First Impression Exhibition

Untitled, 2008 © Michelle Kloehn

First Impression

Curated by Michael Paris Mazzeo

Featuring work by:
Marco Breuer
Eric William Carroll
Dan Estabrook
Michael Flomen
Michelle Kloehn
Chris McCaw
Exhibition: September 16 – October 30, 2009

In conjunction with the exhibition, Baxter St at CCNY will host a panel discussion with the artists, Curator Michael Paris Mazzeo and Russell Lord, 2009-2010 Jane and Morgan Whitney Fellowship in the Department of Photographs at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. The event will be on Tuesday, September 22, at 7 PM, at the School of Visual Arts Amphitheater, 209 East 23rd Street.

Baxter St at CCNY is pleased to present First Impression, a group exhibition of unique photographs, curated by Michael Paris Mazzeo, on view from September 16 through October 30, 2009. A reception for the artists will be held on Wednesday, September 16, from 6 to 8 PM.

First Impression is an exhibition of contemporary work by artists employing arcane photographic methodologies resulting in unique, first-generation imagery. The selection of work includes examples of calotypes, tintypes, photograms and other unusual, unlikely and untimely processes by featured artists, Marco Breuer, Eric William Carroll, Dan Estabrook, Michael Flomen (watch an example of Michael’s video work), Michelle Kloehn, and Chris McCaw.

Celebrating its 125th year, Baxter St at CCNY is marking this important anniversary with an exhibition of work by artists who draw upon the origins of the medium to address contemporary photographic issues and practices. Each of the artists works within a distinct set of parameters, exploring the nature of process and representation.

Bios:

Marco Breuer uses various tools to alter the surface and sensitivity of photographic papers, creating abstract images that question the basic nature of the medium.
Eric William Carroll works with the least expensive photosensitive medium available, commercial blueprint paper, making life-size shadow photographs suggestive of performance art.
Employing Calotype negatives and skillful draftsmanship, Dan Estabrook uses his dreams as source material, making images that defy our understanding of physical existence, and challenging the assumption that photographs are rooted in reality.
Michael Flomen‘s innovative gelatin silver photograms document his interactions with the natural world. Working outdoors at night, Flomen makes images in fields and forests, rivers and ponds, even utilizing the most ethereal of light sources, fireflies.
Michelle Kloehn‘s tintypes, made in her studio, depict vaguely identifiable forms fashioned from discarded materials. Dark and intriguing, her work has the appearance of chemically induced expressionism.
Chris McCaw records the passage of time by allowing the sun to burn through photographic paper while traversing the sky. These enigmatic, large-format solarized paper negatives allude to celestial anomaly and prophetic revelation.

In conjunction with the exhibition, Baxter St at CCNY will host a panel discussion with the artists, moderated by Curator Michael Paris Mazzeo and Russell Lord, recipient of the 2009-2010 Jane and Morgan Whitney Fellowship in the Department of Photographs at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. The event will be held on Tuesday, September 22, 7 pm, at the School of Visual Arts Amphitheater, 209 East 23rd Street (between 2nd and 3rd Avenues). Admission is free to SVA students and staff, and Baxter St at CCNY members, $5 for other students, and $10 for the general public.