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April Issue 2006
Ella Walton Richardson Fine Art Gallery in Charleston, SC, Offers Photography Exhibition
With the recent record-breaking
sale at Sotheby's in New York of the platinum photographic print
The Pond - Moonlight by Edward Steichen for $3 million,
collectors worldwide are certainly considering fine art photography
in a new, more valuable light. Art historians, collectors, and
those who simply enjoy their Saturday afternoon gallery strolls,
will soon be delighted by one of the strongest photography exhibits
in South Carolina in years. Ella Walton Richardson Fine Art Gallery,
located in the heart of Charleston's beloved historic district,
has long been associated with the finest in oil paintings by nationally
and internationally renowned artists. In addition though, Ella
W. Richardson, the founder of the gallery, is herself an accomplished
artist specializing in photography.
Since the opening of the gallery in 2001, displaying high quality
photography has always been a personal priority for Richardson.
From Apr. 7 - 29, 2006, Richardson's devotion and respect for
the art form will be fully on display in the exhibit Focus on
Photography, not only in the form of her own stunning imagery,
but by premiering to Charleston art lovers the photographic talent
of Lyle Allan, DuBose Blakeney, and Rick Rhodes.
Lyle Allan
Always exciting to art
admirers and collectors is always the opportunity to discover
new images and art forms that enliven the senses and call upon
that innate yearning for bringing art into our lives. Lyle Allan's
photography speaks to each viewer by transcending a simple glimpse
through the lens and crafting an image simultaneously containing
texture and structure, softness and solidity. In From my Studio,
his piece capturing the Empire State Building by night, Allan
showcases the regal quality of the building with its iconic nighttime
lighting.
Allan's preferred mode of processing, platinum palladium printing,
lends itself to portraying the finest of gradations in the grey
of the night sky and the lit windows of foreground buildings.
The majority of pieces by Allan in the exhibit will be platinum
palladium prints. This particular method was founded in the 1850's
and now requires the use of artist's paper covered with salt and
exposure to UV light. Both platinum and palladium are noble metals,
which are imbedded into the fibers of the paper through a series
of hand-brushed coats. As layers of coats add up, the image develops
into one possessing the greatest tonal variation amongst photographic
processing methods. Allan's own visual sensibilities, marked by
depth of visual documentation coalesced with atmospheric expression,
are ideally matched with platinum palladium processing.
Allan has been an avid photographer for more than thirty-five
years. Beginning in the early 1980's, he began to explore the
variations of artistic outcome found with alternative processing.
He became particularly taken with contact printing, where the
size of the photographic print directly equates to the size of
the negative. With his 8" x 10" camera, the crispness
of contact printing, and the tonal quality of platinum palladium
processing, Allan creates unique images embodying the spirit of
fine art.
Allan's past experience includes a prestigious work-scholar internship
with the Aperture Foundation, founded in 1952 by photographers
Ansel Adams, Dorothea Lange, Barbara Morgan, and Minor White as
a not-for-profit institution dedicated to advancing fine art photography.
During his time there, he worked extensively in the foundation's
impressive Paul Strand Archive. Through his experience of handling
original Strand prints on a daily basis, including the exhilaration
of seeing Strand's handwritten notes, Allan solidified his lifelong
pursuit of achieving excellence in his own photography.
Several of Allan's current photographic projects include contributing
to the much-anticipated upcoming Photograph Collector's Guide
Revision (Bullfinch, 2005-2007), which was originally edited
by Lee D. Witkin, Barbara London, and the New York Graphic Society
in 1979, and collaborating with photography appraisal specialist
Lorrain Davis on The Process Project which will visually track
the development of photography from the daguerrotype through alternative
processing methods.
DuBose Blakeney
The first of two Charleston
natives featured in Focus on Photography, DuBose Blakeney
has been a part of the Charleston photography landscape since
1977. Well traveled and self-taught, his artistic career has been
greatly shaped through assisting fashion photographers in Manhattan
in the 1980's and pursuing his immense talent at capturing children's
portraits. Published in media ranging from the Chicago Tribune
to Charleston Magazine, Blakeney has mastered his visual
acumen for capturing vibrancy in landscape and soul in portraiture.
Featured in the exhibit will be Blakeney's works ranging from
a stunningly intimate shot of Ray Charles performing to a strikingly
picturesque silhouette of a young girl running on the beach at
sunset. The local identity of Charleston's beaches, docks, and
streets are infused throughout Blakeney's visual accomplishments,
with remarkable interludes of natural splendor and architectural
composition. In Atlantic House, Folly Beach, Blakeney presents
a gorgeous meeting between the gentle lap of the ocean and the
rugged strength of a beach home. The line of the tide is a beautiful
diagonal, creating an immediate contrast between the fluidity
of the water and the drying sand. The wooden beach house, its
deck alive with conversation, eloquently straddles the boundary
between ocean and land.
As is the case for all of the artists featured, Blakeney is able
to pursue his unique artistry through the exceptional visual freedom
the versatility of photography provides. He is also professionally
connected to the third artist in the exhibit, Rick Rhodes. Both
Blakeney and Rhodes were at the forefront of switching photographic
processing from film to digital among professional photographers
in Charleston. Blakeney, referred to by critics as "a pioneer
of digital photography", has great respect for Rhodes, whom
he considers to be a Master Digital Printer.
Rick Rhodes
Amazingly, Focus
on Photography will be Rhodes' premier fine art photography
exhibit in Charleston. This gifted artist has been capturing brilliant
architectural and landscape photographs throughout Charleston
for over a decade. He grew up in Charleston and pursued his immense
love for the art form through two fine art degrees, graduating
from the Southeast Center for Photographic Studies in Daytona
Beach and the esteemed Brooks Institute of Photography in Santa
Barbara, CA.
Rhodes returned to Charleston and established his photography
business based on the concepts of design and artistry he learned
and refined during his time at Brooks. He quickly began to center
his image specializations on architecture, aerial landscapes,
industry, and even commercial products. In 1998 he opened Rick
Rhodes Photography, through which he takes on individual commissions
throughout Charleston and beyond. Rhodes' impressive aerial photographs
of Morris Island Lighthouse and monumentally expressive views
of the bridges spanning the Cooper River are highlights of this
exhibit. A magnificent beach-side view of the Morris Island Lighthouse
is a true artistic jewel, highlighting Rhodes' ability to photographically
harness the visual power of color. His' 4" x 5" camera
sets its sight on the clean line of the lighthouse against the
cool lavender-greys and orange-creams of the early evening coastal
sky. Even the slightest sense of shadowed murkiness across the
tower of the lighthouse is offset by the brilliance of the sky
beyond.
Ella Richardson
Even as a young child
in Columbia, SC, Ella W. Richardson frequently found herself behind
the lens of her camera. Today, photography still is first and
foremost pure joy for Richardson, but it is also a deeply personal
artistic pursuit. The camera is the vehicle through which she
finds inner focus and feels connected to the beauty of existence.
But photography is certainly more than a hobby for Richardson.
She approaches the camera with great commitment, passion, and
resolve; and her artwork is full of grace, vitality, and talent.
Much of Richardson's visual inspiration is the natural beauty
both hidden and well-renowned in Charleston. Through the lens
of the camera, she extracts both drama and serenity from scenes
ranging from Spanish moss dangling over the marsh to historic
architectural detailing discovered on a Charleston side-street.
In the lovely piece Waiting for High Tide, Richardson's
attuned eye for subtle beauty in an image is fully on display.
Here, she imbues this small wooden boat with regality and patience,
yet gives the natural prowess of the tide full reign in the span
of a single photographic print.
Although her full range of artwork includes subject matter as
varied as African wildlife and tranquil tropical coastal-scapes,
Richardson treasures the moments when she is able to form an authentic
connection with a person she is photographing. Richardson states
with enthusiasm, "Capturing their essence is my goal. When
I feel I have revealed one's inner beauty through photography
that is priceless to me." In fact, she finds the shots centered
on individuals reflect the greatest challenge in her work, and
are therefore the most artistically rewarding.
Through Ella Walton Richardson Fine Art Gallery, Richardson uses
her lauded aesthetic and eye for beauty each and every day in
assisting collectors with choosing and displaying the finest of
art in their homes. For Richardson, she finds she appreciates
this most precious gift of aesthetic vision, by embracing her
own personal calling as an artist behind the camera.
For further information check our SC Commercial Gallery listings,
call the gallery at 843/722-3660 or at (www.ellarichardson.com).
.
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