MIDWEST PHOTOGRAPHERS

John Michael Kohler Arts Center September 10 -October 22, 1978

Photography, that magical process of “writing with light” to create a permanent image, has radically altered our perceptions. Since its invention almost 150 years ago, the photographic image has entertained, informed, documented, and stunned. MIDWEST PHOTOGRAPHERS stresses the diversity of subject matter and techniques, both in color and black and white, currently being explored among photographers in the Midwest, especially Wisconsin, Illinois, and Minnesota. Almost two hundred works by twenty-three photographers have been assembled. Each artist is represented by at least one series of related works to give a more complete idea of their unique interpretation of the world around us. Photography is accessible to everyone; vacation slides and portraits of family gatherings are documents we all have. Life without photographs is impossible to imagine, for the photographic image has become an all-pervasive way of seeing.

Throughout its brief history, however, photography has had to continually prove its validity as a fine art. Both the mechanical means used to produce the image and the fact that the image reproduces reality have contributed to the prevalent misconception that photography cannot be considered a true art form. Yet although there are often lucky accidents that may evoke a deep response from the viewer, only a dedicated artist can consistently translate reality and experiences into thought-provoking images. It may seem that the photographer is only recording what he sees, but there are innumerable judgments that he makes to create each picture. The photographer through selections of subject matter, vantage point, detail, and the use of special techniques imposes himself on the finished product to varying degrees.

From its very beginnings, photography has encompassed two poles: the objective recording of people, places, and events, and the more subjective, often romantic and very personal creating of images that interpret as much as painting and drawing do. Of course, a photograph can never be a “pure” document because the photographer will always, no matter how unconsciously, make some decisions that will alter reality. In the same way, a photograph, although it may become almost completely abstract or surrealistic, can never be totally divorced from reality, as the objects of the real world still provide its basic subject matter.

Most photographers tend toward one pole more than the other, but some combine the objective and subjective approaches in almost equal amounts. A deeper understanding of the work in this exhibition can be gained by examining the artists subject matter and their attitudes toward that subject matter. There is a consistently strong documentary tradition in American photography that can be traced back to the earliest exploration of the medium. The Civil War and the rugged landscape of the expanding western frontier provided rich material for the photographer, and the recording of our unique American landscape continues in many of the works in this exhibition. The dramatic contrast of grain elevators with flat Midwestern plains is captured by Gary Hallman. His photographs show both detail and the patterning of subtle grays as the austere concrete forms thrust up to the sky. In a similar way, Rusty Culp deals with the lines of definition that set one space apart from another. These lines may be created by architecture, the contrast of light and dark, and objects such as fences. His photographs record very familiar scenes, but there is a persistent rhythm created by the delicate balancing of objects within the picture frame.

Dramatic canyons and hills fill many of David Avison’s photographs. Using a special wide-angle view camera which he constructed himself, Avison can produce wide vista photographs that approximate the peripheral sphere of vision perceived by the human eye. His long-format/wide-angle images have a dynamic spatial structure that seems to surround the viewer.

Miami Beach provides Stuart Klipper with ample material for a series of seemingly candid, yet very carefully composed, images. The striking colors of sea, sand, and somewhat garish architecture are put together in different combinations to present a profile of this resort city. People come and go in many of the photographs but are perfectly integrated into their surroundings.

This documentary tradition certainly extends to portraiture. Concerned photographers at the turn of the century, such as Jacob Riis and Lewis Hine, recorded poverty and social injustice in America. Many contemporary photographers continue to produce moving portraits of the human condition, often becoming deeply involved with their subjects. A portrait should show more than just a face; it should capture something of the character, strength, and personality of the sitter. Cavaliere Ketchum has spent a great deal of time with the Chippewa and other Indian tribes in Northern Wisconsin, producing portraits of particular people as well as a kind of anthropological record of the tribes’ present situations. He has also taken moving portraits of Hispanic people, which fulfill a cultural as well as artistic function.

With a similar intention, Jonas Dovydenas chronicles life in Chicago’s ethnic communities, a project undertaken for the Library of Congress. Parades, outdoor festivals, family picnics, and gatherings on front porches are just a few of the celebrations both formal and casual that Dovydenas records. Despite the variety of ethnic differences, the viewer is struck by similarities in ritual and adherence to family ties. Mark Jensen also explores this idea, but has chosen to photograph a disappearing segment of society the proprietors of small businesses. Jensen has taken time and care to develop a rapport with each of his subjects. The photographs possess a clarity of detail that allows the viewer to become a part of these very personal environments.

As discussed earlier, all of the works in the exhibition involve a varying mixture of objective and subjective approaches, a phenomenon which is inherent in the art of photography. Some of the photographs appear to balance the recording of external reality with the perceptions and emotional response of the photographer. Michael Simon uses extremely sensitive film to capture the rolling plains of the Midwest in a series of fleeting images taken from his car. The verticals of telephone poles, gasoline signs, and factory smokestacks thrust against the endless horizontal landscape. The grainy texture caused by the sensitive film gives a misty, romantic quality to the works that shows Simon’s love of the pictorialist tradition, which has been stronger in Europe than America.

The extended panoramas of Laura Volkfielding are much more straightforward, yet she has strongly modified our perceptions of the landscape through the manipulation of Les Klug, for example, has employed extraordinary darkroom techniques in the creation of very personal portraits. Klug literally sandwiches negatives together to produce his texturized photographs. He also withholds light from certain areas of the paper during the printing processÑsometimes printing ten times on a single sheet to create layered effects. This unique manipulation gives his works a tactile, almost sculptural quality, turning the photographic image into something that engages not only the eye but also the imagination.

The manipulation of photographic materials and techniques isn’t just about altering the physical form of the image but also about enhancing the emotional and interpretive power of the work. By engaging with the medium in such an experimental way, Klug challenges the viewer’s conventional understanding of what a photograph can be. His work is a testament to the expressive potential of photography, showing that it is much more than a mere mechanical reproduction of realityÑit can be a dynamic, personal interpretation that speaks to both the viewer’s emotions and intellect.

Similarly, other photographers in the exhibition, such as Mark Zupan, use their images to challenge viewers’ perceptions. Zupan’s color photographs burst with spontaneity, capturing urban landscapes, storefronts, and billboards with a vivid intensity that draws on the energy of city life. His approach, while candid and descriptive, elevates these everyday scenes to a level of surrealism, where the colors and forms seem to exist in a world beyond reality. This transformation of the ordinary into the extraordinary is one of the hallmarks of contemporary photography, and Zupan’s work exemplifies this trend.

The use of color in photography, as exemplified by Barbara Karant and Fred Berman, has opened up new possibilities for the medium. Color is no longer merely a tool for realistic representation; it is now a way to heighten emotional impact and imbue an image with meaning beyond its literal appearance. Karant’s interiors, devoid of human presence, are a study in stillness and light, while Berman’s still-lifes draw on the traditions of Dutch masterworks, with their painstaking attention to detail and the manipulation of color to evoke a sense of timelessness.

As the exhibition shows, whether through the controlled use of color or the innovative application of photographic techniques, photographers continue to push the boundaries of the medium. The works presented in this collection illustrate the diversity of approaches that define contemporary photography, from the intimate portrait to the sweeping landscape, from the candid moment to the carefully constructed composition.

Through these photographs, we see that the medium of photography is not just about capturing realityÑit’s about transforming it, interpreting it, and communicating something deeper and more complex about the world we live in. The Illinois countryside, filled with thistles and grazing cows, provides the subject matter for Larry McPherson’s dramatic color photographs. Using multiple exposures shot with strobe flashes, and the complicated dye-transfer printing technique, McPherson achieves a marvelous surrealism. He greatly alters our perceptions of the ubiquitous cow. Catherine Loughran achieves a similar transformation of our conceptions of the human form in her “Bodyscapes.” In these delicately hand-tinted multiple exposures, she stresses the sculpturesque beauty and graceful movement of the human torso.

Although all photographs alter and interpret reality to some extent according to the photographer’s perceptions of the world, the viewer maintains faith in the integrity of the photographic image. Because a photograph of an incident is generally assumed to be evidence that it really happened, Robert Muffoletto, in a combination of narrative document and tongue-in-cheek humor, challenges this assumption in The Wild Dog of Heath Street. He juxtaposes various scenes of bloody victims and evidence such as paw prints with photographs of a seemingly vicious black dog. In reality, the dog is a friendly puppy; the viewer is stunned by the power of the photograph to convince and falsify.

MIDWEST PHOTOGRAPHERS presents a cross-section of the variety and complexity of photographic images currently being produced in this region. The landscape, both urban and rural, and the portrait, both candid and posed, continue to endure as the most popular form of subject matter. But everything that exists has photographic potential, and that, added to the variations in approach and attitude of the individual photographer, yields infinite possibilities for the photographic image. Photographs are invitations to search beyond the surface, to speculate, to fantasize.

The Arts Center is grateful to the artists, without whom this exhibition would not have been possible, for generously lending works to the exhibition. We would also like to express our appreciation to Ted Hartwell, Curator of Photography at The Minneapolis Institute of Arts, and David Travis, Curator of Photography at The Art Institute of Chicago, for their cooperation and advice during the organization of the exhibition. Each exhibition at the John Michael Kohler Arts Center requires the combined efforts and talents of the staff, but there are also invaluable services performed by volunteers. We would like to thank the docents, who conduct educational tours for adult and school groups, the gallery aides, who faithfully watch the galleries to ensure the safety of the objects, and Ray Van Handel, who designed and executed the graphics at the entrance to the exhibition.