New York Times article: Award to artist who
gives slums a human face
October 2010 Archives
I am a big fan of Abelardo Morell's work, particulary his Camera Obscura series (shown here and here). His two new bodies of work - Tent Work and Cliché Verre - are on show at the Bonni Benrubi Gallery in New York until 18 Dec 2010.
In his tent-camera
process Morell continues to push the boundaries of the way we
see with the use of a lightproof tent and periscope that allows him to project
a view of the nearby landscape directly onto the ground below. The resulting
photographs play on the tropes of impressionistic painting as the projected
landscapes are refracted on the grass, sand or pavement below.
"Recently, I began to wonder what it would be like to marry images of landscapes with the surface of the ground nearby. I have worked with my assistant, C.J. Heyliger, on designing a light proof tent that, via periscope type optics, makes it possible to project a view of the nearby landscape onto whatever ground is under the tent. Inside this darkened space I use a view camera to record the effect, which I think is a rather wonderful sandwich of two outdoor realities coming together. This Tent-Camera now liberates me to use camera obscura techniques in a world of new places. I now have a portable room, so to speak." - Abelardo Morell
Abelardo Morell
Tent-Camera Image on Ground: Rooftop View of the Brooklyn Bridge, 2010
"Cliché Verre" is a series of photographs of ferns and cycads. Cliché Verre means "glass picture," and was used by the French painters Corot and Millet. Morell has literally pressed several plants repeatedly all over the surface of a glass plate to achieve more complex imagery, which can look like imaginary jungles or forests.
Press release here: |
Continue reading Abelardo Morell: Groundwork Exhibition.
