PRESS RELEASE
Kenneth Josephson
Jan 11 – Mar 16, 2013
Gitterman Gallery is honored to present our second exhibition of vintage black and white photographs by Kenneth Josephson. The exhibition will open with a reception for the artist on
Thursday, January 10th from 6 to 8 p.m. and continue through Saturday, March 16th. This exhibition includes many works rarely seen and features two continuous themes in his art: his exploration of abstraction with light and his dialogue with nature. These overlapping themes have been present in Josephson’s work since his early years at the Institute of Design in the late 1950s.
Throughout his career, Josephson has explored an impressive range of subjects and concepts, often in dialogue with each other. He seeks to increase our perspective and challenge our perceptions. He utilizes a variety of ways to make images: anything is fair game, even calling attention to the illusions he has created.
Though much of his work deals with conceptual ideas, formal concerns are integral to his vision. His early images of the patterns of light from the elevated tracks in Chicago have a syncopated rhythm of light which is echoed in much of his work from the 1960s. It is in his exploration of the abstraction of light in nature that this rhythm is most meditative, as if nature itself is drawing with light. In his later work nature’s palette becomes more subtle and seemingly infinite.
Kenneth Josephson was born in Detroit in 1932. He began his formal photography training at the Rochester Institute of Technology, earning an Associates Degree before being drafted into the army in 1953, where he spent several months in Germany doing photolithography for aerial reconnaissance. He returned to R.I.T. immediately after to earn his B.F.A. studying under the new program head, Minor White. Josephson started his graduate studies at the Institute of Design in 1958 studying under Harry Callahan and Aaron Siskind. In 1960 Josephson became an instructor at The School of the Art Institute of Chicago, where he taught until 1997.
Josephson’s work is featured in numerous collections around the world. His publications include Kenneth Josephson (Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago, 1983), Kenneth Josephson: A Retrospective (The Art Institute of Chicago, 1999), Kenneth Josephson: The First Fifty Years (Stephen Daiter Gallery, 2008), and Kenneth Josephson: Matthew (2054 Press and Stephen Datier Gallery, 2012).
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