Lependorf & Shire: Field of View
Opening Reception: Saturday June 5 from 6-8pm
June 3, 2010
through July 11, 2010
Carrie Haddad Photographs is pleased to announce F.O.V. Field of View, new work from Lependorf + Shire. The exhibition runs from June 3 through July 11. An opening reception for the artists will be held on Saturday, June 5 from 6 – 8 pm. All are invited.
Shelly Lependorf and Stan Shire have been collaborating since 2002. As a painting major at The Philadelphia College of Art, Lependorf continued to work in her Philadelphia studios for over 35 years forging recognition as a painter, printmaker and sculptor. She has exhibited worldwide. Shire, in addition to being a certified Adobe Photoshop Expert, is Professor Emeritus of Photographic Imaging at Community College of Philadelphia. Lependorf became fascinated with the world of digital imagery and sought to incorporate it into her work. She signed up for the last slot in a Photoshop class being offered by the author of “Hands on Photoshop,” Stan Shire. Through this class, the two found they shared a similar sensibility and discovered they each offered the other a new direction in pursuing their work. They shared a sense of humor. They argued well.
In their first experience photographing a natural setting, they were drawn to a dreamy quality of light, particularly twilight. Both were willing to spend hours waiting for this in-between light, happy for the possibility of getting lost in the work, of being taken out of self and into another world. Repetition and pattern are often utilized to enhance the inherent structure underlying what appears ephemeral.
The search for this quality has continued for Lependorf + Shire throughout their subsequent work. In addition to other photographic series, they began to build a body of work titled Horizon Fields, of which there are now over fifty images. They still wait for that moment of being transported, eager to capture the experience through the camera’s lens. Bringing what they have recorded back to their studio, they use their developed mastery of the digital medium, to ultimately produce their signature body of work.
In the current exhibition, Lependorf + Shire continue the Horizon Fields series. Though their work is most often presented in large square format, here they add the elongated horizontal and vertical. Both formats lend to the minimal feeling of the compositions.
In these images, Lependorf + Shire start out with what they see – their field of view. They then use the elements they wait for so patiently, color and illumination, to create a distinct aesthetic and mood. The photographs portray the deep sense of tranquility the two artists experience in nature.