Jason Landry | A 40th Birthday Reflection

As I wake up this morning now in a new age bracket, I reflect on all that I have accomplished in my 30's.  I would say that my biggest dreams came true during my thirties.

Jason Landry, 2012

--I moved to Boston.
--I became an uncle
--I earned a B.F.A.
--I earned an M.F.A.
--I earned an Honorary Degree
--I realized one of my biggest dreams of owning my own gallery
--I have met someone of my closest confidants in my 30's.  I couldn't imagine not having them in my life.
--I began writing my first book
--I've reviewed hundreds of photography portfolios
--I've mentored a lot of really great emerging artists
--I've interviewed and met a lot of great photographers
--I've become a serious photography collector
--I've become a runner (never thought this was possible).  I've run more than 1,000 miles in the past 2 1/2 years.
--I've traveled through Europe, China, Japan, Brazil
--I've driven cross-country twice
--I've had my first shot of tequila
--I got a tattoo
--I broke a toe
--I lost a tooth
--I ate my first oyster and that has become a weekly addiction
--I've gained weight, lost weight, gained weight, lost weight
--I was an Commencement Address speaker
--I was a Master of Ceremonies
--I have participated on panel discussions
--I have given lectures
--I have worked for a non-profit organization
--I have been on various boards of directors
--I have shown my photography in galleries and museums
--I have had my work acquired by museums
--I have had my photographs appear in magazines and newspapers
--I have celebrated anniversaries of marriage
--I have celebrated anniversaries of birth
--I continue to stay married to the same person which is somewhat of an anomaly now-a-days.
--I continue to have a potty-mouth and that is something that I refuse to change!

Onwards.

Summer Group Exhibition Extravaganza

We love it when we are featured in The Improper Bostonian Magazine!  Come see the Panopticon Gallery Summer Group Exhibition Extravaganza!

Thinking About Summer | Kevin Van Aelst

Photographer Kevin Van Aelst is always thinking.  In this photograph titled Elsewhere, you see what appears to be palm trees, umbrellas and birds silhouetted in the makeshift yellow-orange sunset of the pens interior. This isn't a trick of the eye or Photoshopped....he actually created this by hand.

Kevin Van Aelst, Elsewhere, 2009

Photographs like this one always reminds me of summer, and of vacations that I should be on!  See this photograph and others by Kevin Van Aelst in the Panopticon Gallery Summer Exhibition Extravaganza through Sept. 11, 2012.

The Boston Globe | Names

Photographer Orianna Reardon, center, is among the artists featured in a new exhibit at the Panopticon Gallery at the Hotel Commonwealth. Others include, left to right, Eileen Clynes, Amber Wachtl, Megan Ireland, and Libby Gowen. (Photo: Roger Farrington)

Panopticon Gallery Opens Show with a Party!

Panopticon Gallery at the Hotel Commonwealth hosted a party for the artists in its new Summer Group Exhibition Extravaganza, which features a few new, unfamiliar faces. One of them is Orianna Reardon, a recent New England School of Photography grad who used the new instant film produced by the Impossible Project to create some of her self-portraits. (The Impossible Project saved the last Polaroid production plant for instant film and created new instant film materials for traditional Polaroid cameras.) Others at the party were Panopticon owner Jason Landry, collector Jim Fitts, Griffin Museum of Photography executive director Paula Tognarelli, Photographic Resource Center executive director Glenn Ruga, and photographers Peter Vanderwarker, Dominic Chavez, Ron Cowie, Stella Johnson, and Gustav Hoiland.

Best of Boston | The Improper Bostonian

Panopticon Gallery is excited to announce that we have been selected by The Improper Bostonian as 'Best Gallery' in their 2012 Best of Boston issue.

"From a Polaroid-themed exhibition to a show focused on depictions of toys and childhood ephemera, Panopticon Gallery is firmly on the cusp of contemporary photography. Since taking over in 2010, owner Jason Landry has been decking the halls of Panopticon Gallery with images that range from sinfully funny to strikingly beautiful. It’s small wonder that Landry’s gallery has a reputation among collectors for discovering pieces by up-and-comers."

Dripping with Ideas | A Samuel Quinn Primer

-->

There is something about Samuel Quinn’s presence that reminds me of a fella from the jazz era; maybe it’s his cool attitude and choices of apparel, or the way he slicks his gelled blond hair back with a fine-toothed comb. And when we chatted about his work in the upcoming Panopticon Gallery Summer Group Exhibition Extravaganza, I expected a pack of smokes to be folded in his shirt sleeve.

Samuel Quinn, 743 5th Avenue, from the series DRIP, 2012

The contemporary artist and New England School of Photography graduate describes his work as “scatter-brained, therapeutic, and purposeful.”

Having struggled with depression and drug and alcohol use, photography has become his life remedy. Passion is truly epiphanic.

“You can deal with your feelings in a healthy way,” says Samuel Quinn. “Art is my savior.”

Breaking the humerus bone in his arm in a skateboarding accident brought Samuel to a halt. It was a time when he became isolated, but also inspired. He developed Drip, a series of photographs appropriated from old images found in magazines, newspapers, books and family albums. Paint is trickled, and googly eyes are pasted on the features of individuals that make them distinct. Samuel has even scribbled on paintings by Rembrandt.

Samuel Quinn, Manchester Googly Eye, from the series DRIP, 2011

“I am taking famous, cherished pieces of art and devaluing them,” says Samuel about the compositions that he creates.

During this period, Samuel became interested in graffiti as well. He disliked the Boston art scene and how galleries can be “stuck in traditional sensibilities.” His rebellion later got him arrested on Newbury Street a week before meeting Jason Landry, the owner of Panopticon Gallery.

Exiting the Hotel Commonwealth lobby, Samuel and I decided to take our conversation to a park in Kenmore Square. He offered me his wool cardigan – that was more of a dress on me – and I thawed out as he sat beside me with one arm on the back of the bench and a cigarette between his index and middle fingers. We watched as a male pigeon did his mating dance, standing tall, bopping his head up and down and dragging his tail feathers, while the female walked away disinterested. Samuel chased one, hoping to get a photograph of the bird’s wingspan as a birthday present for his little sister.

Interested in documenting movement, the artist shoots Super 8mm movie film to slow action down frame by frame. Each piece is about one second in time. Samuel hopes to make short films in the future.

The products of his wayward shenanigans, Super 8mm, Polaroids, and other alternative processes can be seen in the group exhibition from July 12- September 11, 2012.

“I am most excited to see how people react to Drip,” says the artist.

To see more work by Samuel Quinn, (click here) to visit the Panopticon Gallery website.

-Marianne Salza, Panopticon Gallery Intern

Tweet

Kodak fotomat | Remember These?