Shadow Details: A closer look at the exhibition "In Praise of Shadows"

One artist I’m excited to work with in 2021 is San Diego-based John Brinton Hogan. A need to physically engage in the medium led to his sci-fi inspired series Visual Aphasia, a blend of photography, digital art and painting that questions man’s relationship to the land through wonderfully weird and tactile works. A solo exhibition of his terrestrial series is planned for May 2021.

Beyond conjuring an unmistakably noir atmosphere, Giacomo Brunelli’s photographs expose gritty fragments of an ambiguous narrative at exactly 1/500th of a second. From his widely published portfolio The Animals, Giacomo’s “angry dog” is one that, like many of his photographs, triggers a fight or flight response. It consumes your attention due to Giacomo’s brave approach to his subjects and equally bold printing style. I think of Moriyama and Koudelka. Not so much of Erwitt. And I think it’s one of the great street photographs in recent history.

(From L to R)

scott b. davis, ocotillo, arizona upland, 2013

A pair of perception-testing works by San Diego-based artist scott b. davis includes a large-format diptych from his series “ocotillo, ocotillo”, a supreme example of his unique platinum palladium explorations. A powerfully simple work ("phases of the sun and moon, 2017-2018)  from the series “half blind” symbolizes the extreme contrasts of light and seemingly infinite space experienced in the desert landscape. Through unique pairings of in-camera paper negatives and platinum/palladium prints the artist chooses to “favor abstraction over representation.” 

Fabiola Menchelli, Wall Drawing II, 2015

Fabiola Menchelli’s series ‘Wall Drawings’ uses a rule-based method to project repeating patterns on concrete walls forming new geometric abstractions. Architecture and construction are familial motifs that reoccur throughout much of her work, creatively reinterpreted through actions of multiplicity and layering. Menchelli's architectonic cyanotypes will be the focus of the gallery's March 2021 solo exhibition. 

Judith Stenneken, Untitled #41, 2009

Stenneken's work from Illuminate Naturally in Darkness are diverse in subject matter but each engage feelings of disorientation and transition in our modern way of life. Untitled #41 is a uniquely brutalist abstraction made all the more textural in her finished prints. An exhibition of new work by the German artist is planned for Fall 2021. 

(From L to R)

Cody Cobb, West 7, 2017.

Cobb's photographs remind us not only of the clarity of mind that arises from periods of extended solitude, but also that the most alien forms of landscape exist on our own home planet. Named one of PDN‘s 30 emerging photographers to watch in 2018, prints from Cobb's series Strange Land and Darkside are available from the gallery.

Jakob de Boer, The Balance Rock, Haida Gwaii. Where Ravens Cry 24, 2017. 

HIGaa K’aayhllnga, or Balance Rock, in Haida Gwaii, is a remnant of glacial retreat. There are some who refer to the Balance Rock as the center of spirituality. It has seen the history of Haida Gwaii-from a smallpox invasion that almost decimated the Haida Nation living there, to many who have tried to move the rock by hand, dynamite and horses. It still remains. 

Jeffrey Conley, Figure & Black Sand Beach & Candescence, 2018.

The classicaly trained landscape photographer has progressively pushed his vision into more minimal and sculptural studies of scale and reverence for nature. Conley's mastery of the platinum palladium printing process is evident in these two works whose inverted compositions interplay in the exhibition. 

Nikolai Ishchuk, Threshold S13, 2019

The focus of our next exhibition, Ishchuk's series of silver gelatin, photo-sculptural works from Thresholds test the boundaries of medium, image and materiality. This unique piece echoes the waveforms of many works in the series, as well as those of Jeffrey Conley's work neighboring it. 

Developed during many months quarantined in their Barcelona studio, a new process using a hybrid of early print techniques by Albarrán Cabrera pays homage to the goldtones of Edward S. Curtis and the inventive blueprints of John Herschel.

The artists describe this new method as an expansion of their "photography syntax" illustrating our relationship to the medium as "a running battle between vision and technology." The new glass plates contain incredible image detail with contrasting hues of deep indigo shadows and amber highlights.

in praise of shadows

On view through February 7, 2021

Marshall Contemporary

1350 Abbot Kinney Blvd.

Venice, CA 90291

info@marshallcontemporary.com

310-413-3987

Private in-person or FaceTime appointments are available.

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