Elements of Photography
September 3 - October 2, 2009
Eastern Michigan University Gallery, Ypsilanti, MI, USA

Martin Bandyke: Plenty for photography fans to see this fall
September 13, 2009

Besides the must-see collection of Andy Warhol snapshots on display at the University of Michigan Museum of Art until October 25, there are a few other notable photo-oriented events happening in our area, starting with the "Elements of Photography" exhibition at Eastern Michigan University.

This one recently opened at the University Art Gallery, tucked away on the second floor of EMU’s Student Center, and it includes about two dozen thought-provoking works by nationally and internationally praised photographers including Angie Buckley, Angela Faris Belt, Byron Wolfe and others.

“The idea of the exhibition came from Angela Faris Belt’s book ‘The Elements of Photography,’” explains Jennifer Locke, EMU’s director of gallery programs. “The works vary between dealing with time, the question of what a photograph is, how the lens works, what the frame does, and it turns out it’s a pretty beautiful show. It’s a traveling exhibition that’s headed off to several other places after our opening show.”

Faris Belt’s black and white images are easily some of the strongest in the show, with “Flocking” looking like a haunting still from Alfred Hitchcock’s “The Birds,” and the spider in “Spider’s View” depicted with such uncanny trompe l’oeil presence that you’ll swear it’s real, not a photograph. The work of Thomas Kellner is also strikingly inventive, as he combines multiple photographs of familiar landmarks such as Stonehenge and the U.S. Capitol building to make collages that look like cubist paintings and disintegrating Lego sculptures.

Mark Klett and Byron Wolfe take a time-jumping approach in “Four Views From Four Times and One Shoreline, Lake Tenaya,” incorporating long-ago images from photographic icons Ansel Adams, Edward Weston and Eadweard Muybridge into their own panoramic vistas of the stunningly beautiful Lake Tenaya in Yosemite National Park.

Technically sophisticated and loaded with lovely work that will stop you in your tracks, Elements of Photography continues at EMU’s University Art Gallery until October 2. More information at EMU's Ford Gallery web site.