Current Exhibit
The New Abstraction: Controlled Chaos in the Found Art Photo
Photographs by William Graebner
On display Nov. 18, 2019 - Jan. 18, 2020
Photographs by William Graebner
On display Nov. 18, 2019 - Jan. 18, 2020
ARTIST STATEMENT
“Art is what cannot be done again” – Karl Ove Knausgaard
As a photographer I first became interested in “found art” in Bologna, Italy, where I lived for 6 months in 1989. I was intrigued with the city’s rich array of posters, especially those that had been torn, revealing layers of imagery that, when exposed, created surprising visual juxtapositions and (now and then) provocative new images. Despite its “found” status, there are artists involved - often several. Multiple authors have engaged in accidental collaborations, entirely lacking in intentionality. The evanescent quality of found art is important, too, because found art is inherently ephemeral, erased by authorities or covered by artistic (and non-artistic) interventions.
In my photographs I have expanded on art created by layered and defaced posters to include the visual iconography of the walls of Rome and other cities--the serendipitous confluence of multiple interventions: graffiti on top of graffiti; drips and spills that engage with and enhance the underlying image or pitted wall. My photographs are moments in time that capture this art that inevitably will vanish--and “cannot be done again.”
BIO
William Graebner is Professor Emeritus, State University of New York at Fredonia, where he taught history for more than 30 years. He is a widely published author of books and articles on American history and culture, including books on Patty Hearst, on teenagers in Buffalo (preceded by a major photo exhibit at the Buffalo and Erie County Historical Society), on the history of retirement and, with Dianne Bennett, on modern Rome. He has also written on Norman Rockwell, the St. Louis Arch, the Buffalo Skyway, high school secret societies, rock music, film, and the Holocaust.
He photographs “found art” in Rome, London, Los Angeles, and Buffalo, and maintains a photo website, http://www.foundartphotos.com. His photograph, “Tonawanda Dream,” earned the Juror’s Pick award in CEPA Gallery’s 2019 Members’ Show.
“Art is what cannot be done again” – Karl Ove Knausgaard
As a photographer I first became interested in “found art” in Bologna, Italy, where I lived for 6 months in 1989. I was intrigued with the city’s rich array of posters, especially those that had been torn, revealing layers of imagery that, when exposed, created surprising visual juxtapositions and (now and then) provocative new images. Despite its “found” status, there are artists involved - often several. Multiple authors have engaged in accidental collaborations, entirely lacking in intentionality. The evanescent quality of found art is important, too, because found art is inherently ephemeral, erased by authorities or covered by artistic (and non-artistic) interventions.
In my photographs I have expanded on art created by layered and defaced posters to include the visual iconography of the walls of Rome and other cities--the serendipitous confluence of multiple interventions: graffiti on top of graffiti; drips and spills that engage with and enhance the underlying image or pitted wall. My photographs are moments in time that capture this art that inevitably will vanish--and “cannot be done again.”
BIO
William Graebner is Professor Emeritus, State University of New York at Fredonia, where he taught history for more than 30 years. He is a widely published author of books and articles on American history and culture, including books on Patty Hearst, on teenagers in Buffalo (preceded by a major photo exhibit at the Buffalo and Erie County Historical Society), on the history of retirement and, with Dianne Bennett, on modern Rome. He has also written on Norman Rockwell, the St. Louis Arch, the Buffalo Skyway, high school secret societies, rock music, film, and the Holocaust.
He photographs “found art” in Rome, London, Los Angeles, and Buffalo, and maintains a photo website, http://www.foundartphotos.com. His photograph, “Tonawanda Dream,” earned the Juror’s Pick award in CEPA Gallery’s 2019 Members’ Show.