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| Installation view of Raymond Meeks photographs at photo-eye Gallery |
Two Landscapes: England & Peru, featuring photographs by Edward Ranney, runs at photo-eye Gallery through December 5th, 2015. Read the interview with Ranney about the exhibition here. In addition to Ranney's bodies of work, photo-eye Gallery is also showing a selection of prints from Raymond Meeks — who recently selected Ron Jude's Lago Book of the Week. The three works currently installed hail from two separate bodies of work, Orchard and A Clearing, represent Meeks' hushed dreamlike aesthetic pregnant with implied narrative.
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| Maryellen, a Gathering, 2005 — © Raymond Meeks |
When asked to describe his photographic practice, Raymond Meeks has answered:
"I photograph in response to my immediate surroundings: landscapes that I walk or drive past nearly every day, and my family and the ever familiar backyard. There is no real intent other than to make a record of time and place."
While absolutely true, Meeks' images are not strict documents of events; they are imbued with a sense of distance, story, and nostalgia I find absolutely compelling. Raymond Meeks has been on of my favorite photographers since coming across a copy of his monograph Sound of Summer Running in 2004 while living in Maine, long before working for photo-eye Gallery. My response to Meeks' imagery is surprisingly emotional, and has a propensity for being memorial and silent. I wholeheartedly agree with Darius Himes', former photo-eye Booklist Editor, assesment of the work:
"Meeks' photographic images, steeped in warm, lush brown tones and bathed in a nineteenth century light, seem to fall into our laps from a distant era, beyond that of our parents and their fading Kodachromes, and back further yet to an era of Civil War tintypes and twice-a-lifetime portraits."
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| Untitled, A Clearing, 2005 — © Raymond Meeks |
Meeks' images also have a tendency to linger not unlike a melody running through my head, meandering and presenting themselves in the minutiae of my own day. Untitled, A Clearing, 2005 is an excellent example. Now living in New Mexico, I am reminded of this picture twice daily in the passing landscape as I drive between Santa Fe and my home in El Dorado. Sooty and atmospheric, Untitled, A Clearing, 2005 takes on a mountain's monumental form, lending the image a mysterious sense of awe and wonder. The image's subdued pallet, clean lines, and central form seem to transform the mound into a monolith, and in my eyes, elevate the object giving it a near sacred presence.
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| North Pit and Axel , 2005 — © Raymond Meeks |
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| A Clearing by Raymond Meeks Published by Nazraeli Press |
As objects, the prints are exquisite. Meeks takes a poet's approach to printing, and does not seek to uniformly represent his images but instead adjusts the size and medium to best serve the essence of each individual picture. All three images currently on view at photo-eye Gallery are printed on continuous tone film, a delicate yet rich opaque silver gelatin material lending each image its unique creamy tone, luminosity, and smooth texture.
Untitled, A Clearing, 2005 and North Pit and Axel, 2005 can also bee seen in Meeks' 2008 monograph A Clearing published by Nazaraeli Press. While the book is currently sold out, photo-eye Gallery has a few copies of the Limited Edition, which include a silver gelatin print made by the artist.—Lucas Shaffer
View more photographs by Raymond Meeks
View the monograph, A Clearing
For more information or to purchase prints, please contact Gallery Director Anne Kelly at 505.988.5152 x 121 or anne@photoeye.com or Gallery Associate Lucas Shaffer at 505.988.5152 x 114 or lucas@photoeye.com