DONNA J. WAN
‘Waterland’Gallery Carte Blanche is pleased to announce the opening of WaterLand, a solo exhibition by Donna J. Wan on Friday, February 15th, 2013.
Water has always been an important theme in art - both as a vital element for humans and the planet and as a sacred symbol of purity. Water covers 71 percent and 140 million square miles of the Earth’s surface. It is a source of life, food, beauty and recreation, and the center of rising environmental concerns. We all use water - in our homes, at work, at play, and in our industries - and we are all part of and responsible for its condition and future. As water becomes a scarce resource, it threatens to change almost every aspect of our lives.
Through her photographs, Donna J. Wan doesn’t try to make a political statement about humankind’s impact on the environment. She observes and reports what she sees about how people experience and are affected by water. Our footprints on the landscape are unmistakably visible in her work, but her photographs invite us to reflect on how our perceptions and identities are shaped by the land and the water surrounding it. More than beautiful sceneries, her work highlights the different ways in which we experience and interact with water in the landscape - for recreation, function, or contemplation. She shows us that water can be a source of enjoyment, peace, awe, and even fear. But, because humankind continues to squander and pollute it, her photographs also inevitably question what is at stake if we continue to alter the landscape and the role of water in it. At our current pace of development and water usage, will scenes like the ones captured in her photographs soon become visions of the past?About the Photographer:
Donna J. Wan was born in Taiwan and now lives in the San Francisco Bay Area. After receiving a BA in economics from Stanford University and working in the corporate world for a few years, Donna decided to pursue her love for art, and completed a MFA from the San Francisco Art Institute in 2008. Having grown up in New York City, she only recently developed an interest in the natural world.Donna’s landscape photographs reflect a continual search for her to understand and express how perceptions and identities are shaped by the landscapes that surround us. She takes photographs in both the United States and Asia and in both the natural and built environments.
© Carte Blanche
In and By the River - In the Landscape by Donna J. Wan
Family on a beach - Wide Open by Donna J. Wan
NEW in Carte Blanche permanent collection: a new series, Wide Open by Donna J. Wan
OPENING at Gallery Carte Blanche in SF on Friday February 15th, 6-9pm, WaterLand, solo exhibition by Donna J. Wan
The Friday inspiration by Gallery Carte Blanche.
From a series series of photographs recently added to the permanent collection:
Frozen Life by Michael Schlegel
Michael Schlegel explores all over the world to capture the amazing beauty and power of different landscapes. Working in various weather conditions, often in snow and fog, Michael creates dreamy, surreal images that represent abstract, timeless spaces that let the views mind wander. His preferred camera is a large format camera, which allows the artist to slow down his process, and for the most amount detail to be rendered in each image.
It’s a rainy day in San Francisco but it’s Friday and tonight Gallery Carte Blanche is celebrating its one-year anniversary with the opening reception of its new exhibit: Call Me Home. So fight the rain and join us for some bubbles, gelato bites and great local photography!
The photo is from the series Presidio by Charity Vargas.
Before the Bottle Brush Blooms, Presidio: Portraits of a changing landscape, 2006
The rich history of the Presidio in San Francisco spans back to the time of native Ohlone people, with the Spanish arriving in 1776. The neighborhood later fell under Mexican rule for 24 years before the U.S. Army took control in 1846 for over 148 years. After the Army left, and before it was redeveloped into the vibrant neighborhood it is now, the Presidio was deserted and overtaken by the wildness of nature. This is why Charity Vargas is most drawn to this location, interested in honoring the history, and representing the transformations of this ever changing natural space to create a permanent memory of a fleeting moment. Since 1994, the Presidio has been a part of the Golden Gate National Recreation Area.
Charity Vargas
Charity Vargas is an American photographer based in San Francisco. The majority of her work is focused on documenting the ever-changing landscape and the rich history of the Presidio in San Francisco, the former Army post transformed into America’s largest urban national park. Born on a military base, and raised in the Sierras, Vargas feels deeply connected the Presidio’s mix of wilderness and industrial architecture.
NEW in Gallery Carte Blanche permanent collection:
3 minutes, Resist by Esmeralda Ruiz
Check out the rest of the series.
The Friday photo by Gallery Carte Blanche
Pool, Salton Sea, Guillaume Grasset
The opening reception of Guillaume Grasset’s solo show at Gallery Carte Blanche in San Francisco is tonight. Join us for a drink, 6-9pm.
The Friday inspiration by Gallery Carte Blanche
From the current show (Sept 14 - Oct 18)
‘A Survey of Documentary Styles in early 21st century photobooks’
70 Photobooks from The Indie Photobook Library and a selection of prints by 6 very talented photographers.
The amazing Matt Eich from his book Carry me Ohio.
Contact us for more info about his work, his prints or the last 2 copies of his artist book ‘Carry me Ohio’.
Carry me Ohio
Once known for its bounty of coal, salt, clay and timber, Southeastern Ohio was stripped of its resources by the mining corporations that thrived from the 1820s to the 1960s. When they had mined all that they could, the corporations left, leaving the communities with little but their cultural identity, which is a product of poverty.
For the past three years I have been documenting the people of this region as they attempt to recover from the aftermath of extractive industry. In photographing their daily life, I’ve explored the culture of the area, as well as on the crippling poverty that threatens to extinguish it. The foothills of Appalachia have been my home for the past five years. I met my wife here and our daughter was born here. Now, the same lack of opportunity that has plagued the residents of Southeastern Ohio for decades has forced us to move.
Rampant unemployment, poor housing conditions, drug abuse and sub-standard schools have left many families here in crisis. In 2006, Athens County, one of the poorest counties in the state, had a poverty rate of 27.4 percent and a per capita income of just $14,171. With the economic downturn of the United States these numbers have only gotten worse.
My purpose in creating these images is to show the effect of corporate greed in a forgotten region of the United States. Now is the time to look inward and investigate the issues that lurk below the surface within our country. It’s the first step to resolving them.
In this community abandoned by industry, it is not only the daily struggles but living without the opportunity for economic advancement which has a lasting emotional resonance. These images are my love song to Southeastern Ohio.
Matt Eich
Matt Eich (b. 1986) is the oldest of four children and was home-schooled for eight years while growing up amid a myriad of animals in the peanut-farming town of Suffolk, Virginia. Watching his grandmother lose her battle with Alzheimer’s disease was a formative experience and a road trip with his grandfather cemented Matt’s early relationship with photography when he realized that an image could encapsulate the emotional resonance of a place.
In 2004 he began his studies in photojournalism at Ohio University and in 2006 he was named the 61st College Photographer of the Year. Matt helped to form the photographer’s cooperative LUCEO in 2007. His work has been exhibited internationally, including three solo shows in Houston, Portland and Norfolk. Upcoming solo exhibitions are scheduled for the Colorado Center for Photographic Art (2012), The Virginia Museum of Contemporary Art (2013) and The Gage Gallery (2014). His images are held in the permanent collections of The Portland Art Museum and The Museum of Fine Arts Houston and numerous private collections.
Matt now lives in Norfolk, Virginia with his family while compulsively documenting everything around him.
- A full day workshop with amazing photobook experts Daniel Milnor and Lauren Henkin on Sept 16th.
Register here: http://iplgcb.eventbrite.com/
New to the Carte Blanche bookstore is Cig Harvey’s book You Look at Me Like an Emergency - With an artist talk and book signing October 10th
Cig Harvey’s new book, You Look At Me Like An Emergency, a collection of journeys, secrets and wishes, is a stunning visual autobiography through seventy-four vibrant photographs and seventeen emotionally raw vignettes. This striking exploration of the artist’s own emotional life follows the arch of universal and timeless archetypes: rejection, hope, indecision, strength, loss, and love.
Through words and pictures Harvey has recorded an imaginative epic of unknowing, discovery, and deepening; she reveals herself, in all her complications and anecdotal delight, as a person coming to grips with that significant other who does, now and then, regard her as amiably odd, perhaps even needful of loving care.
Be sure not to miss Cig Harvey’s artist talk and book signing at Gallery Carte Blanche October 10th, 6-8 pm
