First it was questioned as art. Then painters used it as a tool. Decades later it was still defending itself as a viable art form. And now, more than 175 years after its inception, photography is an exalted medium, embraced by galleries, collectors and museums worldwide. While photographers engage with new technologies and new means of presentation, many artists working today still incorporate historical techniques in their work. Today is History brings together three artists who work with 19th / 20th c. processes to talk about present day concerns.
“TODAY IS HISTORY” AT CATHERINE EDELMAN GALLERY
We are excited to present three photographers in Today is History, which examines the use of early photographic techniques among today’s practitioners. Work by Kate Breakey, Dan Estabrook and Jerry Spagnoli will be featured. The show opens November 4 and runs through December 31, 2016.
There will be an opening reception on Friday, November 4, from 5 to 7:30 p.m.
First it was questioned as art. Then painters used it as a tool. Decades later it was still defending itself as a viable art form. And now, more than 175 years after its inception, photography is an exalted medium, embraced by galleries, collectors and museums worldwide. While photographers engage with new technologies and new means of presentation, many artists working today still incorporate historical techniques in their work. Today is History brings together three artists who work with 19th / 20th c. processes to talk about present day concerns.
Kate Breakey (B. 1957 Adelaide, South Australia) is best known for her large-scale photographic work with birds and flowers that she painstakingly brings back to life with colored pencils. These pieces can be seen in two monographs, Small Deaths (2001) and Flowers/Birds (2003). In 2014, Breakey turned her focus to the land, and the small details of everyday life: a hummingbird resting on a tree limb, a wilting tulip, figs on a counter, the moon setting over the mountain, trees swaying in the evening dusk. Produced as Orotones (prints made on glass and backed with 23k gold leaf) Breakey creates small objects that command our attention, using an early technique to comment on the beauty, fragility and simplicity of her daily surroundings.
For more than 30 years, Dan Estabrook’s (b. 1969 Boston, MA) work has been at the intersection of yesterday and today. Working with salt prints, calotypes, ambrotypes, and tintypes, Estabrook creates art that echoes his life, loves, desires and fears. Like many practitioners before him, he turns the camera on himself to make contemporary works inspired by the gap between today’s photographic perfection and the past’s technical limitations. As he states: “Using 19th-century techniques and celebrating their flaws and failures, I make seemingly anonymous photographs in order to re-imagine a more personal and dream-like history of photography, seen from a 21st-century perspective. With these processes, I can create my own ‘found photos’ - highly personal objects in which to hide my own secrets and stories.”
Jerry Spagnoli (b. 1956 New York City, NY) is credited as today’s preeminent photographer working with the daguerreotype, a polished copper plate treated with mercury vapor. Using this material, Spagnoli has photographed significant historical events, including the horrors of the World Trade Center and the beauty of Times Square on the eve of the Millennium. In his 2012 series, Glasses, Spagnoli tackles the reflective quality of everyday water glasses. As he states, “Ultimately my use of various materials and methods is centered in my desire to make complicated stories out of the everyday world, which is my apparent subject matter. Photography allows me to engage viewers with images and ideas which are filtered through the abstracting apparatus of the camera and woven into the matrix of its rich history.”
Please call: (312) 266-2350 for prices of specific pieces.
Prices are print only unless otherwise indicated.
Install Image 1, 2016
, Install Image 1, 2016
From the Today is History series
Install Image 2, 2016
Video Link
, Install Image 2, 2016
From the Today is History series
Install Image 3, 2016
, Install Image 3, 2016
From the Today is History series
Install Image 4, 2016
, Install Image 4, 2016
From the Today is History series
Tree, South of France, 2014 - 2015
Kate Breakey, Tree, South of France, 2014 - 2015
From the Golden Stardust series
7 x 2", 11½ x 6½" Orotone (print on glass with gold leaf)
Edition of 20, 20Chrysanthemum, 2014 - 2015
Kate Breakey, Chrysanthemum, 2014 - 2015
From the Golden Stardust series
4 x 4", 8 x 8", 12 x 12" Orotone (print on glass with gold leaf)
Edition of 20, 20, 20Single Tree Kew Gardens, London, 2014 - 2015
Kate Breakey, Single Tree Kew Gardens, London, 2014 - 2015
From the Golden Stardust series
5 x 3" Orotone (print on glass with gold leaf)
Edition of 20Big Cloud, Arizona, 2014 - 2015
Kate Breakey, Big Cloud, Arizona, 2014 - 2015
From the Golden Stardust series
8½ x 11" Orotone (print on glass with gold leaf)
Edition of 20Running Filly, 2014 - 2015
Kate Breakey, Running Filly, 2014 - 2015
From the Golden Stardust series
3 x 5" Orotone (print on glass with gold leaf)
Edition of 20Five Figs, 2014 - 2015
Kate Breakey, Five Figs, 2014 - 2015
From the Golden Stardust series
6½ x 8½ Orotone (print on glass with gold leaf)
Edition of 20Black Tulip, 2014 - 2015
Kate Breakey, Black Tulip, 2014 - 2015
From the Golden Stardust series
9 x 6" Orotone (print on glass with gold leaf)
Edition of 20Five Birds in Tree, 2014 - 2015
Kate Breakey, Five Birds in Tree, 2014 - 2015
From the Golden Stardust series
8½ x 11" Orotone (print on glass with gold leaf)
Edition of 20Moonlit Water, Arno Bay, 2014 - 2015
Kate Breakey, Moonlit Water, Arno Bay, 2014 - 2015
From the Golden Stardust series
11½ x 6½" Orotone (print on glass with gold leaf)
Edition of 20Dragonfly, 2014 - 2015
Kate Breakey, Dragonfly, 2014 - 2015
From the Golden Stardust series
3 x 5" Orotone (print on glass with gold leaf)
Edition of 20Yellow Breasted Warbler, 2014 - 2015
Kate Breakey, Yellow Breasted Warbler, 2014 - 2015
From the Golden Stardust series
4 x 4" Orotone (print on glass with gold leaf)
Edition of 20Rose, 2014 - 2015
Kate Breakey, Rose, 2014 - 2015
From the Golden Stardust series
4 x 4" Orotone (print on glass with gold leaf)
Edition of 20Blue Morpho Butterfly, 2014 - 2015
Kate Breakey, Blue Morpho Butterfly, 2014 - 2015
From the Golden Stardust series
5 x 7" Orotone (print on glass with gold leaf)
Edition of 20Seven Finches on Yukka, 2014 - 2105
Kate Breakey, Seven Finches on Yukka, 2014 - 2105
From the Golden Stardust series
14 x 10" Orotone (print on glass with gold leaf)
Edition of 20Beach Willunga, 2014 - 2015
Kate Breakey, Beach Willunga, 2014 - 2015
From the Golden Stardust series
8½ x 11" Orotone (print on glass with gold leaf)
Edition of 20Pitcher with Oranges, 2014 - 2015
Kate Breakey, Pitcher with Oranges, 2014 - 2015
From the Golden Stardust series
6 x 4" Orotone (print on glass with gold leaf)
Edition of 20Setting Moon, 2014 - 2015
Kate Breakey, Setting Moon, 2014 - 2015
From the Golden Stardust series
8½ x 11" Orotone (print on glass with gold leaf)
Edition of 20Vase with Chinaberries, 2014 - 2015
Kate Breakey, Vase with Chinaberries, 2014 - 2015
From the Golden Stardust series
6 x 5" Orotone (print on glass with gold leaf)
Edition of 20Blue Jug, 2014 - 2015
Kate Breakey, Blue Jug, 2014 - 2015
From the Golden Stardust series
6 x 7" Orotone (print on glass with gold leaf)
Edition of 20Pink Roses, Blue Vase, 2014 - 2015
Kate Breakey, Pink Roses, Blue Vase, 2014 - 2015
From the Golden Stardust series
6 x 7" Orotone (print on glass with gold leaf)
Edition of 20Discarded Vices, no. 1, 2016
Dan Estabrook, Discarded Vices, no. 1, 2016
From the Souvenirs series
4¼ x 3¼" tintype on steel
UniqueStudy for The Moon, 2015
Dan Estabrook, Study for The Moon, 2015
From the Souvenirs series
7½ x 7½" tintypes on aluminum
UniqueStarry Night, 2016
Dan Estabrook, Starry Night, 2016
From the Souvenirs series
8½ x 6½" tintype on aluminum
UniqueThe Source, 2016
sold
Dan Estabrook, The Source, 2016
From the Souvenirs series
8½ x 6½" tintype on steel, with zinc and copper
Uniquesold
Antimony, 2016
Dan Estabrook, Antimony, 2016
From the Souvenirs series
8½ x 6½" Tintype on aluminum, with inset oil painting on wood
UniqueBeauty Mask, 2016
sold
Dan Estabrook, Beauty Mask, 2016
From the Souvenirs series
8½ x 6½" Tintype on aluminum
Uniquesold
Last Splash, 2016
sold
Dan Estabrook, Last Splash, 2016
From the Souvenirs series
8½ x 6½" Tintype on aluminum with brass
Uniquesold
Out To Sea, 2016
Dan Estabrook, Out To Sea, 2016
From the Souvenirs series
11 x 6½" Tintypes on steel
UniqueStudio of a Young Man, 2016
sold
Dan Estabrook, Studio of a Young Man, 2016
From the Souvenirs series
8¾ x 13" Tintypes on aluminum and steal with copper and gum-wrapper
Uniquesold
Wreath, 2016
Dan Estabrook, Wreath, 2016
From the Souvenirs series
8½ x 6½" Tintype on Steel with silver-plated brass
UniqueStudy for “The Mourners”, 2016
Dan Estabrook, Study for “The Mourners”, 2016
From the Souvenirs series
9¾ x 12¾” tintype on aluminum
UniqueGlass 2-8-12, 2012
Jerry Spagnoli, Glass 2-8-12, 2012
From the Glasses series
14 x 11" daguerreotype
UniqueGlass 3-7-12, 2012
Jerry Spagnoli, Glass 3-7-12, 2012
From the Glasses series
14 x 11" daguerreotype
UniqueGlass 10-9-12, 2012
Jerry Spagnoli, Glass 10-9-12, 2012
From the Glasses series
14 x 11" daguerreotype
UniqueGlass 10-13-12, 2012
Jerry Spagnoli, Glass 10-13-12, 2012
From the Glasses series
14 x 11" daguerreotype
UniqueGlass 1-13-15, 2015
Jerry Spagnoli, Glass 1-13-15, 2015
From the Glasses series
20 x 16" daguerreotype
Unique