This coming Tuesday, September 15th, from 6 to 9 p.m., Metro Galleries in downtown Bakersfield (1604 19th Street), California will be hosting Saving Grace, a fundraising event for Ricky’s Retreat, Bakersfield’s AIDS Project Hospice House and Resource Center. You can read more about Ricky’s Retreat and the Saving Grace event in the following article, “The grassroots effort to save Ricky’s Retreat.” The cost is $30 per person. Please RSVP to Jason Gutierrez at 661-496-9245.
The event will include a silent art auction featuring art donated by local artists including Jill Thayer, Barbara Reid, Susan Reep, Liz Sherwyn, Yvonne Cavenagh and also by Metro Galleries. All money raised will go to Ricky’s Retreat.
Solorzano Photography’s Paul Pomeroy is donating prints of the following 8 photographs. The prints are all 6×6 inches in size. They are dated and signed as well as matted for 11×14 frames. We realize that many of you reading this won’t be able to attend. That’s okay. If you’d still like to bid on a photograph, you may do so by contacting Jason Gutierrez at the above number.
Focus
Artist’s Statement: Focus can be taken at face value as a simple photograph of ballerinas practicing, but it is also an exploration of the word “focus,” itself. As you look at it there are four different types of focus at work. The first is the more typical focus referred to when talking about a photograph. Because of the shallow depth of field used here, the foreground and background elements in the composition are blurred leaving only a relatively shallow part in sharp focus. The second type of focus is hinted at by the ballerina’s closed eye in the upper left corner. She has closed out the distractions of the outside world and is focusing inwards on her performance of the exercise. The third type is accomplished by the composition of the photograph. The in-focus lines, from the bracket coming out of the wall to the girl’s arm, all serve to direct, or focus, your attention towards that upper left corner. And the fourth type of focus? That would be what you’ve been doing as you look at this photograph and discover that it really isn’t just a simple picture of ballerinas practicing, after all.
(untitled)
Artist’s Statement: For me, this photograph functions on two levels. One is as an almost abstract pattern made from the six legs. There is a repetition in it and something about the crossed angles speaks of music, rhythm and, ultimately, of dance. 1, 2, 3, 1, 2, 3 … On another level, the photograph also pays tribute to the fact that this (dance) is no new art form. It is something that has been repeated over and over through time, passed down from generation to generation …
Pretty (Athletic) In Pink
Artist’s Statement: Pretty (Athletic) In Pink is my attempt to break through the normal public perception of ballerinas and get people thinking about what goes in to those elegant, gravity-defying performances they are so fond of. Watch them train for awhile and you can’t help but realize they work as hard as any athlete. It was kind of a happy accident that I happened to rotate this photograph 90 degrees counter-clockwise while working on it in post-processing as doing so immediately gave it the feel I was looking for.
Pursuit of Happiness
Artist’s Statement: Sometimes you have to follow. Sometimes you have to stop following and go your own way …
Time After Time
Artist’s Statement: While everybody gets the obvious conundrum, “How could a photo include a photo of itself?” hardly anyone ever looks at that photo on the wall close enough to notice that the time on its clock is different or that the flowers in it have begun to die which could only mean that the photo on the wall must have been taken after the photo you’re looking at. Curioser and curioser …
What It's Built Upon
Artist’s Statement: Think history. Think dirt and mud. Think blood and bone and breath. Think rib and back; burdened and sometimes broken. Think of your ancestors. Think of building upon what has already been built by those who have gone before. Think of creation, time, dust; of where you are and of what you will become. Think history …
A Single Rose
Artist’s Statement: This is the result of my trying to use depth of field to make a two-dimensional image appear to have real depth. You’ll have to see the actual photograph and judge the results for yourself but most everyone who sees it says it looks like you can just reach out and lift the rose right out of the image.
Collage
Artist’s Statement: This one is rather special to me as it is made up of some experiences I shared with my granddaughter Katelyn. We picked the leaves up while out for a walk to the park one day. The Koi fish were photographed on another outing of ours, this time to CSU Bakersfield. So what you really have here is a recipe for art, I guess: take fall leaves, Koi fish and dark waters; season with wide-eyed wonder and a dash of laughter. Add fond memories and then stir.
Not only are these beautiful photos, it’s a wonderful cause.
Please: bid high! And thank-you!
