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Reception: September 6, 5:30-7:30pm
For the fall season, Modernbook Gallery is proud to exhibit photographs by Bay Area artist, Ryan Bush. This exhibition highlights 24 images from a selection his two series, Memoria and Multiple Visions.
Memoria, is a monochromatic world, with images themselves that are varied, just like our memories. Some are light and ethereal, while others are dark and mysterious. Some are clearly recognizable as trees, while others are more abstract, further removed from the original by all the built-up layers. The simple geometric compositions contrast with the endless complexity of the branches receding into the distance. Various influences for this series include looping music by Steve Reich and Zoe Keating, fractal imagery, and works by Richard Diebenkorn, Cy Twombly, and Jackson Pollack.
Multiple Visions, features saturated color and a high degree of abstraction, to capture the feeling of seeing trees in various seasons. In winter, the bare branches are silhouetted against the bright blue sky, creating a jewel-toned mosaic. In spring the blossoms burst forth in a cloud of pink petals, wreathed in the buzzing of honeybees and the heady fragrance of the flowers. And in summer, a kaleidoscope of green leaves dances overhead, graced with bright sunlight shining through.
The images in both series are multiple exposures captured using a digital medium-format Hasselblad camera. The multiple exposures are all combined in-camera, rather than using Photoshop, since one is never sure quite what the result will be. Images are exhibited in two sizes, 20”x20” and 40”x40” as archival pigment photographs printed on highly-textured paper. For final presentation, images are floated in the frame, creating an end result that resembles a drawing, blurring the line between this world and the world of our imagination. The process is full of surprises and serendipity.
