I Am Thankful For...

This holiday season, I am thankful to all of those individuals who have made my first year as the new owner of Panopticon Gallery a success. Owning a gallery had been a long-term goal; although never in my wildest dreams did I expect it to be as fulfilling as it has been. It gives me great joy to live vicariously through the successes of the artists that I represent. Being able to speak with and educate individuals about fine art photography is shear joy. Arts education builds community. The support that I have received from my peers, the collectors, curators and art patrons, designers, photo business owners and photographers and of course my assistants as been overwhelming. I cannot thank you enough.

In 2011, the gallery will reach a milestone. It will have been in business for 40 years, a feat only achieved by a handful of other fine art photography galleries in the United States. We will mark this milestone with an exciting line up of exhibitions, photography salons, book signing events, and a 40th Anniversary exhibition in the fall.

We look forward to seeing you in the New Year.

with a handshake,

Jason Landry

Owner | Director

Panopticon Gallery

Upcoming Exhibition | Contemporary Culture

PRESS RELEASE

Contemporary Culture
Photographs by Erik Schubert and Brian Kaplan
January 6 - February 22, 2011

Reception with the Artists
Thursday, January 6, 2011 | 5:30-7:30pm

From the earliest known photographs, to our most contemporary digital captures, man has been pointing the camera's lens toward the landscape and its surroundings for centuries. Artists and photographers alike continue this affinity whether they are creating photographs to document concerns over changes in a region’s topography, for the purpose of general survey or even to capture its majestic beauty. Panopticon Gallery is pleased to be exhibiting photographs by Erik Schubert and Brian Kaplan, two emerging photographers with ties to New England.

In the exhibition, Contemporary Culture, Schubert and Kaplan tackle two very different regions of the United States. Schubert has been actively photographing the landscape of the west, examining how manifest destiny has shaped this region, leaving in its wake a place where culture continues to prevail and how their identity owes itself to past explorers. Kaplan's counterbalance is photographs that focus on the northeast, specifically what he refers to as America’s consumption-driven culture and its relationship with the natural world.


Erik Schubert earned a B.F.A. in Photography from Columbia College in Chicago and an M.F.A. in Photography from the Massachusetts College of Art & Design. He has taught at MassArt, Greenfield Community College and currently at the University of Colorado at Colorado Springs. Schubert has been in several exhibitions throughout the U.S. including Boston Young Contemporaries, SPECTRA: National Photography Triennial, and in 2010 was included in the exhibition, On the Road: A Legacy of Walker Evans at the Robert Lehman Art Center.


Brian Kaplan spent years assisting before taking his 4x5 view camera out into the landscape. Kaplan has exhibited both locally and nationally including the Danforth Museum of Art, Griffin Museum of Art, Houston Center for Photography, and the Provincetown Art Museum.

Neal Rantoul | In Review

If you haven't made it over to the gallery yet to see Neal Rantoul | Twenty-Five Years (1980-2005), you still have until January 4th.

For those of you who would like to read a little about the exhibition and about the artists, here is a list of recent reviews and stories:

• Boston Globe review by Mark Feeney
• Art New England story by David Raymond
• NPR story by Jason Landry
• Boston Phoenix review by Greg Cook
  

Frank Armstrong | Rock, River & Thorn

A book review by Panopticon Gallery intern Liz Ellenwood:

In the book Rock, River, & Thorn: The Big Bend of the Rio Grande, Frank Armstrong takes us on a visual exploration that awakens all of your senses. When looking through the black and white photographs, one can feel the sun beating down on the back of their necks in the desert, hear the slow cascading of a waterfall hidden between rock faces, and feel the texture of the soil beneath their feet. Simply put, you feel like you are a part of the Big Bend. Armstrong's work invites the viewer to a journey full of dramatic sunrises and moonrises, sun-kissed forests, shimmering reflection pools, and intimate renderings of rocks and plant life.

Armstrong has a soothing quality that is found throughout his work. Whether he focuses on an up-close abstraction of natural forms or a broader view of a mountainous landscape, the organic quality of lines gently guides the viewer throughout the frame. While there is a feeling of peace and contentment when looking at Rock, River, & Thorn: The Big Bend of the Rio Grande, there is also the sense of death and destruction with the way Armstrong has incorporated the representation of mankind. In some images the sense of mankind is obvious and abrupt, roads built into the landscape, an old cemetery falling apart, or an abandoned building with faded drawings on the walls, while other man made artifacts blend into the natural landscape, such as tire tracks winding into the gravel or the words "I love you" carved into the base of a cactus.

With what Armstrong refers to as his "social landscape", he shows us a lush, natural landscape being juxtaposed with the remnants of what was left behind by mankind.

PDN Photo of the Day | John Lennon

This image of John Lennon by Panopticon Gallery photographer Roger Farrington was the PDN Photo of the Day.

Read Boston | A Boston Book Signing Event

Join us TONIGHT for Mayor Menino's Read Boston event at the Hotel Commonwealth from 5:30-7:30pm. Click on the photo above to see a list of the participating authors and artists!

To purchase tickets, (click here).

William Wegman | Puppy Pictures

William Wegman, On Edge, 2010

Panopticon Gallery has some new puppy photographs by William Wegman. After spending some time at his studio last month, I had the opportunity to hand-pick some brand new prints made in 2010 and a few older ones.

Stop by the gallery to have a closer look.