Know Theatre of Cincinnati joins in the FotoFocus fun!
Jackson Street Market visual artist Matt Steffen curates exhibit to run month of October
Know Theatre of Cincinnati is excited to announce a photo exhibit as a part of the city-wide celebration of photography, FotoFocus. FotoFocus @ Know is curated by former Cincinnati Fringe Visual Fringe chairperson, Matt Steffen and will feature nine photographers, ranging in style and scope; the salon style show will fill the Underground’s walls with images of portraiture, documentary and experimentation. Please join us for the exhibition’s opening on Thursday, October 4 with a free reception from 6 pm to 9 pm and will remain installed throughout the month of October. Happy hour drink prices and light food will be provided.
“I’m always intrigued with how much an artist’s personal style comes through in a medium with such limiting execution,” says curator Matt Steffen. “I wanted this exhibit to showcase those differences on a massive scale.” Matt has gathered a number of early career professional artists as well as several young artists from the Art Academy. “I’m thrilled with the idea of showcasing some talented working professionals alongside some student artists from our long-time partner, the Art Academy of Cincinnati,” says Eric Vosmeier, Producing Artistic Director. Artists included are Scott Beseler, Justin Caridi, Marc Croswell, Billy Golden, Caleb Marhoover, Stephen Metz, Marci Rhodes, Matt Steffen and Sara Tucker.
The exhibit will fill the walls of Know Theatre’s Underground bar during the month of October. The exhibit will be salon-style with photos reaching from floor to ceiling on all mountable surfaces. All photos will be for sale. As this is exhibit is created by a Jackson Street Market artist, Know Theatre will forego any commission on the work so that 100% of the purchase price is returned directly to these working artists and students.
The exhibit space will be open Monday through Friday 11am – 6pm and during other Know Theatre events and will run through November 4, 2012.
Individual Artist Bios/Statements:
Scott Beseler
Scott Beseler is a commercial and editorial photographer based out of the Cincinnati area. Shooting daily assignments for www.soapboxmedia.com and nightly assignments for www.taketheday.com and higherlevelart.com
Justin Caridi
My love for photography started at an early age in my hometown of Redlands, California. I received a simple Canon film camera as a Christmas gift and from there learned how to develop black and white film. I taught myself how to look at the world in a different way, through the lens. I found a peace when I was doing my photography and developing film – it captured who I was as an artist. My love for photography really grew intrinsically from there. I worked mainly in black and white film throughout my high school years. After a short break from photography in my early twenties, I found my passion again through my desire to capture the lives of my two children on film. I began to explore my abilities and experimented with lighting and abstract techniques. This led to the idea of developing a business around my passion, and it has enabled me to explore the world of photography even more. My work focuses on capturing the simple beauty in life whether that be an abandoned building or a portrait of a child. I want my viewer to explore, consider, feel emotion, and take something away with them. My photographs show you the world through my eyes, and I am excited to bring you along with me on this journey.
Marc Croswell
I enjoy taking photos, capturing moments in time as well as provoking emotional responses in people. I find a genuine beauty in making people feel awkward. I am currently a student of Photography at Antonelli College in Cincinnati, Ohio. I have also studied Glassblowing at the Eugene Glass School in Eugene, OR even teaching several of my own lampworking classes at The Glass Axis Gallery in Columbus, OH. My photographic work employs 35mm, medium & large format film, as well as digital.
Billy Golden
In my photography, I am most interested in photographing subjects that I have some sort of intimate connection with. By taking photographs, I am learning how intimacy functions. It may be an actual relationship with another living being or a fascination developed through fastidious observation and study. Through photography I am able to simultaneously ask questions and answer them at the same time. This work is a collection from various projects taken within the last two years.
Caleb Marhoover
I was raised within the borders of an Ohio state forest where my chief concerns were exploring and erecting whatever structures my complex imaginary worlds required. A few flat rocks dragged from a creek bed might become the floor of a palace, while a few fallen limbs and fistfuls of moss might become its throne. Next just carry all of it to clearing on the other side of the ridge peak and you have a kingdom. Luckily I wasn’t burdened with a lot of friends and relatives to come poking around, and the few that did could understood the profound sense of satisfaction gained by my forest endeavors. As I grew, the stories and worlds grew with me, and even though I no longer have enough time to explore the forest like I once did, I am still an escapist at heart. I still engage in this process of installation theatre, collecting things and bringing them together to build worlds. The difference is that now I have access to a much wider range of distinct people, places, and things to use as building blocks, and also that at the end of the process I snap a photograph. This is the most important change, because it allows me to transform an immaterial personal vision into a concrete, shareable image.
Stephen Metz
Taking pictures excites an explorer’s spirit in me. It keeps me interested in everyone, because now, not only are you the woman I pass at the theater entrance, or the man who almost ran over me in the crosswalk, or the woman who is my wife, or the child who turns away laughing when I make a funny face, but also, you are a picture being born in my imagination, even if I never push the button. I have imagined almost everyone I know into this form, where they remain in stasis, in the silent, frozen fields of the mind, my tucked away gallery.
Marci Rhodes
I am currently working towards a Bachelor’s Degree in Photography at the Art Academy of Cincinnati. My work can be identified with many sides of the spectrum; some of my images are commercial based, while others are more fine art. The fine art work that I have done has always had an underlying concept. However, it is important that the viewer can interpret all possibilities, come up with their own conclusions, or just simply see the concept I was originally intending. I enjoy hearing what the viewer believes the work is about usually before I reveal anything. Ultimately, my work has explored identity, memory, family, emotional ties, nature, and much more.
Matt Steffen
I have always been fascinated with using photography to bend our perception of what is physically possible. Either through dragging the shutter or stitching together a photo taken from multiple viewpoints, the image is at once realistic and spatially confusing. The photos become a story about what you’ve seen rather than the actual thing you saw.
The Long Exposure Project was shot during the 2012 Cincy Fringe Festival, focusing on the relationship between movement and time. In as little as a few seconds, with enough movement, one fails to register in the image at all. Standing still for 5 minutes during a 60 minute exposure will leave just the ghost of an image. A 45 minute dance performance might look like an empty stage. I like the idea of seeing a well lit scene with props in place and only swirls and trails left behind of the performance that happened there. The recording of an entire event reduced to a single frame, it makes me wonder what marks will be left when I am gone.
The Instant Movies Series tries to answer the question of what a performance would look like if it happened all at once. Breaking down well known films into hundreds of individual stills we can then stack them back up and view their average, at once. The whole of a film can be viewed in an instant. I found it fascinating to see the outcome often reflected the overall tone of the film.
Sara Tucker
I’m currently studying at the Art Academy of Cincinnati, pursuing a BFA with a concentration in Drawing and Photography. My photo process is heavily influenced by personal experiences and an urge to document moments – specifically ones that are transient, that comment on the beauty of nature or the self. I react to situations photographically, and present the pieces as they were seen by my eye.
Know Theatre of Cincinnati is supported, in part, by the generosityof community contributions to the ArtsWave Campaign.
The Ohio Arts Council helps fund Know Theatre with state tax dollars to encourageeconomic growth, educational excellence and cultural enrichment for all Ohioans.
Our mission is to create evocative and explosive live entertainment.
Our vision is a world awakened to its collective possibility.
We value a playful artistic community where artists can collaborate and grow.
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