New York, NY, July 28, 2010- Bryce Wolkowitz Gallery and Bonni
Benrubi Gallery are pleased to present concurrent exhibitions of new
work by photographer Abelardo Morell.
The exhibition at Bryce
Wolkowitz Gallery will feature the most recent additions to Morell's
celebrated series of camera obscura works. Using this centuries old
optical principle in combination with digital camera work, Morell blacks
out windows in rooms while leaving a small hole open, the aperture,
which, in effect, transforms the space into a camera, thus overlaying
the world outside inside.
In his most recent series of work from
Florence, Rome, Venice and New York, Morell's consistent obsession with
the passage of time, becomes evident as never before. His use of
traditional techniques transforms the familiar into unique contemporary
perspectives. As we watch, a view of Volta del Canal in Venice is
projected like a layer of some vague memory or a passing hallucination
on the interior of a Palazzo room painted with a jungle motif. In the
same fashion, Morell revisits the iconic image of Times Square, first
published by the New York Times over a decade ago, in relationship to a
nearby hotel room. Remade in color the marquees are changed for a new
millennium, just as the blinding speed of Morell's digital capture
alters adjusts our perception of place and times. Thus he makes . But in
this work the shabby interior of the hotel, serve not so much as a
marker in the passage of time, but rather as a witness to the permanent
iconic nature of these cities.
The exhibition at Bonni Benrubi
Gallery, entitled Groundwork, presents work from Morell's innovative
tent camera obscura process. Morell continues to push the boundaries of
the way we see with the use of a lightproof tent and periscope that
allows the artist to project a view of the nearby landscape directly
onto the ground below. On view will be the first images achieved within
this domed structure: the iconic buttes and craggy outcroppings of the
American West projected onto the sand and pebbles at his feet. Work from
Arcadia National Park in Maine is a sly nod to other artistic media and
eras. The resulting photographs play on the tropes of impressionistic
painting as the projected landscapes are refracted on the grass and sand
below.
In his latest work, Morell continues to push the
boundaries of post modernity as he travels to Italy, positioning his
tent on the historic cobblestones of Rome and Florence and entering into
the Villa Medici. In one image, his tent cum camera obscura inhabits
the same space and spirit of Brunelleschi as he famously painted the
Florentine Baptistery circa 1425 in the first known demonstration of
optical linear perspective, created with the aid of a pinhole drilled in
a mirror. Morell's tent and traditional camera obscura images of Italy,
including that of the Baptistery, serve not, however, as dry linear
truths, but rather fluid juxtapositions imbued with the same sense of
discovery, magic and wonder that powered the Renaissance. Morell again
proves that the simple, yet elusive, combination of serendipity,
innovation and humanity offers the greatest wealth of artistic
possibilities.
Abelardo Morell received his MFA from Yale
University and was a professor at the Massachusetts College of Art until
his retirement this year. His photographs are contained in some of the
most important private and museum collections around the world. He has
had eight books of his photographs published to date, and is currently
working on The Island of Rota, in conjunction with Oliver Sacks and Ted
Muhling to be published by the MoMA this year. A major retrospective of
his work jointly organized by the Art Institute of Chicago and the
Getty Museum is projected to open in 2013, before traveling to other
major venues.
For further information, please contact Amanda Bhalla Wilkes at (212) 243 8830 or by email at amanda@brycewolkowitz.com.
Concurrent Exhibition:
Abelardo Morell: Groundwork
October 7 –December 18, 2010
Bonni Benrubi Gallery
41 East 57th Street, New York, NY