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Eli Ridgway Gallery

March 12 - April 17, 2011

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172 Minna Street San Francisco, CA 94105
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Viewshed
Opening Reception: March 12th, 4-7pm Baer Ridgway Exhibitions is pleased to present a solo exhibition with Sean McFarland: Viewshed, March 12th - April 16th, 2011. Through a disciplined studio practice utilizing unconventional modes of photography, McFarland continues to investigate the not so often seen vantage points of the Western landscape. The result of the artist's color photographs, black and white Polaroids, and drawings is a seemingly humble presentation that unfolds into monumental imagery and ideas that will challenge the audiences' understanding of both the environment and the photographic media. Highlighted in this exhibition is McFarland's latest body of work, Dark Pictures: 2008 - present. Within this series, the nearly black surfaces slowly dissipate when fragments of light are revealed in an orchestrated composition of color that reaches beyond the surface into an extreme depth of field. The images often present dense canopies of foliage that lead to uncharted voids creating an irresistible yet haunting space that encompasses the viewer without invitation or direction, begging the question: do I dare brave further into the darkness? After this initiation, the viewer uncovers the multitude of possibilities that lye herein these beautifully cinematic images. Within the Dark Pictures, McFarland combs through landscapes that exist because of human conservation. Most of the images are of landscapes maintained to depict their native biotic communities in close proximity to human development; city parks, open spaces, gardens, the representation of the natural. Like the word landscape, a viewshed is often implemented for aesthetic reasons, or with an eye toward natural beauty of the place. A viewshed is much like a screen concealing what one doesn't want the eye to see: for example, clear-cuts in old-growth forests are often obscured by trees that mask the devastation behind. Also presented in this exhibition is an ongoing body of work, Pictures Of The Earth, 2008 - present. Along with these modest sized black and white Polaroids are several new graphite on paper drawings, all of which are heavily influenced by the Pictures Of The Earth series.