Thursday, September 03, 2009
The Art Gallery in the Fine Arts Center at Montgomery County Community College opens its 2009-2010 gallery season with an exhibit of photographs and sculptures by Robert Porter and Leslie Kaufman. The show, titled “Frames and Forms,” runs through Oct. 2, with an opening reception to meet the artists on Sept. 16 from 5-7 p.m. The show and reception are free of charge and are open to the public. The Fine Arts Center is located at the College’s Central Campus, 340 DeKalb Pike, Blue Bell. Parking is available in the lot off of Route 202. For more information about the College’s galleries, contact Gallery Director Holly Cairns at 215-619-7349 or hcairns@mc3.edu.
Photographer Rob Porter engaged in black and white darkroom photography years ago as a hobby. As his family grew, Porter explains that he closed his darkroom and gave away much of his equipment. However, as the digital imaging revolution began, he describes “discovering that a digital camera and Photoshop would allow me to do in color in minutes what took ages in the darkroom in black and white.” Returning to photography, Porter began doing fashion photography for his wife’s clothing design business. Working with fashion models in the studio setting kindled an interest in arranged compositions, which led to his current work in still life.
“I try to capture beauty in all its guises of shape, texture and color,” Porter explains. “My inspiration comes from classical painting, both in its original form and as interpreted by photographers such as Jan Sudek and Robert Mapplethorpe.”
Sculptor Leslie Kaufman describes “using the visual language of sculpture to provide a concrete form that, like poetry, alludes to the common emotions underlying human experience.” As a sculptor, Kaufman fills the space between words with tangible forms, with titles of her pieces often taken from lines in poems. She explains that “the words act as guides, allowing me to explore ideas and feelings and develop them so they attain a visual and tactile presence.” Working primarily in wood, Kaufman begins with boards that have been planed until they are smooth, then glued together (laminated), and ultimately carved so that the final forms reference the original curved forms and rough bark of the trees from which they came.
“The use of wood allows me to incorporate contrasting textures and forms, which serve as metaphors for many of the complexities and conflicts inherent within relationships in the physical world as well as the human world,” Kaufman explains.
Kaufman’s recent work has concentrated on the connection between the life and death cycle of both nature and human beings as a part of nature. She explains that “nature is transformed, but still reveals the fibers of which it consists.”
