelling and reinventing himself in new cultures. These recent pictures on show at the Courtauld were predominantly made between 2019 and 2023, and are evidence of his wandering eye for unusual forms. Born in Edinburgh to an itinerant father who worked for a shipping company, Doig emigrated as an infant first to the tropics of Trinidad and then to the snow-covered vistas of Canada. In their heat and ice, these two natural palettes surround and often envelop the lost figures who populate his pictures. After spells studying in London in the 1980s (at Wimbledon, Saint Martin’s and Chelsea art schools), Doig returned to Trinidad and spent the next two decades painting otherworldly and at times hallucinogenic figurative paintings inspired by the calypso music and luscious vegetation around Port of Spain. During this period, he was rightly recognised as one of the best colourists of his generation.
The bridge glitters Klimtian crimson while the canal water is an algae green so thick it resembles an overgrown lawn
Doig recently set up a studio in London and the capital has become a new subject for his idiosyncratic revisions of landscape. In the ethereal universe of Canal (2023), which sees north London’s beloved Regent’s Canal shoved backwards through a nightmarish Edvard Munch cityscape, Doig’s son sits silently by a plate of eggs while a young man in a drab kitchen-sink overcoat drives a houseboat. My guess is we are close to the towpath in Haggerston, where I walk every day. Here, the bridge glitters with a Klimtian crimson while the canal water is an algae green that is so thick it resembles an overgrown lawn. It is unmistakably London and yet resolutely a place that exists only in Doig’s prismatic memory.
Price and palette
This exhibition of recent works by Doig is the first of a contemporary artist alongside the Courtauld’s world-famous collection of Impressionist and Post-Impressionist paintings since the three-year £57m revamp of the gallery in 2021. In the Denise Coates Exhibition Galleries, named after the billionaire founder of the gambling company Bet365, it is a cramped display of only two rooms that will leave some visitors wincing at the £14 ticket price. He could have used an extra room. Many of the paintings themselves depict repose and leisure but never feel carefree, or at least not in the way Édouard Manet’s nearby study for Déjeuner sur l’herbe (1863-68) feels carefree, despite shared subjects and palettes. Inspired by phosphorescence on the sea, Night Bathers (2011-19) finds us on Trinidad’s Maracas Bay in a nocturnal reverie in which a blue woman and a grey man, alone together, face apart.
Alpinist (2019-22), which is predictably the Courtauld’s marketing image, sees a carnivalesque skier draped in a harlequin outfit, the trademark dress of the mischievous outsider in paintings by Paul Cézanne and Pablo Picasso. The dimensions hit you like a rockslide on a mountain face. The canvas itself towers over the visitors, which creates a sublime relationship between us and the Matterhorn behind, and the Pierrot-like figure just half our size. The world is big; this poor boy, in playful and errant dress, powerless within it. We find ourselves feeling both intimately close to the harlequin and yet alienated by his withdrawn aspect and incongruous outfit, like one might feel stumbling into a fancy-dressed celebrant of a stag do without the party. It reminds me of lines from Window Pane, a poem by Derek Walcott, the late St Lucian poet who was a friend of Doig: “A sheet of stiff snow becomes a page for drawing / for Peter Doig and a ski slope his fiction, / a whiteness whose width demands exploring / in which the real looms, a contradiction.” Without doubt, this is a show of fiction crammed with contradicting realities.
Derek stands as a gorgeously elegiac testament to friendship
One of the highlights of the humble Doig takeover of the Courtauld can be found not in the main display room but the quieter one tucked away on the first floor, where his etchings made of, for, or in homage to, Walcott are on display. Most were made in 2017, the year Walcott died, and these diminutive gems speak to the roving nature of Doig’s artistic practice. They depict hunting dogs on the prowl and otherworldly plants sprawled out in spectral blacks and reds. Derek (Studiofilmclub) (2016) is a larger work in Doig’s more familiar materials of pigment on linen, and depicts the poet not at the page but by an easel, playing around on a canvas that bears the words “morning / paramin” (the name of a poem-painting collaboration the pair published the same year). As the verdant hills stretch off and beyond Walcott’s upcurved sun hat that radiates Baroque yellow, the work stands as a gorgeously elegiac testament to friendship.
To the left of the portrait is a lyric poem addressed to Doig by Walcott, called Peter, I’m Glad You Asked Me Along. In it, Walcott addresses the artist’s synaesthetic ability to conjure music with paint: “Will your brush pick up an accent, and singsong / infect your melody concealed in a canvas, / picking the place where you really belong.” The poem goes on to ask many more questions of its subject, but it is clear that Doig seems to have spent his entire career trying to work out where he belongs. Trinidad? Canada? London? Does he really belong alongside some of the best of Manet, Claude Monet and Vincent van Gogh, those masters of colour who seem to be able to capture their subjects’ interior lives lost in a forsaken world? Perhaps not, or perhaps not yet. But while we wrestle with these questions, we cannot help but leave glad that Doig asked us along.
• Courtauld Gallery, London, until 29 May 2023, curator: Barnaby Wright
What the other critics said
In a short review for The Guardian, Rachel Cooke warned against seeing Doig’s famously seductive hues as any kind of salve for a long, late winter: “His vast canvases are not sun lamps for the soul.” Cooke was particularly enamoured with Alpinist, which “struck me as a masterpiece with the force of an avalanche; it should be owned by a great museum, not (as it is) by a private collector”.
Jackie Wullschläger, for the Financial Times, was particularly effusive about the artist’s ability to create strange new worlds, with flashes of Trinidad, London and the Alps all within the same series: “That he can make these spaces simultaneously convincing, enchanted and eerie has allowed Doig tremendous freedom and ambition.”
Meanwhile, in the Evening Standard Ben Luke (who is also a contributing editor at The Art Newspaper) gave a glowing five-star review and proclaimed Doig’s “magnificence among the masters”. While drawing attention to the fact that descriptions of Doig’s paintings might sound twee and sentimental, Luke enthused about how his surreal and vivid use of colour demonstrates that “few artists are painting so magnificently today”.
Elderly drunk driver who mowed down pedestrian on footpath during art exhibition avoids jail on health grounds
An elderly man who was intoxicated when he struck and killed a pedestrian along WA’s coast avoids an immediate jail term.
Sony World Photography Awards 2023 Winners Announced
The World Photography Organisation has announced the overall winners in the prestigious Sony World Photography Awards 2023 at a special gala ceremony in London, hosted by broadcaster and art historian Kate Bryan. The acclaimed photographer Edgar Martins (Portugal) has won the Photographer of the Year title, the accompanying $25,000 (USD) cash prize, and a range of Sony digital imaging equipment. Additionally, Martins receives a solo presentation of his work as part of next year’s Sony World Photography Awards exhibition.
Also announced today are the ten category winners alongside 2nd and 3rd place of the Professional competition as well as overall winners of the Open, Youth and Student competitions and the first-time winner of the Sustainability Prize – developed in collaboration with the United Nations Foundation and Sony Pictures’ Picture This initiative to recognise the stories, people and organisations whose actions highlight one of the United Nations’ environmental Sustainable Development Goals.
The Sony World Photography Awards 2023 exhibition opens at Somerset House, London from 14 April – 1 May 2023, featuring over 200 prints and hundreds of additional images in digital displays from winning and shortlisted photographers. Also presented are works by this year’s Outstanding Contribution to Photography, the esteemed Japanese photographer Rinko Kawauchi.
See also: Start Your Engines – A Beginner’s Guide to Collecting Classic Cars
PHOTOGRAPHER OF THE YEAR
Our War is an original and nuanced tribute to the photographer’s late friend the photojournalist Anton Hammerl, who was abducted and killed on 5 April 2011 by government militia, during the Libyan Civil War. Frustrated by unsuccessful attempts to ascertain the whereabouts of his friend’s last mortal remains, Martins took matters into his own hands and travelled to Libya. He was brought in covertly by a petrol smuggler and was immediately faced with enormous challenges working in such a volatile environment. Realising that he would not be able to carry out a thorough and independent investigation, Martins instead chose to reflect on the question: ‘how does one tell a story when there is no witness, no testimony, no evidence, no subject?’
In Our War Martins conjures and alludes to the absent central figure through a series of portraits of the people Hammerl had connected with and those involved in the fighting (freedom fighters or their descendants, ex-militia, local residents, Gaddafi loyalists or lookalikes, and so on). They were chosen because they either resembled him, had similar ideas and beliefs, or reminded Martins of him at different stages of their friendship. The project explores the idea of absence, of documenting, grieving, and honouring a subject as well as reflecting on the role of photography within a conflict zone. Martins’ approach is to confront these questions head-on: to embrace the idea of the fragmentary and the many contradictions and ambiguities intrinsic to war.
Commenting on his win Martins says: ‘It is a huge honour to be recognised and although I am philosophical about awards and the subjective nature of someone’s choice, knowing that there were over 180,000 entries to this year’s Professional competition, is very humbling. In this case, it is also quite an emotional experience because I get to honour my friend on a world stage and bring attention to the family’s plight to find his remains. There’s no award that has the reach of the Sony World Photography Awards.’
https://www.worldphoto.org/sony-world-photography-awards
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“This Has To Be A Joke, Right?”: Woman Asks This Wedding Photographer To Refund Her When The Marriage Goes South
Some people seem to be out of touch with reality when it comes to how certain services work. Let’s take photography, for example. Once it’s all been said and done and you have paid for a job well done, there is no basis for requesting a refund. Unless the pictures are gone or somehow ruined (which they probably aren’t if you’ve already paid for the service), the chances of you getting the money back are close to none.
This woman thought otherwise and asked her wedding photographer, Lance Romeo, to refund her for reasons completely out of his control. In her message, revealed on Twitter by the South African artist, she complimented the professional on doing a wonderful job and simultaneously asked him for the money, which he thought was a joke. Scroll down to find his conversation with the client below.
Even the best of professionals can’t “untake” pictures, which makes photography a non-refundable service
Image credits: Getúlio Moraes (not the actual photo)
This photographer was stunned at his client’s request for a refund for reasons that were in no way related to him
Image credits: LanceRomeo
Image credits: LanceRomeo
Getting a refund is impossible because the job has already been done and it included more than just taking pictures on the big day
Lance Romeo told his client that he can’t “untake” the pictures, which is why his service is non-refundable. The photographer has already spent his time, effort, and resources, and the fact that she no longer needs the end result doesn’t cancel out all that’s been put into getting it.
And it’s not only about all that’s invested in the wedding day—a photographer’s job entails more than just capturing the actual moment. They also have to sort through and edit hundreds of pictures, which is not less important and often takes even more time than the special day itself. According to Wild Romantic Photography, editing wedding pictures usually takes roughly 14 hours. But this estimate differs with each artist, of course.
Wedding photographers sure have plenty of material for editing, as they usually take roughly up to 1400 pictures during a 12-hour shift. The number of images the client receives is often a matter of agreement, but it’s usually less than half of all that the professional captures.
Putting everything in writing can help prevent similar situations and ensure the client has all the details regarding the service
In her messages, the woman said the photographer should have disclosed his no-refund policy in the agreement. To be fair, when everything’s there in black and white, no one can threaten you with lawyers four years after you provide the service.
According to Your Photo Advisor, it’s better to have a strict policy and not to give out refunds left, right, and center. However, it’s been pointed out that some situations might require the photographer to reimburse their client. At least a partial refund could be offered when the person with the camera disrupts the event or ruins the pictures, for example.
Having all the details in writing also helps to set clear guidelines for specifics, such as the number of photographs the client will receive or the number of hours the professional is hired for. They might also include at least a rough idea of when the photographs will be ready, as most people are understandably eager to see them.
Unfortunately, sometimes clients complain about something that is not in the hands of the artist; the way their smile looks in the picture or the color of someone’s tie, for example. In Lance Romeo’s situation, it was the fact that the client no longer needed the pictures. And that only shows that some people are indeed somewhat out of touch with reality when it comes to how certain services work.
People didn’t hold back their opinions, some mocked the absurdity of the situation
That’s far from the only time photographers had to deal with ridiculous requests or suggestions, here are some examples:
“Surely photographers will line up to pay me to shoot my wedding in the middle of nowhere”
Image credits: InTheRainbowRain
“My dad’s a photographer, this is his most recent client”
Image credits: jonnymoon5
“This guy trying to charge a photographer to share his photographs”
Image credits: pesky_oncogene
“This model looking for a free wedding photographer. Dancing will be free for you too”
Image credits: OldSpiceAquaReef8
“The joys of being a professional photographer”
Image credits: keepsha_king
K-Beauty’s Brush With Fine Art
Amorepacific partners with the Metropolitan Museum of Art to expand the reach of Sulwhasoo, their luxury Korean beauty brand.
“I am ginseng,” boomed the voice of Tilda Swinton to partygoers in the Metropolitan Museum of Art’s Temple of Dendur, where Sulwhasoo, the Korean beauty brand, was throwing a lavish dinner to celebrate its new partnership with the 152-year-old institution. A promotional video featuring Ms. Swinton played overhead, depicting a ginseng root spinning in circles.
The British actress had been named Sulwhasoo’s global ambassador, but couldn’t attend because she was filming. Still, the evening’s guest list was a who’s who of Korean excellence, including the global pop star Rosé, of K-pop group Blackpink, the Academy Award-winning actress Yuh-Jung Youn, writer Cathy Park Hong and the Michelin-starred chef Junghyun Park, who had prepared the ginseng-inspired menu. The rapper Anderson .Paak was the D.J. for the after-party.
“Sulwhasoo is my mom’s favorite brand,” said Ashley Park, 31, a star of “Emily in Paris” on Netflix. “It’s a smell I associate with her: ginseng. It’s like, ‘That’s mom.’”
Ginseng, an ingredient often used in traditional Asian medicine with a distinctly earthy smell, is a key ingredient used by Sulwhasoo in many of their more popular products.
“When it comes to Sulwhasoo and the ingredients that we use — it’s mostly edible ingredients,” said Kyung-Bae Suh, 60, the chairman and CEO of Amorepacific, which was founded by Mr. Suh’s grandmother, Dok-Jeong Yun, in 1932 (Amorepacific is the parent company of Sulwhasoo). “They can be used in food, medicine. The philosophy behind it is that inner health and inner beauty is very important. If your inside is beautiful and healthy, it’s going to manifest on your surface, on your face, on your skin.”
This thinking embodies, in many ways, the larger ethos behind Korean beauty, or K-beauty as it is more commonly called, which has become increasingly popular in America in the last two decades. According to data from Kotra, Korea’s trade promotion agency, in 2018 Korea’s cosmetics exports were estimated at around $5.95 billion, up 22 percent from the year before. Often exoticized for its unfamiliar ingredients, such as snail mucin and donkey’s milk, K-beauty espouses the idea that cosmetics need not be about correcting your imperfections, but rather about cultivating what comes from within.
Over 90 percent of Sulwhasoo’s sales still come from Asia, but the brand is now looking to expand its presence in the United States and Europe, where it is less known. Mr. Suh recognizes this as Sulwhasoo’s “big push,” with celebrities such as Rosé and Ms. Swinton, and a subtle redesign of the brand’s packaging (its signature amber hue now has an ombré fade). Both signal Sulwhasoo’s desire to capture a younger and more Western customer base. It’s a new page for a relatively dignified brand, which in its 25-year history has avoided any form of celebrity endorsement until 2018.
Still, there are reasons to be skeptical of the benefits touted in luxury skin care (a bottle of Sulwhasoo’s best-selling Ginseng Renewing Serum costs $210). Despite South Korea’s overwhelming number of beauty products and its industry’s unparalleled innovation, South Korea is still often referred to as the plastic surgery capital of the world. According to a 2019 report from the International Society of Aesthetic Plastic Surgery, Korea had the highest rate of plastic surgery per capita in the world, with 13.5 cosmetic procedures performed per 1,000 individuals.
“If there is a ‘secret’ to Korean beauty, it would be the medical advancements they’ve made in low impact or less-invasive surgery and injectables,” said Euny Hong, journalist and author of “The Birth of Korean Cool: How One Nation Is Conquering the World Through Pop Culture.”
“Snow, flower, beauty”
The history of Amorepacific dates back to the 1930s, during the Japanese occupation of Korea, when Ms. Yun sold camellia hair oil in Kaesong, a city now part of North Korea, to help support her family. Women at the time traditionally wore their hair parted down the middle, braided and coiled into a bun with a hair pin; the oil kept the hair in place and retained its luster. Pure camellia oil — the hard-earned result of manually pressing hand-peeled and ground camellia seeds — was valued for being scentless and for keeping hair shiny for a longer period of time.
As the mother of six children, Ms. Yun juggled parenting with the responsibilities of her nascent business, often bringing her infants on the road to breastfeed while pedaling her wares. By the end of the 1930s, business was robust enough for her to set up her own storefront, called Changseong Shop.
In 1945 World War II would intervene. Ms. Yun’s second son, Sung-whan Suh — who had become a valuable employee, entrusted with bicycling to Seoul to buy ingredients — was drafted into the Japanese army. A year later, he returned and took over the family business, renaming the company Taepyeongyang (“Pacific Ocean” in Korean). It was an allusion to his ambitions to grow the company beyond Korea’s own shores.
The next decade proved to be challenging, marked by the divisive violence of the Korean War. Sung-Whan Suh relocated his own family to Seoul, launching a popular face cream and hair pomade. Many Koreans, however, preferred beauty brands from the West and Japan when they could afford them. Ambitious and with an eye toward longevity, Sung-Whan Suh created a research and development lab in 1954 in hopes of competing and harnessing the power of ingredients found in Korea, including ginseng. Today, Amorepacific’s research and development lab employs over 500 people.
In 1987, the company launched Sulwha, an herb-based cosmetic. It wasn’t until 1997 that the brand landed on the name Sulwhasoo.
“‘Sul’ means snow, ‘wha’ means flower, ‘soo’ means beauty. Snow, flower, beauty,” explained Ga-Yoon Jung, senior vice president of marketing at Amorepacific. “But it doesn’t mean the literal flower and snow. The snow flower is the first flower that blooms right after winter.”
That same year, Sung-Whan Suh’s second son Kyung-Bae Suh took over as CEO of Amorepacific. By then, South Korea’s economy was booming, and investing its money in film, television and pop music in what would become known as “the Korean Wave” or “Hallyu.”
Today, Mr. Suh is one of South Korea’s wealthiest citizens. In 2018, he debuted Amorepacific’s new headquarters, a stunning 22-story building in Seoul designed by the architect David Chipperfield, who is being awarded the Pritzker Prize later this year. He is also an avid collector of contemporary and Korean art.
Neither the museum nor Mr. Suh would disclose the terms of their sponsorship, but the association came about after Max Hollein, the Met’s director, flew to South Korea last summer. Sulwhasoo plans to underwrite two additional community-oriented programs with the Met. “They wanted to be involved where they could offer support for our programming — and it wasn’t a one-off event or exhibition,” Mr. Hollein said.
For Mr. Suh, who feels the Met’s sense of heritage aligns with that of his family’s company, the choice to partner with the museum may also be guided by his own experience: In 1983, it was the first museum he ever visited outside of Korea.
Because of its history, the popularity of Sulwhasoo — a prominent brand in Amorepacific’s portfolio — also carries a kind of nostalgia for Korea’s difficult past. “I think that’s been comforting for many Korean people, given how quickly the economy grew,” said Joyce Kong, a former Korean beauty consultant. Both represent the changes South Korea has experienced in the last century. “To them, Sulwhasoo is still tethered to this old world.”
Pyramid Hill puts the the ‘art’ in Earth Day
ArtsFront_0414_anchor/NK
New Submission Categories for Hal Prize in Photography
“Rhino on Lake, Lake Nakuru” by Nick Brandt.
The contest is also using a new submission platform
There’s less than one month until submissions open for the 2023 Hal Prize, and as we move toward the opening, my excitement continues to grow.
We have some changes this year that will make the contest even better, including new photography categories selected by our partners at Peninsula School of Art. A few popular categories from last year are returning, and a few have been added under the expertise of this year’s photography judge, Allen Morris, whom Peninsula School of Art selected.
The categories for this year are Analog Alternative Processes, Digital Manipulation, Landscape and Nature, People and Portraits, and Animals. You can learn more about these categories below.
When the Hal Prize began in 1998, all submissions were physical. Then, with the advent of the internet and more online accessibility, we switched to using an online platform. This year, we’re switching that platform to Zealous, which works well for both writers and visual artists. Zealous is easy to use when submitting work, and it has a very active help center and live chat, should any questions arise.
Photography Categories
Analog Alternative Processes
Share your historical process photo: cyanotype, Van Dyke brown, gum bichromate, lumen prints and more. If it’s old school and analog based, it fits this category.
More example work: Christina Z. Anderson, Mary West Quin, Joseph Minek and Eric William Carroll.
Digital Manipulation
“Her work displays such care and has such a poetry to it that it was an absolute must-share.” — Allen Morris
Pixels are meant to be pushed around, and a whole new world can be created using digital-manipulation techniques. Show us your composites, collages and all photographs that are digitally augmented.
More example work: Jenna Marti, Josh Passon, Brooke Shaden and Maggie Taylor.
Landscape and Nature
These are the subjects that always surround us. No matter where you go, there is a vista to behold, beautiful plant life to explore or fungi to focus on. This category invites you to share your images of the beauty you find in the natural world.
More example work: Terry Evans, Camden Hardy, Mark Brautigam and Laura McPhee.
People and Portraits
It’s easy to forget that a portrait is just as much about the artist as it is about the subject or sitter. Share your photography of other humans in this category to help us understand who they are and who you are!
More example work: Lois Bielefeld, Kurt Simonson, Richard Renaldi and Hillerbrand and Magsamen.
Animals
“The reflection is so beautiful, and his work is beautiful on its worst days, transcendent on its best.” — Allen Morris
Whether domestic or wild, scaly or furry, slithery or on Hoff, animals have been favorite subjects for the camera lens since the beginning of photo history. Show us the majesty – or whimsy – of the animal kingdom through photos in this category.
More example work: Joel Sartore, Nick Brandt, Mary Lee Agnew and Karine Aigner.
8142 Review, Vol. 1 and 2 are available for purchase at doorcountypulse.com/shop. The publications feature the winners of the 2021 and 2022 contests, respectively.
Public talk on photography set for Saturday
PORT TOWNSEND — “I love photography,” said Christopher Rauschenberg, “because it takes me places I haven’t been … and when I look at other people’s photography, I’m looking at the world through other people’s eyes.”
Rauschenberg, curator of the “Wet: Reflections on Water” photo exhibition at Northwind Art’s Jeanette Best Gallery, will give a free public talk this Saturday.
His 5 p.m. discussion will take place at the Best Gallery at 701 Water St. in downtown Port Townsend, so he’ll be surrounded by the show.
An artist whose works are displayed in museums and galleries around the globe, Rauschenberg was the juror chosen last winter to select the 40 photographs in the “Wet” exhibition.
“I’ll talk about how things look together, and what some of the issues are that the show raises,” he said, “and I’ll talk about photography, how it describes the world, and how it’s integrated into everyday life now.”
Photos have a key role to play, added Rauschenberg, who is also a cofounder of Blue Sky, the Oregon Center for the Photographic Arts in Portland, Ore.
In these times, we need to find ways to recognize each other’s shared humanity, and “I feel like photography is one of the ways to do that,” Rauschenberg said.
The “Wet” show “is a nice mixture of people who would describe themselves as photographers, and others who might not,” he said. The doorway into this art form, he added,
has become an open archway.
Rauschenberg, the son of famed artists Robert Rauschenberg and Susan Weil, notes that photography — and art, for that matter — is far less rigid now than it once was when it comes to mediums and boundaries.
Structures have been loosened, and “my father was one of the main looseners,” he mused.
“Wet: Reflections on Water” explores the beauty and power of water, from roaring waves to unexpected colors on pavement. There are images of the Pacific Ocean, of Lake Crescent, of a calving glacier and of a bright-green anemone. Documentary, abstract, color and black-and-white images share the gallery space.
The exhibition, Rauschenberg said, brings together a mix “of beautiful and thought-provoking pictures on the most important subject on Earth.”
“Wet” will stay on display through April 30 at the Jeanette Best Gallery, which is open from noon to
5 p.m. Thursdays through Mondays. Voting for the People’s Choice Award, a $100 prize, will go on throughout the show.
For more information about Northwind Art’s gallery shows and classes at the Northwind Art School at Fort Worden State Park,
see https://northwindart.org.
