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November Issue
2009
Plum Elements
in Charleston, SC, Features Works by Gary Geboy
Plum Elements in Charleston, SC, will present the exhibit, Up Close, featuring photography by Gary Geboy, on view from Nov. 5 - 30, 2009.
Using 19th century processes, Geboy introduces an uncommon perspective of the "everyday' floral and fauna, and other natural (oft over-looked) objects.
Geboy spent the last
five years creating emotional portraits of the Lowcountry. In
this work, hundreds of details comprised each vista: elements
of texture, form and function easily overlooked. For this exhibit,
Geboy turned to those parts that make up the whole. "Up close"
is how he described the intimacy of the series, a new and different
vantage point for his work.
"I've always collected curiosities, things I didn't need
but intuitively treasured as a child. So, in a way, photographing
the bugs, eggs and shells of the Lowcountry was natural,"
explained Geboy. He recalled naturalists' fascination of specimens
brought home from far-away. Especially then, since travel was
out of most people's reach, even common things found overseas
became wonders in a glass cabinet or illustrated on a parchment
page. With this body of work, Geboy wanted to elevate what we
find common to that same sense of marvel. "To me," said
Geboy, "they are treasures. Adding gold leaf to a platinum/palladium
print allows its luminance to work a kind of magic - the back
of a magnolia leaf becomes a map; a robin's egg a jewel."
The floral cyanotype series is another path to the same place. Instead of stepping back and admiring the color and artistry of a garden, he gets close up. Stripped of background, context and even color, these lilies, azaleas, and camellias become abstract. Like blueprints of nature, they are architectural and tender at the same time. Geboy sees them like a window in a dark room, bringing an ethereal beauty inside and closer to our lives. Working in the darkroom, Geboy uses a process involving two metals bathed in ultraviolet light results in an insoluble blue dye known as Prussian Blue. No two cyanotypes are alike and the pigment prints he creates from cyanotypes vary in color from pale porch blue to rich indigo.
Platinum prints are the sine qua non of photographic art - remarkably subtle, with rich tonal ranges and luxurious textures. Geboy hand mixes, coats, exposes and develops each image in his limited edition portfolios. His highly-detailed, naturalist still-life series is printed on transparent vellum, allowing the hand-painted gold leaf to illuminate the image.
Visitors to Plum Elements will be familiar with Geboy's landscape portraits of the Lowcountry and images from his travels to Laos. Geboy's 30 years in photography and cinematography have taken him around the world - from Peace Corps documentaries in Kyrgyzstan to a National Gallery of Art exhibit on ancient Mexico. Transfer of Grace, the award-winning book based on Geboy's signature black-and-white Lowcountry landscapes is in its second edition. Published by Charleston-based Joggling Board Press, it is available at Plum Elements.
For further information
check our SC Commercial Gallery listings, call the gallery at
843/727-3747 or e-mail at (info@plumelements.com).
Carolina Arts is published monthly by Shoestring Publishing Company, a subsidiary of PSMG, Inc. Copyright© 2009 by PSMG, Inc., which published Charleston Arts from July 1987 - Dec. 1994 and South Carolina Arts from Jan. 1995 - Dec. 1996. It also publishes Carolina Arts Online, Copyright© 2009 by PSMG, Inc. All rights reserved by PSMG, Inc. or by the authors of articles. Reproduction or use without written permission is strictly prohibited. Carolina Arts is available throughout North & South Carolina.