Sunday, May 23, 2021

Two for the show

Adobe at Ranchos Plaza, 15"x15" on 24"x24" rag paper.

Cruz Blanca, 15"x15" image in 24"x24" rag paper

Here’s a preview of the upcoming two person show with Peggy Immel. The opening will be from noon to 7pm Saturday May 29 at Wilder Nightingale Fine Art in Taos. It’s our fourth bi-annual show. It will run through Sunday, June 20.

The process of selecting images and configuring the strongest possible show is both exhausting and instructive. It forces a person to consider hundreds of photographs while asking, “Which ones are best?” Followed by, “Which ones work best together as a cohesive package”? 

Because a criterion of Immel² New Perspectives is that every artwork must be in the square format, there’s another layer of complexity.  Having photographed exclusively in the classic digital 3x2 aspect ratio since 2002 it meant assessing each potential image to decide if it could be successfully cropped from a horizontal to a square. That flies in the face of almost 20 years of seeing every subject in horizontal terms. I have proudly declared that I always compose in the viewfinder and print full frame. It's right there in my artist statement. So, cropping every photograph in this show has been a major departure philosophically and aesthetically.  Intensive therapy helped. After going through process of selecting and cropping 19 photographs I’ve concluded that the adventure was worth it and that maybe just maybe I should become less rigid in my golden years. Only time and experimentation with other aspect ratios will tell. I still revel in the discipline of composing in the viewfinder. Its' been a point of pride to render a subject just the way I saw it.

When I start assembling a show I choose the biggest pieces and work down. Typically, the larger anchor pieces are the ones that I think are the most impressive and, by implication, have the best chance of selling. In this case two of the four 15”x15” images on 24”x24” paper are already proven sellers in the horizontal format. And one of them, Adobe at Ranchos Plaza, was included in our Show Preview article in the May issue of Southwest Art magazine. And it was in our ad in the same magazine. So, it had to be in the show.

Book Cliffs

Puerta Turqueza

Here lies Bernardo Salazar

The meat of the show are the medium size prints shown above. There are nine of these 8”x8” images on 12”x12” paper.

Butternut Squash

Elegy

The final component are the ones I call “little jewels.” These are images that lend themselves to small presentations and hew toward still lifes. I have a great affinity for these compact numbers. They are 4"x4" on 8"x8" paper.

From the outset if this project I’ve believed the square presentation to be a more modern than the horizontal one I’ve favored for more than fifty years. Now that I see the 19 framed photographs as a package, I think I was right.

Please visit www.wnightingale.com, click on Events to see Rob’s Immel² New Perspectives. Then click on Artists and scroll down to Immel² New Perspectives. Click there to see all the paintings and photographs in the show.

For a more personal look please visit Peggy and me at Wilder Nightingale Fine Art from noon to 7pm, Saturday, May 29. We’ll be there the whole time and Peggy will be demonstrating from 1pm to 4pm.

See you there.

1 comment:

Blacks Crossing said...

Through thick and thin, and the gates of matting and framing hell , you and the other half of Immel² have put together one heck of a show. Here Lies Bernardo Salazar and the butternut squash are favorites of mine, in addition to the Book Cliffs and the Ranchos Plaza with select coloring. We hope you sell everything because people have been waiting for just this moment! Congratulations, Steve, and thanks for keeping everyone up to date on your selections and methods.