FRIEZE FRAMES - Gallery 888
Photographs by Bret Culp
Paintings by Elizabeth Russ

Painting With Light

Gallery 888 owner Elizabeth Russ and I co-hosted a show of our work entitled Frieze Frames. The show consisted of abstract paintings by Elizabeth and my photographs that were impressionistic in content, technique, or both.

It is my experience that for many people there is a very narrow range of what constitutes a proper photograph. It must be in perfect focus and properly oriented, be relatively grain free, have realistic tones or colour, be a faithful representation of what is in front of them. On the other hand, what is accepted in painting ranges from photorealism to abstract expressionism. I believe that the authenticity of the final image should not be based on how loyal it is to reality but how well it conveys the artists message. A painter, musician, writer, or photographer all have the same goal, which is to express something.

The photographs in this show range from the architecturally inspired Futurism, a black and white pinhole camera study of a cheese grater, to Atomic Hotel, an impressionistic Polaroid sx-70 photograph with exaggerated, bleeding light and colour, to Reflections on the Wall, a colour photograph of a flower growing out of a graffitied section of the Berlin wall. When rotated 90 degrees the graffiti appears as reflections on a stream. The impressionistic qualities were further enhanced in the choice of materials–prints were made on textured cold-pressed watercolour paper.

The show ran from June 11 to the 23, 2002 at Gallery 888 in Toronto.