By Elin Spring
Doubtless, you have heard someone declare, “there is a method to my madness!” For others it might be said that there is a madness to their method. Both may be delightfully true in Digits: A Parallel Universe, a group exhibition of eleven artists who employ a potpourri of digital image manipulations with spectacular results. Curated by Paula Tognarelli, Executive Director of the Griffin Museum of Photography, the exhibit will be on view in the Griffin’s satellite gallery at Lafayette City Center Passageway in Downtown Crossing, Boston through June 9th, 2021. There will be a Virtual Reception and Artist Talk on Sunday, April 25th, 2021 at 4:00 pm (EDT).
“Is This My Stop?” 2018, from Finding My Way by Lisa Ryan, courtesy of the artist and Griffin Museum of Photography.
“End of the Day” 2019, from Visual Pathways by Dennis Geller, courtesy of the artist and Griffin Museum of Photography.
“Altered Reality 7” from The Painted Pixel by Gordon Saperia, courtesy of the artist and Griffin Museum of Photography.
About half of the artists present landscape-based imagery, using disparate abstraction techniques to express their emotional responses to the environment. From “Finding My Way,” Lisa Ryan’s infrared scenes conveying a sense of disorientation to “Visual Pathways,” Dennis Geller’s otherworldly extrapolations on what and how we see, to “The Painted Pixel,” Gordon Saperia’s responsive “altered reality” landscapes, these artists’ dreamlike images play with concepts of time and place.
“Higher Ground” 2020, from Life Could Be A Dream by Bill Gore, courtesy of the artist and Griffin Museum of Photography.
Bill Gore’s vibrant, energetic series “Life Could Be A Dream” explores how beliefs are formed from our selective memory. Each print emerges from pared down and reassembled images of everyday life, a process modeled after the way we sort and reshape our recollections. Compressing shape and color, past and present, Gore constructs novel, abstracted visions that “carry the secret narratives of their ancestor images.”
“Meditation No. 16” 2020, from Foreseeable Cache by Debe Arlook, courtesy of the artist and Griffin Museum of Photography.
Debe Arlook’s ethereal images in “Foreseeable Cache” feature translucent layering of awe-inspiring natural monuments like the sandstone buttes found on sacred Native American land. The grandeur of her scenes channels a belief in the sacredness of these lands and our connections to it in mind, spirit, heart and body. By integrating man-made geometric forms that represent interfering “thoughts and noises” and choosing mellifluous color-shifts relating to elements of yoga chakra energy fields, Arlook shares “what meditation feels like to me.”
“Paulette” 2021, from Oh My Goddess by Miren Etcheverry, courtesy of the artist and Griffin Museum of Photography.
“Pod” 2020, from Hand Painted Photographs by Cathy Cone, courtesy of the artist and Griffin Museum of Photography.
“Legs” from Family History/ Family Mystery by Marcy Juran, courtesy of the artist and Griffin Museum of Photography.
About half of the artists present portrait-based imagery, exploring themes of memory, aspiration and sometimes both. From “Oh My Goddess,” Miren Etcheverry’s ebullient homage to women family and friends to “Hand Painted Photographs,” Cathy Cone’s blending of archival tintypes and painted brushstrokes that layer new narratives onto the past, to “Family History/ Family Mystery,” Marcy Juran’s creation of imaginary family gatherings across generations that did not necessarily co-exist, these artists’ visions articulate personal hopes and dreams.
“Hey Down There” 2019, from When the Trees are Gone by Diana Cheren Nygren, courtesy of the artist and Griffin Museum of Photography.
Diana Cheren Nygren’s “When the Trees are Gone” is an eerily realistic exploration of a dystopic environmental future. In crisp, colorful and expertly blended compositions, Nygren positions ordinary beachgoers in urban settings, searching for a missing natural world. Building visual and emotional tension by pitting vulnerable people clad only in swimsuits against an imposing, faceless cityscape, Nygren delivers an effective cautionary tale.
“Walker’s Daughter” by Najee Dorsey, courtesy of the artist and Arnika Dawkins Gallery, Atlanta.
Arkansas native Najee Dorsey’s effervescent mixed media photomontages celebrate (especially southern) Black lives. He elevates both little known and famous figures throughout American history, combining unmanipulated facial photographs with potent bodily gestures in scenarios that pulse with vibrant energy. Propelled by the maxim, “stories untold are stories forgotten,” Dorsey’s images erupt with passion that is galvanizing and indelible.
“Birch Text” 2021, from Syllabary for a Natural World by Deborah Kaplan, courtesy of the artist and Griffin Museum of Photography.
Deborah Kaplan’s “Syllabary for a Natural World” stands alone. Based on the tenet that the natural world has its own language, Kaplan combines nature’s linear shapes, in the form of tree trunks and branches, with mark making – the basis of written language – to invent a “language that never was, but which ought to be.” Her elegant hieroglyphs are at once lively and serene.
Feature Image: “Shine the Light” 2020 by Najee Dorsey, courtesy of the artist and Arnika Dawkins Gallery, Atlanta.
Digits: A Parallel Universe, featuring the work of Debe Arlook, Diana Cheren Nygren, Najee Dorsey, Cathy Cone, Miren Etcheverry, Dennis Geller, Bill Gore, Marcy Juran, Deborah Kaplan, Lisa Ryan and Gordon Saperia, will be on view through June 9th, 2021 in the Griffin satellite gallery at Lafayette City Center Passageway in Boston’s Downtown Crossing. For more information and/or to register for the Virtual Reception and Artist Talk on Sunday, April 25th, 2021 at 4:00pm (EDT), go to: https://griffinmuseum.org/show/digits-parallel-universe/
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