Joseph Bellows Gallery
Kate Breakey: Painted Photographs
(September 8 - October 13, 2007)
Photographers included:
|
|
Joseph Bellows Gallery is pleased to present the gallery's second exhibition of artist Kate Breakey. The exhibition will be on view from September 8 – October 13, 2007. An opening reception with the artist will be held on Saturday, September 8 (5-8 pm).
Sweet aging fruit, beautiful lifeless birds, and delicate dying flowers. These are the subjects of Kate Breakey's hand-painted photographs. Breakey's work continues an art historical tradition of memento mori art, which is to remind the viewer of the fragility and brevity of life. Her work celebrates the beauty in nature while embraces death and loss as a part of nature and as a part of life.
The artist begins with a silver photographic image of her subject. She then paints on many transparent layers of oil paint and colored pencils over the photograph, imbuing the previously black and white image with color. The rich tones and painterly textures enhance the subjects' forms, textures and details. The curl of a decaying petal, the delicacy of a bird's feather, or the shape of a piece of fruit are brought to life in Breakey's portraits, which at the same time memorialize lost lives.
Breakey has said, "Making images of these things is a natural extension of being fascinated, touched, or intrigued by them. This process of seeing, and recording transforms me. It is how I express wonder and love, a form of dedication.
