An exhibit like no other!
Those are the words I like to use to describe the Brandywine Photo Collective “Performances” exhibit at the Biggs Museum of American Art, February 2 thru April 22, 2018.
Nine groups of photos are on display. In each group, you see the photo as interpreted by the artist who took the photo, but you also see three versions of the photo as interpreted — “performed” — by other artists, other artists who took the original image and tried to make it their own.
The resulting exhibit is remarkable. Walking in for the first time, I had no idea if the show would work or not. It does. The exhibit relies heavily on computerized post-processing of images. It has to, but that is something new to most of us exhibiting. This was new territory for most of us, but the curator, Ryan Grover, wanted us to choose a challenging theme. We did! If the exhibit succeeds, it is because we gave each other permission to be playful, to go wild, even silly. So we all delved into the mysteries of Photoshop. Some joyfully went beyond that to create presentations in unusual forms, some three dimensional.
The idea for this exhibit comes from Ansel Adams, of all people, not someone noted for expression, yet it was his belief that the original negatives he made would be “performed” by others who might make prints very different from the prints he made.
We see this all the time in music, which was Adams’ inspiration. Singers perform songs others have written and make them their own. Instrumentalists take works composers have written and give the music their own interpretation. Cannot photographers take other people’s images and “perform” them in a way unlike anyone else?
See for yourself! Click here to learn more about this exhibit at the Biggs Exhibit of American Art.
The photo above was taken by Gerry Meekins and performed by Jeffrey Rubin.