Abstraction

Since my days as a college student, I have been fascinated by different approaches to abstraction in the history of art. I was especially intrigued by how a photographer could make an image of something recognizable or familiar and make it so much more, both confounding and broadening our expectations and experiences of the real world. Many years later, I am still drawn to the photographic expression of abstraction because of the medium's inherent tie to the real, to a specific frame of reference found in the world we live. No matter how abstract a photographic image is, there remains a connection to something that existed, even if that thing is only light itself. I view great abstraction in photography as a reminder of the wonder that exists in our world, much of which we don't observe in our daily lives.

Though not by any means a complete history of abstraction in photography, this exhibition, drawn from our inventory, includes work from the 1920s to the present. Some are "straight" photographs, printed from negatives and some works were made without a camera. Many utilize creative techniques like solarization, montage, Mordançage, photogram, cliché-verre, masking and multiple exposure. There are even chemigrams in this exhibition, which by their very nature epitomize non-representation. Ultimately, regardless of the process used, these works of art are full of creative expression that add to my understanding of the world we live in and the magic that surrounds us.