FADING

RAL STUDIO GALLERY

Oct. 16 - Nov 29, 2015

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This exhibition was curated independently from the myriad number of work-related exhibitions.

CURATORIAL STATEMENT

People and nature share an organic life cycle, both coming into being and vanishing. Fading is a photographic and video exhibition of works exploring aging, beauty, and end-of-life transformations by Kendall Messick, Harold Ross, and Jeffrey Steen.

ARTISTS

KENDALL MESSICK (NYC, NY) constructs installations of still photography, film, audio recordings, and video to tell stories. He explores memory, intimacy, acceptance, and humanity through his documentation of inspiring human interest stories. In this series, a sampling of works from his upcoming Swann Song exhibition, Messick celebrates both beauty and spirit in intimate portraits of Elaine Swann, a former character model, and actress who lived and worked for more than sixty years in New York City. Messick’s project explores the representation versus the realities of age, calling into question our view of the effects of time on our bodies and minds. This exhibit marks the first time works from this series will be viewed by the general public. The accompanying video is a preview 'work-in-progress' of the exhibition's final edition.

Kendall Messick, Swann Song (Video Introduction), 2015
9 minutes 44 seconds, Volume adjustable

Kendall Messick, Regarding the Past, archival pigment print, Ed. 1 /5

JEFFREY STEEN (Wilmington, DE) Whether rooted in nefarious manipulation or in innocent natural confusions, Jeffery Steen is concerned with the inevitable distortion of story that occurs over time, and with it, the loss of truth. It compels him to take on the role of documentarian. For this project, Steen took five trips to southern Poland from 2011 - 2015, spending over two months walking the streets, barracks, and fence lines of Auschwitz-Birkenau. Given access to interiors and exteriors that generally stay hidden from the public, while documenting current-day conditions he captures the spirits of those whose lives abruptly transitioned there, unshakeable reminders of truth.

Jeffrey Steen
Trees Reflecting in Pond,
archival pigment print
Ed. 1/20

HAROLD ROSS' (Lancaster, PA) photographic process reinforces the notion that discarded objects can have an exquisite quality. He is convinced that beauty isn’t necessarily diminished when something is 'past its prime,' and that there are certain aspects of beauty that only the patina of time can create. In looking at his subjects with an unwavering eye, and meticulously casting light on them, Ross discovers their inherent qualities of shape, texture, and dimension. He uses light as a sculptural tool and in doing so hopes to reveal things that we don’t see under ordinary conditions. Harold has practiced the specialized photographic technique of light painting for over 25 years. Light painting requires working in a completely dark studio, where one opens the camera for an extended period of time and “paints” the light onto the subject. He refers to his process as Sculpting with Light.