Event
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Mercury 20 Gallery
April 9 - May 16, 2015Info
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http://www.mercurytwenty.com/
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(510) 701-4620
Reception
April 18, 2015 2:00 pm to 4:00 pm
Peter Honig: "Thank You" (2014), framed archival pigment print, 32" x 40", (photo by the artist)
Peter Honig: Dark Matter
Peter Honig's recent series, Dark Matter, consists of large-scale black and white studio photographs of inanimate objects composed in tableaux that suggest illustrations of psychological states. Honig's model universes are infused with an abstractionist's sensitivity to form, tone, and texture, but the resulting photographs paradoxically employ a chiaroscuro lighting scheme that creates a sense of heightened drama. Rooted in a minimalist sensibility and imbued with wry humor, the images emerge from a sea of black to reveal elemental forms captured in tense engagement with one another. As in his previous work, the arrangements of collected debris function as simple proxies for the human form. However, the human form is not the primary subject of his exploration, but rather suggests the presence of larger forces underlying the construction of human identity and social interaction. The active requirement that the viewer both personify and identify with the "actors" in these micro dramas creates a dynamic in which the images function as psychological mirrors. Simultaneously impermanent and yet insistently material, Honig's photographs throw light on our quest to control the anxious, ancient, and autonomous regions of our psyche as they slither forth from the dark fields of subconscious thought. The photographs in the series are 32 X 40 inches and digitally printed using archival pigment inks on a textured fine art paper. The works are presented framed, in an edition of 7. Peter Honig was born in Boston, Massachusetts and studied Art History and Fine Art Photography at Hampshire College in Amherst. He currently lives in Santa Barbara where he works as a professional photographer and art educator. www.peterhonigphoto.com