Introduction

New photography exhibition opens at Santa Fe Gallery Feb. 7

New photography exhibition opens at Santa Fe Gallery Feb. 7

 

Kids We Know/Dustin & Sadie Whitehead

“Present Company Excluded or the Disposability of the Decisive Moment”—an exhibition of photographs submitted by artists from Paris, Seoul, Krakow, New York, California, Texas and many other locations across the country as well as Gainesville—will be on view in the Santa Fe Gallery Feb. 7-Mar. 24, 2014. The Santa Fe Gallery is located in room M-147 at the Northwest Campus of Santa Fe College, 3000 NW 83 Street, Gainesville. Gallery hours are Mon.-Fri., 10 a.m.-4 p.m. Admission is free and the gallery is open to the public.

The exhibition will open with a free public reception for the artists 7-9 p.m. Friday, Feb. 7, 2014. Refreshments will be catered by Blue Water Bay.

The curator of “Present Company Excluded” is Matthew Whitehead, assistant professor of photography at Santa Fe College. Whitehead pooled his contacts with those of Santa Fe Gallery Manager Kyle Novak to solicit work for the exhibition.

“For this exhibit, we sent disposable cameras to artists all over the country and the globe,” explained Novak. “We asked artists to think about what makes a ‘decisive moment,’ an idea expressed originally by the photography pioneer Henri Cartier-Bresson. He thought that photography’s greatest potential lay in its ability to capture those moments in time when elements of historical and visual significance come together. We thought that having artists use disposable cameras was a perfect way to complement Cartier-Bresson’s vision of photography.”

Notable participants in “Present Company Excluded” are Jason Kofke (Atlanta), Roger Beebe (Ohio State University), Susan Maakestad (Memphis College of Art), Julia Morrisroe (University of Florida), Greely Myatt (University of Memphis), and Dustin Whitehead (filmmaker at University of Chicago Booth Business School). In addition to Morrisroe, local artists with work in the exhibition include Micah Daw and Evan Galbicka.

All the artists used inexpensive 200 ISO disposable cameras and that, according to Novak, created “both a conceptual and visual harmony and bond between the various photographs.”

“The limitations presented by the use of the disposable camera challenge the viewer’s perception of what we use to make art,” said exhibition curator Matthew Whitehead. “Though the 40 participating artists were given the same tool and parameters, the resulting exhibit showcases their diverse perspectives and backgrounds. From pure portraiture to abstraction, this exhibit should give any viewer a visually thought-provoking experience.”

The Santa Fe Gallery offers students and the Gainesville community a dynamic calendar of engaging and thought-provoking exhibitions with an emphasis on creating an innovative learning environment.

For more information about the exhibition and the gallery, call Santa Fe Gallery Manager Kyle Novak at 352-395-5464. For more information about Visual Arts programs at Santa Fe College, call Fine Arts Department Chairperson Alora Haynes at 352-395-5296.