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January 28 - March 4, 2000Urbanonimity |
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(Opening Reception: Friday, January 28th, 5-8pm) |
Aerial View of Chicago Loop, c.1930s |
Two complementary photographic exhibitions evoking the urban landscape.
| One exhibition features over 40 images from the vast archives of the Kaufmann & Fabry photographic firm, active in Chicago in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. This archive is now in the collection of K & S Photographics, a commercial photo lab which, through several corporate acquisitions, is now the successor of Kaufmann & Fabry. These large-scale black and white images depict both well-known city landmarks as well as scenes and structures no longer in existence. This is the first collective exhibition and sale of these images, most of which are being seen publicly for the first time in over 50 years. | |
| North Michigan Avenue, Looking South, 1929 From the Kaufmann & Fabry Collection of K & S Photographics. |
A simultaneous exhibition will include a selection of work by five contemporary Chicago photographers who document various facets of the urban experience. | |
| R. Clarke-Davis, in his career spanning several decades, has recently focused on often overlooked elements of the urban landscape, capturing them with one of his collection of plastic cameras. Discarded trash, lost fragments and various ephemera are frozen in a very brief moment of their existence before disappearing from view forever. | |
| Scott Dietrich seeks out desolate places which he documents in sharply contrasting black and white. Crumbling and seemingly abandoned, these forlorn scenes are those such as we encounter daily, in stark opposition to the hustle and bustle usually associated with city life. His night views of Lincoln Park and the Lake reflect on their constancy unseen by our sleeping eyes. | Damen, Clybourn & Diversey, Demolition, Chicago, 1998 |
| Scott Fortino's elegant compositions belie the unpleasant sides of urban life they depict. A police officer for almost twenty years, Fortino has access to police stations and prisons and elevates these mundane interiors to high aesthetic in large scale color prints. His black and white panoramic studies of bleak urban landscapes document pre-urban renewal destruction and desolation. | Under Lake Shore Drive, 1999 |
| Alex Fradkin has gained access to Chicago Housing Authority apartment buildings shortly before and in the process of demolition. This recent program of displacement and resettlement forces us to reflect on the mistakes of past urban planning while Fradkin's works expose the colorful creativity of the residents in the face of otherwise dismal surroundings. | From the Deconstruction series, 1999 |
| Michelle Keim's industrial scenes take on an otherworldly quality through colored filters and bold lighting. Steel mills, electric plants, and manufacturing sites can seem like space stations under the treatment given them in Keim's works. Much of this effect is invoked by the bizarrely-colored skies under which these scenes unfold, adding ethereal beauty to intimidatingly sublime industrial spectacles. (More images of Keim's work can be seen at her Web pages). |
Paper Mill - Circleville, Ohio, 1995 |
These exhibitions are organized by Gallery 312 Advisory Committee members Aimée Beaubien and Wendy Ennes and K & S Photographics representative Lynne Bailey.
Special thanks to Catherine Edelman, David Phillips, the staff of K & S Photographics, the Chicago Historical Society and the Chicago Landmarks Commission.
Events Related to the Exhibitions:
-Kaufman and Fabry's Historic Chicago Photos (A discussion with Lynne Bailey):
Saturday, February 5th, 2pm
-Artists' Talk (A dicsussion with the 5 contemporary photographers):
Saturday, February 19th, 2pm
Photo Plastico (a workshop with plastic cameras led
by
R. Clarke-Davis)
Saturdays, February 26th and March 4th, 1 - 4pm (Reservations required)
Re-usable 120 plastic Holga cameras and film will be available for a nominal fee.
Workshop participants should plan to attend both sessions and will be responsible for their own film processing in the interim week.
A complete manual on the Holga Camera can be found at the Freestyle Sales Company Web Site.
