"Entering ombré, Fabiola Menchelli’s installation at The Contemporary at Blue Star in San Antonio, I impulsively turned on my iPhone’s flashlight. Feeling that I’d sullied the experience, I walked out and back in, then felt my way to one of the seats, sans illumination. The exhibition is in near total darkness. The walls and ceiling are painted black, and there is no designated light source – only a soft glow from the main exhibition space. Setting my things aside, I settled in. I felt disoriented, a sort of bodily discombobulation. So, I fixated my eyes on the wall before me in search of the nine photograms, also shrouded in black, hanging side by side.
Menchelli produces photograms, camera-less photographs, employing the medium’s essential properties to document the materiality of the photographic process rather than the outside world. Menchelli folds color photosensitive paper and then exposes it to light, experimenting in form and dimension. Working in the darkroom, Menchelli has to rely on all but her sight, gaining heightened awareness of her other senses, like touch and sound. Garbed in a hazmat suit to protect herself against the chemicals that coat the color photosensitive paper and are used to develop the work, Menchelli occupies the darkroom as if it were an isolation tank. Time loses its drawl, and everything beyond the experiment at hand ceases to exist in the artist’s mind. In ombré, Menchelli brings her darkroom meditation to the viewing experience."
Read the full review at the link to Glasstire.com.
