Artist Statement
The Swim series is about the vernacular dance and choreography inherent in the quotidian experience of swimming. In the work I am looking at the choreography of the individual when his/her weight is lifted by the water. Each person’s body responds to the freedom of weightlessness in the water environment in a unique way. This is what fascinates me when observing ordinary people in the water. Later, when composing the pieces, I look for patterns of movement and rhythms that speak about how the subjects, who become my “dancers,” relate to each other in the overall choreography of the scene. I construct specific patterns of movement across the space of the photograph. I’m interested in how each dancer’s movements lead into, compliment, contrast, and punctuate the movements of the other.
Process Statement
The works are constructed using the grid as a point of departure. Within the confines of the grid’s rigidity I look for the organic rhythms of the water and the “dancers” to emerge. I enjoy working within this contradictory space where the unyielding structure of the grid attempts to contain the fluidity of the water and the bodies.
I am a native New Yorker and a fine art photographer who has lived in the San Francisco Bay Area and worked in my Oakland studio for more than twenty-five years. My work has been exhibited in galleries and museums nationally and resides in various corporate and permanent collections, including those of the Alameda County Art Commission, the San Francisco Arts Commission, the Oakland Museum, and the Kala Institute (Berkeley, CA) where I am currently an artist in residence. My work is represented by the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art Artists Gallery, PHOTO Gallery in Oakland, and the Kala Institute Art Gallery.
Recently retired from teaching photography at California State University (East Bay) for more than a decade, I currently teach photography at the Academy of Art University in San Francisco in both the graduate and undergraduate divisions. I graduated with a BFA in Photography from the School of Visual Arts in New York City and an MFA from the City University of New York, Brooklyn College.
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