April 2011

Mims Art Gallery in Rocky Mount, NC, Offers Works by Gérard Lange

The Mims Art Gallery in Rocky Mount, NC, will present the exhibit, History of Trees: Personal Messages Revealed in Photographic Mixed Media, featuring works by Gérard Lange, on view from Apr. 4 through May 15, 2011. The gallery is located in the Dunn Center for Performing Arts at North Carolina Wesleyan College. A reception will be held on Apr. 1, from 7-9pm.

Lange, an Assistant Professor of Art at Barton College, in Wilson, NC, uses his technical knowledge of photography and printmaking to achieve unconventional personal expression.

Lange, has a diverse background in both fine and commercial arts. His initial training included a BA in Art and Design that carried a triple emphasis in Drawing, Sculpture and Photography. After receiving his undergraduate degree, Lange worked as a professional photographer in Atlanta, GA. During this time he worked on extending his education in film and video. Later he would move to New Orleans and complete the MFA program at Tulane University.

Prior to Barton College, Lange taught at Tulane as an Instructor and at Northern Michigan University as an assistant professor. Professionally, Lange rarely does commercial photography any longer and instead concentrates on fine art. He is represented by galleries in New Orleans, Athens and New York. His work in a variety of media has been exhibited across the United States and internationally.

Lange regards his highest level of expertise to be in photography. He has a thorough knowledge of traditional chemical processes, digital imaging, Nineteenth century processes and time-based media. Through years of personal experiments, Lange has also developed an in-depth vocabulary of adaptive photography methods, including the hand-building of cameras. In his courses one can expect to be exposed to the historical, contemporary and theoretical issues of photographic image making and be encouraged to try any and every experiment, of which one could conceive.

Lange offered the following statement: “Regarding photography, I never intended to become a maker of traditional images, but entered the medium to use it as an interpretive process. To say interpretative, I mean that my approach in photography has never been one where I accept the medium’s inherent qualities, but depart from those qualities denying the accepted nature. When beginning a new project I usually define some aspect of the photographic process, then address image making in response or in denial of that definition.”

“Having been initially trained as a painter I entered photography for the purpose of making original imagery for use in collage. This anti-traditional treatment has led my down many paths of experimentation. But, I have seldom completed an extensive series of work akin to my initial forays in the medium. History of Trees marks a major aesthetic return to my creative process from over a decade ago.”

“In these images the subject has been addressed much like a Cubist might have done,” continues Lange. “In each instance I have photographed a tree from multiple angles and vantage points contemplating and admiring the grandeur of nature. Back in the studio the dozens of drug store prints are arranged on the canvas in an introspective fashion. However, instead of simply reassembling the form ad litterae I also invest the image with subconscious emotional wanderings. The composition reflects my impression of the trees’ presence, while the text is a meditation on a variety of topics – the individual titles reflecting these ponderings.”

“Essentially, these images are Romantic interpretations of nature in both urban and rural settings and conceptual critiques of the emotional subjects. The form of the tree is not a necessity for my investigation, but earlier contemplations regarded people and the tree is a fitting symbol upon which to ascribe thoughts on some person. Other works are autobiographical and therapeutic in the sense that I use the process to work out difficult situations I may be facing. Being an avid journal keeper, these images are an extension of my ruminations and the manifestations of random thought influencing daily observations.”

For further information check our NC Institutional Gallery listings, call the gallery at 252/985-5268 or visit (www.ncwc.edu/Arts/Mims/).

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