ANATOMICALLY CORRECT & STEPPENWOLF THEATRE COMPANY present
The Closer We Get
A Photography Exhibit Exploring Couples and Their Relationships
Featuring Works by
Selima Ani, Doug Felde, Stephanie Howard, Tricia Koning,
Jim Newberry, Carrie Notari, and Ken Mierzwa
On display at:
Steppenwolf Theatre Company's 2nd Floor Gallery,
1650 North Halsted, Chicago, IL 60614
Free Opening Reception:
Friday, July 14, 2000 from 6:00 - 7:30 p.m.
There is no charge for viewing the artwork.
Viewing hours are Thursdays - Sundays (1 pm - 7 pm)
and one hour prior to theatre performances
through August 27, 2000.
This art exhibition is in complement to Steppenwolf's
production of Closer by Patrick Marber.
BIOGRAPHIES
Selima Ani (B/W & Color Photography)
"I have always felt that portraits are always a collaboration - a result of the synergy created between myself and subjects. By initially developing a repoire with subjects, I attempt to delve into their unguarded selves, resulting in images that capture the essence of a spontaneous, emotional moment."Two in 2000" © Selima Ali
I tend to rely on the subjects' natural environment or "comfort zone" in order to evoke more genuine responses and gestures from my subjects. I avoid the use of studio lights and backdrops, which can make the subjects feel as if they are on display, or have to "look" a certain way. Relaxed subjects yield the most genuine results."
Selima began her education in photography at the New Trier Township High School and studied at the University of Illinois. She is currently enrolled at Wright College.
Doug Felde
(B/W Photography)
"Cocktails" © Doug Felde
"Jeanie" © Doug Felde
"My images are more of a feeling expressed than a verbatim photograph. Using techniques such as time exposures, montage, negative blocking, computer manipulation or painting on the print, I strive for a simplicity that filters out the static, revealing the core essence that the subject gives me."
As a self-taught commercial photographer, Felde has worked for fifteen years in advertising, architecture, fashion, product and public relations photography. His clients included Marshall Fields, J.C. Penney, Walter Payton, Mobil Oil, Siemens and the Chicago Academy for the Arts. Felde is just beginning to exhibit his work, most recently, winning Best of Show in Photography at the Wells Street Art Festival.
Secret1 © Doug Felde
Stephanie Howard (B/W Photography)
Stephanie's study of photography began at the Jane Addams Center/Hull House, where her portraiture has been exhibited in three group shows. This is her second group exhibit with Anatomically Correct Gallery, the first included her black & white images of Ireland at the Bailiwick Arts Center.
Benediction © Stephanie Howard
Theater photography has included promotional and performance photography for Steppenwolf's Traffic and Arts Exchange, Redmoon, Theater Dank's Puppetry Festival, Lookinglass, About Face, Defiant, Bailiwick, Thirteenth Tribe and Thresholds.
Her images recently appeared in two plays: as a backdrop in (Wish), a Rude Mechanicals Theater Company production in NYC, and as the slideshow in Detail of a Larger Work at The Garage at Steppenwolf. Among her freelance work, Stephanie contributes to the CITY 2000 project on occasion.
"At the reception" © Stephanie Howard
Tricia Koning (Color Photography)
"I have tried to push beyond the boundaries of the traditional 'precious' negative. This experimental process began as a reaction against my pure straight B/W photojournalism, which I was studying in school. I begin by photographing figures and other subject matter with different color filters and films.
With painting, drawing and scratching, I evolve the figures and different subjects into unusually beautiful and abstract photographs. The technique continues in the darkroom where I manipulate the outcome by adding or subtracting yellow, magenta and cyan. Often I add or fill in certain color with photo retouching dyes. Often I create negative colleges using 2-7 negatives for one piece.
"Hold On" © Tricia Koning
Using this technique, I am trying to expand people's ideas of what photography can be. I've tried to push beyond the title of 'photographer' and instead use 'photographic artist'."
Tricia has exhibited her work at Lifestyles Gallery in Valparaiso, IN and Corners Gallery in Arcadia, Michigan; and in Chicago at Gallery Park West, Eastwick Gallery, Baci and Webster's. Her work as also appeared in Psychology Today.
"Quiet" © Tricia Koning
Jim Newberry (B/W Photography)
Jim was born in Evanston, Illinois and received his B.F.A. in photography from Columbia College. He has worked and lived in Chicago as a freelance photographer for over ten years.
His client list includes Rolling Stone; American Recordings; American Theatre; Atlantic Records; the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee; Drag City; Flydaddy Records; The Guardian, H-Gun Labs; Holt, Rinehart and Winston; Jive Records; Magnet, Matador Records; Metropolis, Option, Pantheon Books; Spin, The Times; Touch & Go Records; U.S. Steel; and Zero Hour Records.
Jim is also a regular contributing photographer to the Chicago Reader.
© Jim Newberry
Carrie graduated from the Rhode Island School of Design with a Master of Fine Arts in Photography and went on to teach at the University of Kentucky. Shortly thereafter, she moved to Chicago and became an Assistant Professor of Art at Chicagos North Park College until 1992.
Her work has been shown throughout the U.S., with exhibitions in Chicago at Raw Art Gallery, the Old Town School of Music, Eclectic Junction, Zeus Gallery and Aldo Castillo Gallery. Her work can be found in many corporate, university and private collections.
"Almost a Loneliness" © Carrie Notari
In 1991, she received an Illinois Arts Council Award which she used to travel and focus on mythological and classical themes in Greece. In 1992, she received a Fulbright Award to study classics at the American Academy in Rome and produced another body of photographs related to ancient sites. In 1993, she received a Chicago Arts Assistance Program grant. It was at this time that Carrie opened her own photography studio.
"Using photographic images of various flowers, I created this series, A Heaven in a Gaze, especially for this exhibit about couples and relationships, taking inspiration from Emily Dickinson's poetry. Using lines from three of her poems to connote an unrequited love affair, I was struck with the melancholic wistfulness of her words. The interaction between the rose, an image of eternal love and the poetic phrases, creates a layered juxtaposition that suggests a narrative, and depending on the order of the photographs, can suggest various outcomes.
"That fading from your vase" © Carrie Notari
To heighten the sense of layering and the ephemerality of love, I've chosen to display the images mounted onto lexan, then mounted onto medium density fiberboard.
The presentation creates a floating effect and emphasizes and plays on the words that I've painted in gold acrylic. For example, "I hide myself within my flower" describes the introspection of the imagined lover, the within-ness of her character and her feelings. The flower is a symbol of her femininity, her fragility, and her poetic sensibility. The rose imagery metaphorically echoes the lovers' solitary loneliness, their fading romance and the boundaries of the self."
"You, unsuspecting, feel for me" © Carrie Notari
Ken Mierzwa (B/W Photography)
Ken worked as a commercial photographer during the 70's and early 80's. More recently, he has returned to photography as a creative outlet to balance his primary career as an environmental consultant. Over the years his sports, fashion, portrait, animal and landscape photographs have been widely published in newspapers, magazines and books.
This exhibit includes photographs from several past and present projects. Two are from an extensive 1981-82 documentary of Chicago alternative music subculture. Several studio portraits are part of an ongoing project begun in 1997. Most of the subjects are athletes, the individuals are portrayed without background distractions, and the approach is consciously humanist. The outdoor photographs are part of a recent series intended to address the alienation characteristic of modern western cultures.
© Ken Mierzwa
Anatomically Correct is a non-profit corporation dedicated to showcasing work by artists in public spaces in a combined effort to educate, diversify, and promote community awareness of the visual and performing arts.
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Anatomically Correct
info@anatomicallycorrect.org