Art view
by Paulette Thenhaus
People like pictures
GLEEBECK KEN EXUM TOM FOLEY BILL
GAITHER KENT KRIEGSHAUSER KAREN LYNCH CHELSEA MC DOUGALL
MARY LEE PATTERSON SCOTT
SPITZER LYNNAE TOUCHETTE NORM WINICK
Eleven regional photojournalists are showing it all at the
Buchanan Center for the Arts in Monmouth through February 14, 2009. Sports,
Politics, Entertainment, Community, Travel, and more are all documented in this
expansive exhibit.
Why do people look at a photo of an event before they read the
story? Because it is immediate and it gives the story in a nutshell. It allows
more for interpretation than words do. People like pictures.
Photos are the "business" of the professionals in
this exhibit, but art is not in the
backseat. Light, color, composition and the rest of the art elements are all
considered by these masters of successful picture-making. Very few of the
photographs are mundane or ordinary; most reflect the photographer’s interest
and, maybe, personality.
Some of the images we've seen in print, many have never been
published. Most of the artist groupings have a sprinkling of both. The variety
is applaudable.
There are a few photojournalists whose body of work focuses on
a particular theme. It's those photographs I will comment on.
MARY LEE PATTERSON "On the Roof at Home Saiq #1" was
made in the southeast Arabian peninsula. Taken with Kodacrome (slide) film, at
just the right second to capture a local woman entering the street. This was/is
in a place where women are not commonly photographed outside of the home ...
and by another woman, no less. Because of the film used and processing, the
color in the series is soft. The images have a romantic feel. Though taken for
a West Coast journal the photographs were never published ... a real shame.
KEN EXUM "San Francisco Pride Parade, 2007" series,
certainly heats up the exhibit and reveals it all. I remember the word "gay" being part of the parade
title but I guess now everyone can join in regardless of sexual orientation. In
scant bead bikinis the "Brazilian Dancers" gesture to the rhythm of
the music ... like the Second Line Parade in New Orleans. The photos are
feisty, festive and very "hot."
NORM WINICK Photojournalist and Editor of the Zephyr focuses on
community events but more so on politics
in his exhibit. "The Obama Family" is a portrait of the soon to be
First Family. It was made early in the presidential campaign in Springfield,
Illinois. It is a prize-winner that deserves more exposure. From a stone
doorway the family, with both daughters, wave to onlookers. The composition is
excellent. The contrast of white against dark makes the eldest daughter stand
out, dead center, instead of Barack. It's the type of unposed portrait of
family members reminiscent of those of the John F. Kennedy family.
GLEEBECK Most intriguing in this show is one of the last
photographs by a Westerner of the infant Paweo Rinpoche (whose name means
"Blessed One") before this spiritually important child disappeared.
Gleebeck is on a physical and spiritual journey to distant places, and his
photographs journal it.
KENT KRIEGSHAUSER Events big, small and tragic fill this
Register-Mail photojournalist’s viewfinder. In "Onlookers at Construction
Site Fire," a large 30" x 40" print, eight onlookers are black
silhouettes, blurred against a solid orange background. His "CSC Nursing
Students Prior to Graduation Ceremony" is visual tongue-in-cheek humor at
its best. In the photo the students are actually sneaking a last minute smoke.
TOM FOLEY Along with his photographic contributions to the
community, Foley also has an active arts and music e-mail list of area events.
Foley is documenting Blues musicians and travels to them. On display is a top quality assortment of the
"band." "Robert Belforer at Cat Head Clarksdale, MI" is a
straightforward portrait of a longtime Bluesman playing one of his two pictured
guitars. The photo is cropped tight but not so much as to exclude the
Bluesman's down-home environment.
SCOTT SPITZER His photographs of community events bring a small
town to life. He claims that as one saves family photos in an album, he saves
community images for the community in the newspaper.
John Vellenga, himself a photographer, curated this impressive
show of eleven photojournalists. He also wrote an insightful statement on the
history of photojournalism. Each photographer has a personal statement mounted
next to his/her display.
There's much to digest in words and pictures. Have a look.
Maybe you're in the frame.
1/22/09