Hands! They are our first and most reliable tools for relating to the world around us, instrumental for counting, measuring and manipulating. These go-to tools and a trove of other creative ways to take measure of our surroundings are on view in “The Visual Metric”, a group show at the Griffin Museum of Photography’s large satellite gallery in the Lafayette City Center passageway at Downtown Crossing in Boston, through January 23rd, 2018. Take a detour from your shopping (or find the perfect gift, most are for sale and benefit the Griffin Museum) – a delightful photographic foray!
“Mapping the Family” by Carol Isaak (courtesy of the artist and Griffin Museum of Photography).
Far from depicting straight modes of measurement, Paula Tognarelli, Curator and Executive Director of the Griffin Museum, has used the concept of metrics as a jumping off point for unique ways of looking at how we relate to our environment. Her photographic selections range from the representational to abstract and from somber to humorous. Some lure in us with close textural detail while others soar out to topographic scale.
“Gemini, 2016” from the series Mother by JP Terlizzi (courtesy of the artist and Griffin Museum of Photography).
Such disparate imagery could lead to a lack of cohesiveness, but the exact opposite is true in this exhibit. Tognarelli’s photographic gathering has been installed in a way that draws many delightful associations in groupings along this lengthy gallery, making the whole even greater than the sum of its parts. As with the three photographs incorporating hands above, here are some other relationships that spark the imagination in “The Visual Metric”. Tom Lamb’s aerial image creates a powerful graphic, much like Marky Kauffmann’s fanciful, vibrant chemigram dress. Taken into view with Jane Szabo’s bodiless dress constructed from road maps, the trio’s scale, palette and subject matter prompt reflection on identity and location of self.
“MORPHOSIS – Marks on the Land series, 2016” aerial photograph by Tom Lamb (courtesy of the artist and Griffin Museum of Photography).
“Royal Green, 2017” pigment print from scanned Chemigram by Marky Kauffmann (courtesy of the artist and Griffin Museum of Photography).
“Road Maps, 2015” from the series Reconstructing Self by Jane Szabo (courtesy of the artist and Griffin Museum of Photography).
The works of Sara Silks, Randi Ganulin and Meg Birnbaum connect us to the earth and contemplate the concept of geologic time.
“Leaving Terra Firma 11, 2017” by Sara Silks (courtesy of the artist and Griffin Museum of Photography).
“Untitled (Cedar Code 2), 2016” by Randi Ganulin (courtesy of the artist and Griffin Museum of Photography).
“Years, 2017” by Meg Birnbaum (courtesy of the artist and Griffin Museum of Photography).
Photographs by Mary Daniel Hobson, Steve Gentile and Ralph Mercer combine corporeal, geologic and planetary elements to lead viewers into the spiritual realm.
“Conserve Ecology, 2005” by Mary Daniel Hobson (courtesy of the artist and Griffin Museum of Photography).
“Old News Chesapeake Bay 1941, 2017” by Steve Gentile (courtesy of the artist and Griffin Museum of Photography).
“Evocation #020, 2007” by Mary Daniel Hobson (courtesy of the artist and Griffin Museum of Photography).
“Cosmic Reverie, 2017” by Ralph Mercer (courtesy of the artist and Griffin Museum of Photography).
A grouping of graphical B&W photographs by Doug Johnson, Frances Jakubek and DM Witman together draw visual parallels between the disparate subjects of water, heartbeats and mountain ranges.
“Untitled (Waterlines), 2012” by Doug Johnson (courtesy of the artist and Griffin Museum of Photography).
“Untitled, 2015” from the series Carefully Omitted by Frances Jakubek (courtesy of the artist and Griffin Museum of Photography).
“Melt N45 E45-2, 2015” archival gold-toned salted-paper print by DM Witman (courtesy of the artist and Griffin Museum of Photography).
Spheres appear in photographs from an amazing diversity of sources and in range of scales, inviting us to compare, contrast, ponder and enjoy the ubiquity of this most basic and pleasing geometric form.
“Celestrial” from the Road Runes series by Joy Bush (courtesy of the artist and Griffin Museum of Photography).
“Façade 1, 2011” by Noritaka Minami (courtesy of the artist and Griffin Museum of Photography).
“House of Atlas, 2012” by Grace Weston (courtesy of the artist and Griffin Museum of Photography).
The fifty photographs in this group exhibit form a narrative down the LCC passageway gallery that invites engaging associations of color, composition, subject and meaning. The forty-two artists included in the show are: Roger Archibald, Julie Anand and Damon Sauer, Rachel Barrett, Karen Bell, Meg Birnbaum, Joy Bush, Kim Campbell, Richard Alan Cohen, Charan Devereaux, Norm Diamond, Randi Ganulin, Karen Garrett de Luna, Steve Gentile, Mary Daniel Hobson, Carol Isaak, Andrew Janjigian, Frances Jakubek, Doug Johnson, Marky Kauffmann, Sant Khalsa, Tom Lamb, Susan Lapides, Ralph Mercer, Noritaka Minami, Adam Neese, Troy Paiva, Barry Rosenthal, Daryl-Ann Saunders, Nicolo Sertorio, Sara Silks, Jean Sousa, Jane Szabo, JP Terlizzi, Donna Tramontozzi, David Weinberg, Grace Weston, Julie Williams-Krishnan, Susan Wilson, DM Witman, Dianne Yudelson, and Charlyn Zlotnik.
An exhibition catalog for this show is available from the Griffin Museum . For more information about the exhibit, closing reception or show catalog, go to: http://griffinmuseum.org/show/the-visual-metric/
Feature Image: “Work Gloves, 2014” (Detail) by Barry Rosenthal (courtesy of the artist and Griffin Museum of Photography).
“The World in Your Nose, 2017” by Troy Paiva (courtesy of the artist and Griffin Museum of Photography).
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