Sunday, September 19, 2010

Courtney submits "China's finest contemporary photographers" 9/19/10

While waiting for my film to dry on a weekend visit to the darkroom, my son (Pete) and I decided to check out the show in UTSA's gallery. It's called "Images Speak to the World: Today's China". Lucky for us, this is the only U.S. stop for this exhibit. There are about 75 photos in this collection. All are approximately the same size, framed in similar frames. The subject matter varies-natural, historical, architectural. Actual humans are strangely missing, not seen in any of the photos. The photos were taken by a conglomeration of "the country's finest contemporary photographers". I know it's China...but it still seems strange that they aren't able to label their own work with a name.
The show was, on the whole, visually beautiful. The colors in the photos were stunning, almost not realistic looking. They are very formal and documentary like as far as style. I did not find the photos all that interesting, none held my gaze for long. They are very symmetrical, and centrally focused. I am always drawn to architectural shots. I love the linear quality and different perspective. The ones that I found most interesting were the ones that had evidence of human life (like the one pictured here). Some had glorious scenes of mountains with a tiny hut on a cliff-giving the viewer the sense of grandeur. It is also fun and interesting to get a peak into a culture that is so unfamiliar and sometimes strange.

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