Charles Martin “Storied People”
June Kelly Gallery
This event has ended.
Storied People, an exhibition of black and white photographs by Charles Martin of people he met in chance encounters as well as celebrities, friends and strangers will open at the June Kelly Gallery.
“My photographs are usually unplanned and carried out quickly,” Martin says. “They are primarily a record of a moment of complicity: the person sees the photographer is taking a photo and allows the image to be. In that instantaneous connection, the creative process and vision are grounded in the reality of a life, rich in narrative potential, uncanny and intuitive.”
Some of Martin’s subjects are perfectly posed, as in the still of Toni Morrison, and others a little less so, sometimes refreshingly self-conscious in the moment, like the apparently carefree Angela Bassett. In a shot of Ornette Coleman, an interesting face and an elusive background are fused together to create a striking enigmatic character study.
Martin’s photographs hint at objective detachment from his subjects, but his discerning eye when shooting and his editing and selection demonstrate his personal sensitivity and artistic awareness. It is apparent that dynamic energy, frenzied motion and spatial disorientation are also among Martin’s subjects, but he achieves a balance between aesthetic and narrative functions of his images. His perceptiveness and his empathy for both his subject and its context reflect his ability to organize form, space, energy and light into a stunning and artful visual dialogue. Martin’s photos also often offer a visual choreography between light and its reflection, between the actual and the perceived.
Media
Schedule
from February 12, 2016 to March 12, 2016