Spencer Finch: Light,Time, Chemistry
Rhona Hoffman Gallery, Chicago
March 27 - May 2, 2009
Rhona Hoffman Gallery in Chicago presents Light, Time, Chemistry, an exhibition of photo-based work by SPENCER FINCH. In this exhibition, Spencer Finch references both phenomenology and the psychology of perception, capturing and re-contextualizing fleeting and ephemeral elements from our surroundings. Among the many works exhibited is Periscope, a photographic device composed of mirrors and ventilation ducts that extends from inside the gallery to the outside and allows visitors to view the changing sky. The periscope was used to expose a cyanotype directly on the wall of the gallery, creating a hazy blue image from a two-day exposure of the Chicago sky.
Also on display is Spencer Finch’s installation Shadow, Sculpture of Centaur, Tuileries (after Atget), a component of a larger body of work entitled Shadows (After Atget). In this work, Spencer Finch captures the ephemeral phenomenon of shadows, focusing specifically on re-creating light from locations of Eugene Atget’s photographs of Paris. Employing a fluorescent tube lamp covered with colored filters of Isaac Newton’s spectrum, the light functions as a reverse prism, emitting the very polychrome grey light of the Parisian shadows photographed by Eugène Atget almost one hundred years ago.
Fog is a re-occurring subject in Finch’s practice, and Thank You, Fog reflects his interest in the ‘anti-image.’ Executed by Spencer Finch in Sonoma County California, Thank You, Fog is comprised of 60 photographs that were shot from a static camera at one minute intervals as a fog moved over the densely wooded landscape. Like a veil drawn across the landscape, the fog both reveals and conceals, frustrating our desire to capture an accurate image. The title of this artwork is borrowed from poet W.H. Auden’s final book.
Rhona Hoffman Gallery previously presented two exhibitions of Spencer Finch art work: Spencer Finch: H2O (2006) and Spencer Finch: Here and There (2001).
RHONA HOFFMAN GALLERY, CHICAGO, IL, USA
Gallery's website: www.rhoffmangallery.com
