Beth Dow "Ruins"
Jen Bekman Gallery
This event has ended.
Jen Bekman Gallery presents Ruins, an exhibition of twelve platinum-palladium prints by photographer Beth Dow. This is the artist’s second solo exhibition at Jen Bekman Gallery. Her New York City solo debut, Fieldwork, garnered wide acclaim; it was described as “smartly understated and memorable” by Vince Aletti for The New Yorker.
In Ruins, her third body of work, Dow affirms her commitment to the contemporary. With great respect for 19th century photographers Giorgio Sommer, Francis Frith and Felix Bonfils as well as the tradition of platinum-palladium printing, her overture culminates in a provocative marriage of form and content. The series depicts faux Classical ruins found throughout the Midwest and challenges ideas of authenticity, nostalgia and the particularly American tendency to appropriate history. The gallery's founder, Jen Bekman notes,
Dow has successfully combined the American vernacular tradition in photography with an alternative photographic process, and she's created something entirely new. Because she reveres the traditions she is working from, she resists the easiest escape from them, irony and condescension, making her achievement incredibly remarkable.
[Image: Beth Dow "Coaster" Platinum-Palladium Print 20 x 24 in.]
Media
Schedule
from April 10, 2009 to May 16, 2009
Artist Talk: Saturday, April 11, 2009 12-2pm.
Opening Reception on 2009-04-09 from 18:00 to 20:00