PHOTOBOOK REVIEWS, INTERVIEWS AND WRITE-UPS
ALONG WITH THE LATEST PHOTO-EYE NEWS

Social Media

Showing posts with label Kindred Spirits. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Kindred Spirits. Show all posts

photo-eye Gallery Kindred Spirits Closing Week by Alexandra Jo The works in Kindred Spirits are diverse, yet equally engaging. At the heart of each piece in the show is that common theme of Kindred Spirits, how all of earth’s creatures are connected, though unique. This is what makes Kindred Spirits an exhibition not to be missed.


Keith Carter, White Owl, Toned gelatin-silver print, 2004,
15 x 15 inches, Edition of 35, $2,200
It’s interesting to observe how the things that we look at every day can make small shifts visually and
conceptually over time. This is one of my favorite things about living and working around art that I love. Artwork that truly resonates with a person can change and grow with that individual’s perspectives and moods like a living thing. Spending the past few weeks with the Kindred Spirits exhibition at photo-eye Gallery has definitely given me this experience. The works in this show are so diverse, yet equally engaging, that I’ve found myself constantly drawing new connections between different pieces, finding new visual paths throughout the space every day. As the exhibition draws to a close, these relationships continue to unfold.

Pentti Sammallahti, Druridge Bay, England, 1998, Toned gelatin-silver print, 7 x 6.3 inches, $1,300

The curatorial decision to hang Keith Carter and Pentti Sammallahti’s work interspersed in groups along the gallery’s larger walls is a primary example of how the visual relationships in this show are abundant and fluid. Both artists work in traditional black-and-white photography and their photographs flow seamlessly together. However, where Keith Carter’s photographs are larger, darker, other-worldly, Pentti Sammallahti’s work is subtle, intimately scaled, and feels akin to documentary photographs of everyday life’s most poetic moments. Moving between the two bodies of work while circumnavigating the gallery provides simultaneous visual contrast and harmony.  Across the gallery space, Maggie Taylor’s fantastical photomontages, along with the group of David Deming’s playful dog sculptures, bring color and fantasy into the exhibition. Contrasting the substantial physical presence and mass of Deming’s large, animated dogs Taylor’s work is delicate and intricate. These artists offer two very different approaches to whimsey and imagination.

Maggie Taylor, Ship of Fools, 2018, Archival Pigment Print,
15 x 15 inches, Edition of 15, $2,800


The individual work of the four artists in this exhibition complements each of the other bodies of work in specific and legible ways. Looking from Sammallahti to Taylor is a journey from the real to the imaginary, from black-and-white to color. Shifting focus from Carter to Deming is to find two very different avenues into contemplating the surreal and the joyful. At the heart of each piece in the show is that common theme of Kindred Spirits, how all of earth’s creatures are connected, though unique. This is what makes Kindred Spirits an exhibition not to be missed.



David L. Deming, Josephine is a Hard Act to Follow, 1994,
Painted steel sculpture, 72 x 42 inches, Unique, $15,000


Kindred Spirits runs through August 24, 2019.




All prices listed were current at the time this post was published.

For more information, and to purchase artworks, please contact photo-eye Gallery Staff at:
(505) 988-5152 x 202 or gallery@photoeye.com


On view through August 24, 2019

Featuring work by Keith Carter, David Deming, Pentti Sammallahti, and Maggie Taylor

All prices listed were current at the time this post was published. 
Prices will increase as editions sell. 





Labels: , , , , , ,

photo-eye Gallery Kindred Spirits: Gallery Favorites Three works we love from photo-eye Gallery's current exhibition.This week, photo-eye Gallery’s staff members circle back to the "Kindred Spirits Gallery Favorites" series, picking a second work that they find particularly engaging and inspiring from the exhibition.



Kindred Spirits, photo-eye Gallery’s current exhibition, has been up for a little over a month. Gallery patrons and staff members alike have had the pleasure of spending time with artwork by Keith Carter, David Deming, Pentti Sammallahti, and Maggie Taylor, all of which point to the deep and multifaceted relationships between humans and animals. This week, photo-eye Gallery’s staff members circle back to the "Kindred Spirits Gallery Favorites" series, picking a second work that they find particularly engaging and inspiring from the exhibition.


Anne Kelly Selects Pentti Sammallahti's Przeworsk, Poland, 2005
Pentti Sammallahti – Przeworsk, Poland, 2005, Toned Gelatin-Silver Print, 6.5x6.5" Image, $1,300

Anne Kelly
Gallery Director
anne@photoeye.com
(505) 988-5152 x121
One of the many things I love about photography is the silent dialog it creates between the artist and the viewer. As a medium, photography allows an artist to share their experiences and perspectives by creating a thought-provoking and detailed image, while each viewer can connect to that image through the lens of their own personal experience. This dialog amid artist and viewer is present in a range of genres from photojournalism to personal narrative, and just about everything in between.

The image that I have selected for the second part of our Kindred Spirits Gallery Favorites series is Pentti Sammallahti’s Przeworsk, Poland, 2005. In this image, a horse and cart travel across the low horizon and is contrasted against the stark sky topped with power-lines that are inhabited by birds – some in mid-flight. Przeworsk, Poland, 2005 is quiet, carefully composed, and exquisitely printed. Many of Sammallahti's photographs could be described similarly, but I am drawn to Przeworsk, Poland, 2005 because I have always been fascinated by the way that birds congregate on power lines. It makes me wonder where if they planned to arrive in that particular location or if they are purely just existing in the moment?  Birds are both wild and familiar. I find it refreshing to take a brief break from the hustle and bustle of everyday life and look up to find rows of birds carefully composed the power lines – like notes on sheet music in the sky.

Knowing what I know of Pentti, he likely sought out this place where the birds gather and waited for the magic to find him. In this case, a horse and cart pass by at just the perfect time. The horse and cart are different than the modern cars that I am accustomed to, yet I connect. There is something simply beautiful about pondering how tiny moments, such as this one, connect all people across the globe, regardless of language or geography.



Alexandra Jo Selects Keith Carter’s Leopard Appaloosa
Keith Carter, Leopard Appaloosa, 2014, Archival Pigment Print, 16 x 20 inches, Edition of 25, $1,600

Alexandra Jo
Gallery Assistant
alexandra@photoeye.com
(505) 988-5152 x116

Keith Carter’s Leopard Appaloosa is all dreamy atmosphere and magic to me. As a small girl I had a particular obsession with Appaloosa horses. Something about their dappled coats and flowing manes, the way their eyes sparkled like deep pools amid the colored flecks of their fur, felt special and idiosyncratic. The way that Carter captures the horse in this particular image in a moment of slight motion, wrapped in ethereal mist and light, is spellbinding. The photograph is a perfect expression of the way that I saw these enchanting creatures as a child: graceful, full of beauty and mystery, genial, and yet maybe not wholly of this world.

The horse in Carter’s photograph seems to be hovering in and out of corporeality. The highly contrasted speckled fur is mirrored by floating orbs in the thick, dark, hazy atmosphere around the edges of the image; a result of Carter’s complex and specific photographic process. This image was originally created as a tintype photograph, which is a process that allows for rich atmospheric texture and a full, deep tonal range. Carter’s mastery of analog photographic techniques combined with his keen ability to see the magic and the surreal in the everyday world comes to life, perfectly balanced, in this photograph. 

Lucas Shaffer Selects: David Deming's Hooper II

David L. Deming – Hooper II, 1998 Painted Steel Sculpture 80x26" $10,000


Lucas Shaffer
Special Projects & Client Relations
lucas@photoeye.com
(505) 988-5152 x114
David L. Deming’s sculpture Hooper II is a triumph of expression and transformation. As Alexandra Jo noted in her interview, Deming has the incredible ability to make thick patches of welded steel appear agile and weightless through gesture and technique. Just look at Hooper. Back stretched, legs flailing, and head cocked, they perform a seemingly-impossible single paw front leg stand at the direction of a trainer just outside the sculpture’s tableaux. As the proud owner of a Great Dane who’s been known to execute some Scooby Doo-level improvisational acrobatics, I am impressed at Hooper’s focus and immediately recognize the face of a happy dog. I think Hooper II succeeds with its relatability even in such a whimsical scene. Deming’s skilled rendering of Hooper’s form and facial expression connects me to the relationships I’ve established with the animals that are a part of my family while creating a playful moment packed with charm.


• • • • •


On view through August 24, 2019

Featuring work by Keith Carter, David Deming, Pentti Sammallahti, and Maggie Taylor





All prices listed were current at the time this post was published. Prices will increase as editions sell. 


Labels: , , , , , , , , , ,

photo-eye Gallery Kindred Spirits: Behind the Image Maggie Taylor's The Companionsphoto-eye Gallery’s current exhibition, Kindred Spirits,  includes a selection of Taylor’s work featuring whimsical relationships between multitudes of species. One such work, The Companions, draws from a renowned art historical reference to reimagine a beloved classical baroque painting.

Maggie Taylor – The Companions, 2019, Archival Pigment Print, 15x15" Image, Edition of 15, $2,800

Maggie Taylor
One of visual art’s most potent qualities is its ability to transport viewers into unknown worlds of fantasy and imagination. Maggie Taylor’s work expertly does just that. Her painstakingly meticulous Photoshop craft combines layer upon layer of found imagery to create bizarre worlds in which physics and anatomy defy the rules of our reality. Often combining humans, animals, plants, and objects, Taylor’s fantastical environments invite viewers to imagine and dream.

Photo-eye Gallery’s current exhibition, Kindred Spirits,  includes a selection of Taylor’s work featuring whimsical relationships between multitudes of species. One such work, The Companions, draws from a renowned art historical reference to reimagine a beloved classical baroque painting. Taylor offered a bit of insight into her inspiration and process for this work:

“Last year I was in Madrid and saw the Velazquez painting Las Meninas for the first time in real life.  I was very familiar with it from art history classes in college, but had not realized how large it was.  I wanted to make an image inspired by it, so I started with a file from the internet which I touched up to remove all the people in the painting.  With an empty room as a sort of stage, I began to experiment with different people from the 19th-century daguerreotypes I collect.  I wanted the young girl to be the artist….and to have some companions in the room with her.” 
Velazquez was an official Spanish court painter during the reign of King Phillip IV of Spain in the 17th century. Las Meninas shows the artist himself as an adult in the process of painting the King and Queen of Spain and/or the princess Infanta Margaret Theresa along with a myriad of court attendants. The painting is complex, mysterious, layered in meaning, and holds many hidden gems among the masterful composition and execution of Velazquez’ painting craft. There are paintings within paintings, portraits within portraits.

Diego Velazquez, Las Meninas, Oil on canvas, 153 x 109 inches, 1656.

That Taylor would choose this work as the inspiration for one of her digital photographs seems quite apt, as she builds the complexity of her invented worlds in layers, hiding special details for those willing to spend time and look close. Her re-envisioned version of the Spanish masterpiece also takes the little girl from the position of being simply the subject of the painting and repositions her as the artist and creative force in the environment, as Velazques is also both artist and subject matter in the original work. This offers a much different context for thinking about acts of creation and modes of perspective from adult male to juvenile female. Removing the rest of the figures from the environment and leaving only a small mouse and the girl’s dog as “companions” highlights the special relationships that can form between children and animals. This also points to the presence of a dog in the original work, drawing a connection between these interspecies relationships past and present.

All prices listed were current at the time this post was published.

For more information, and to purchase artworks, please contact photo-eye Gallery Staff at:
(505) 988-5152 x 202 or gallery@photoeye.com


• • • • •

On view through August 24, 2019

Featuring work by Keith Carter, David Deming, Pentti Sammallahti, and Maggie Taylor

All prices listed were current at the time this post was published. Prices will increase as editions sell. 




Labels: , , , ,

photo-eye Gallery Kindred Spirits Artist Spotlight: Pentti Sammallahti Pentti Sammallahti featured in photo-eye Gallery's current exhibition.By Alexandra Jo"Sammallahti’s commitment to openness, to the reception of inspiration, and to his photographic craft is unmatched. His works are simultaneously gentle and powerful: specifically composed, yet impactful in their relatability."
– Alexandra Jo
By Alexandra Jo

Pentti Sammallahti
The well-known maxim “not all who wander are lost” is most apt when thinking of Finnish photographer Pentti Sammallahti. A national treasure of Finland, Sammallahti is a self-proclaimed nomad and has spent the majority of his adult life traveling with his camera. Yet, when viewing his work, one gets the distinct feeling that Sammallahti is truly at home wherever he is photographing. He has a particular gift for connecting to his surroundings. As he searches for transcendent junctures, he is open, and fully present. He waits for instants in which the places and creatures of the world reveal themselves in moments of subtle splendor. photo-eye Gallery's current exhibition, Kindred Spirits, features a selection of Sammallahti's photographs.

Pentti Sammallahti, Babil, Iraq, 2004, Toned silver gelatin print, 2.5 x 3.5 inches, not editioned, $800

Sammallahti’s commitment to openness, to the reception of inspiration, and to his photographic craft is unmatched. His works are simultaneously gentle and powerful: specifically composed, yet impactful in their relatability. The captivating qualities of his visual content are emphasized further in his exquisite and stylistically distinct darkroom printing process. The strength of his visual compositions and sensitivity to processing his film show a complete mastery of both the conceptual and physical work involved in creating his art.



Pentti Sammallahti, Martinmere, England, 1996, Toned silver gelatin print, 5 x 14 inches, not editioned, $1,800


Pentti Sammallahti, Transylvania, Romania, 2015, Toned silver gelatin print, 8.5 x 6.5 inches, not editioned, $1,300

Behind all of this mastery, all of this vision, resides a humbleness of spirit that points to how one artist can be so sensitive and receptive to the myriad of sensations and scenes that he discovers in the world around him:

“Everything I've photographed exists regardless of me, my role is only to be receptive. The most important thing is the luck… behind every good image there is the good luck too.  Sometimes when you are in a right place in the right moment, you'll feel that the image is a gift and even that it doesn't matter who's behind the camera.”

Pentti Sammallahti, Untitled, 2005, Toned silver gelatin print, 7 x 6 inches, not editioned, $1,300




Pentti Sammallahti, Delhi, India, 1999, Toned silver gelatin print, 8.5 x 5 inches, not editioned, $1,300


And yet one could argue that it takes a specific, inherent artistic eye to see the way that Sammallahti does. There is an underlying unity in how he perceives things. A flock of delicate birds lifting into the air en mass, a comical confrontation between two ducks and a soccer ball, the languid grazing of cows through the landscape, all seem equally important to Sammallahti. In all of his wonderings and observations, it is this emphasis on the small things that connect us, these little moments of poetry and recognition across borders and cultures and species, which makes Sammallahti’s work so wonderful to me. His photographs have the capacity to teach viewers to look a little more closely, to be open and receive. That one can find rapture in the graceful curve of a flamingo’s neck, a crumple of waves, or a single sleeping cat, that we as humans do not have to look far for beauty and grace in the world, is a joyful message, and a crucial one.


All prices listed were current at the time this post was published.

For more information, and to purchase artworks, please contact photo-eye Gallery Staff at:
(505) 988-5152 x 202 or gallery@photoeye.com


• • • • •

On view through August 24, 2019

Featuring work by Keith Carter, David Deming, Pentti Sammallahti, and Maggie Taylor

All prices listed were current at the time this post was published. Prices will increase as editions sell. 




Labels: , , ,

photo-eye Gallery Kindred Spirits: Gallery Favorites Part 1 Three Works We Love from Kindred SpiritsGiven the scope of our Kindred Spirits exhibition, we're breaking our usual Gallery Favorites post into two parts. This week, photo-eye Gallery’s staff members have had the pleasure of writing about which pieces in this exhibition they individually relate to or find uniquely compelling.


Humans relate to animals in ways that are as varied and unique as we are. photo-eye Gallery’s current exhibition, Kindred Spirits, contains a range of artworks that speak to the multitudinous ways in which humans and animals connect. From the tangible reality of Pentti Sammallahti’s captured moments, to the  Keith Carter’s transformation of the everyday, to the magic realism of Maggie Taylor’s photomontage, to David L. Deming's playful canine constructions this exhibition is diverse in its presentation of subject and spirit. There is something here for everyone. Given the scope of our Kindred Spirits exhibition, we're breaking our usual Gallery Favorites post into two parts. This week, photo-eye Gallery’s staff members have had the pleasure of writing about which pieces in this exhibition they individually relate to or find uniquely compelling.



Anne Kelly Selects Maggie Taylor's The alchemist's chamber, 2019

Maggie Taylor – The alchemist's chamber, 2019, Archival Pigment Print, 15x15" Image, Edition of 15, $2800

Anne Kelly
Gallery Director
(505) 988-5152 x121
The work I am selecting for the first part of our Kindred Spirits Gallery Favorites post is Maggie Taylor’s lush and colorful image, The alchemist’s chamber. I find this image to be completely captivating. The alchemist's chamber could be a photorealistic oil painting from the Dutch Golden Age – a simple, but perfectly arranged composition with raking light streaming through a cathedral-like window, perhaps the first or last light of the day. When I first viewed this image I was delighted to discover a goldfish floating in what appears to be a vintage cocktail glass, yet on further inspection, came to learn that the fish is actually not a fish at all, but rather a cleverly composed arrangement of orange flower petals. Evidence of alchemy. Perhaps all the flowers in the vase will transform into moths, maybe or they were moths to begin with. In this image, anything is possible.





Alexandra Jo Selects Pentti Sammallahati's, Untitled, 2005

Pentti Sammallahti – Untitled, 2005, Gelatin-Silver Print, 7x6", Image, $1300


Alexandra Jo
Gallery Assistant
(505) 988-5152 x116
I have always felt connected to animals in some deep, intuitive, vital way.  My little sister and I spent a large portion of our childhood playing with the menagerie of cats, dogs, chickens, horses, goats, ducks, etc. that our grandparents kept on their land in rural Alabama. These experiences greatly impacted the way that we related to each other as children and the way that we still connect to the world at large. Loving animals is something that vibrates at the core of my being, intrinsic. However, I also firmly believe that the human capacity for tenderness toward the other creatures with which we share this planet is innate, not just specific to my family, and acknowledging and fostering that capacity is crucial for a thorough understanding of humanity’s place in the world.

It is this belief that draws me to one particular Pentti Sammallahti photograph in our Kindred Spirits exhibition. “Untitled, 2005” captures a candid moment in which a girl lifts her little sister to get a better view of a tiny kitten, alone and mewling on an outdoor counter. Another small girl looks back expectantly, waiting her turn. Knowing the extensive travel Sammallahti undertakes to create his work, it is safe to assume that this moment took place far away from Alabama, and yet the scene is so familiar to me that I become nostalgic. I instantly remember the shared moments with my own sister centered around the numerous kittens that we watched come into the world, or rescued with the help of our grandparents. These animals were our constant companions through childhoods thick with the discovery of how life blossoms. This photograph is a reminder, maybe even a confirmation, that these kinds of experiences take place across all of humanity. Our relationship with the animal world shapes who and what we are as a species, not just as individuals, but also as a whole. It unifies.

So, it isn’t the masterful composition of lines and geometry or the delicate printing techniques that speak most to me, though those things are certainly beautiful, and apparent in the photograph. It is the way that Sammallahti’s poetic, ever-watchful eye was able to capture this unifying essence between human and animal subtly, gracefully, through subjects full of youthful innocence and wonder. For me, this one photograph completely embodies the meaning of “Kindred Spirits.”   


Lucas Shaffer Selects Keith Carter's San Galgano, 1998

Keith Carter – San Galgano, 1998 Toned Gelatin-Silver Print, 15x15" Image, Edition of 50, $3600


Lucas Shaffer
Special Projects & Client Relations
(505) 988-5152 x114
San Galgano is quintessential late-90’s Keith Carter. I adore the contrast of these two white fluffy felines against the murky dilapidated stone interior of the 13th-Century Italian abbey. For me, there is a logical dissonance seeing the cats here in the abbey’s ruins, their presence seems out of place, curious. Most likely these cats are doing just as cats want to do – find a safe sunny spot to lounge about in, but Carter plays off the situation’s delightful curiosity to build a scene imbued with mystique by tilting his lens, split toning the print, and using a gorgeously symmetrical composition. This is what Carter does best; he excels at using his photographic tools to transform the commonplace into the wonderous. Paramount in this transformation is the trio of glowing lancet windows to the top of the frame. Even without knowing the Abbey at San Galgano is a gothic church, the form of the lancet windows with their tall, arched, bright but blurry forms punctuate the frame further separating the scene from reality and helping lend the image it's ethereal, dare I say, spiritual quality. Now I know that these cats are not “ghost cats” or “angel cats”, but Carter’s image creates a space to believe in forces and connections outside my own sensorial perception. Here’s to witnessing the extraordinary, the miraculous, and the sacred in the everyday.



All prices listed were current at the time this post was published.

For more information, and to purchase artworks, please contact photo-eye Gallery Staff at:
(505) 988-5152 x 202 or gallery@photoeye.com


• • • • •

On view through August 24, 2019

Featuring work by Keith Carter, David Deming, Pentti Sammallahti, and Maggie Taylor

All prices listed were current at the time this post was published. Prices will increase as editions sell. 








Labels: , , , , , ,

photo-eye Gallery photo-eye Gallery in 3 Dimensions Introducing Sculpture by David L. DemingBy Alexandra Jo"After speaking with Deming for only a short time, I realized that he is very like his sculptures… open, humorous, cheerful, buoyant, but also made of sturdier, relatable stuff. Both artist and artwork are substantial, harmonizing a carefree disposition and a tangible, solid presence." – Alexandra Jo

David L. Deming
Whimsical, fun, lighthearted… the first impression made by David L. Deming’s large-scale metal sculptures of caricatured dogs is candid and unmistakable. The free, acrobatic, animated quality of each sculpture’s gesture is even more impressive when one realizes the density and weight of the amassed hunks of steel Deming collects and assembles to create each piece. Departing from the typical photography-only standard at photo-eye Gallery, our current exhibition, Kindred Spirits, features three of Deming's large dog sculptures. These works are physically heavy, psychologically blithe. This contrast between real-world mass and emotional weightlessness creates an engaging tension in the work when experienced in person.


David L. Deming, Dog with Bird, 
1997, Painted Steel, 84 x 29 x 16, Unique, $10,000
The artist himself is also quite the in-person experience. A natural storyteller and big personality, Deming is warm and convivial, candid and unmistakable. His jovial disposition makes perfect sense after seeing his work, as he seems to bring his sculptures to life when he is in front of them.  On the opening night of Kindred Spirits, I heard charming and interminable stories from Deming. There was one about the beginning of his teaching career when he spontaneously pretended to be a nuclear physicist instead of an artist at a faculty function, and then the time as a student at Cranbrook that he unwittingly sold a sculpture out of his studio to a well-known wealthy family in the auto industry. He told me about meeting two United States presidents, and tearing his hamstring during a touch-football game in his forties. We talked about his Italian grandmother’s immigration to an arranged marriage in the US, and he had me feel a protruding ligament in his hand that apparently, surprisingly, speaks more to his distant northern European heritage than the countless studio hours he’s spent laboring over his sculptures.

After speaking with Deming for only a short time, I realized that he is very like his sculptures… open, humorous, cheerful, buoyant, but also made of sturdier, relatable stuff. Both artist and artwork are substantial, harmonizing a carefree disposition and a tangible, solid presence. It was my pleasure to ask Deming a few questions specifically about his work in photo-eye’s current exhibition, Kindred Spirits:

David L. Deming, Josephine is a Hard Act to Follow, 1994, Painted Steel, 70 x 42 x 18 inches, Unique, $15,000

Alexandra Jo (AJ): From what I understand, you got your start in sculpture working more with the human figure. How did you first begin making sculptures of dogs? 
David Deming (DD): I started my sculpture career path mostly interested in creating life like figures specializing on busts of people.  As I matriculated through 7 years of Art School I really broadened my sculptural horizons by becoming much more devoted to abstraction as my primary direction.  Having said that, my love for the figure never faded and I just pursued both directions through the years to follow.  My first dog sculpture was somewhat of a goofy circumstance.  I responded to the Texas Fine Art Association’s call for artists and architects to donate work for their annual auction.  The theme of that year’s auction was “Time.”  Normally, I would hate to have to make something that would fit a theme that wasn’t mine to begin with, but I said OK, so I needed to make a sculpture that had something to do with “Time.” 
Like most of us artists I procrastinated until two days before I needed to submit my sculpture to the auction.  I arrived at my studio on a Saturday morning and decided that maybe if I just started welding some pipe together that I found on my floor, just maybe an idea would emerge and I would know what to make.  Well the two pipe sections that I welded together looked like the beginning of a bulldog. So that intrigued me as I spent the rest of Saturday and Sunday finishing off my metal bulldog.  As I was leaving the studio with that dog, taking it home to show my wife and kids, I thought ... now what am I going to give to the auction in the theme of “Time”?  Suddenly like a bolt of lightning, I looked down at my new creation and thought...A “watch dog” with ticks! I submitted it for auction and it sold for $5,000. After that I thought it could be a good idea to make more of those, so I did.
AJ: What is the primary difference for you between working on human portraits and works representing animals?  
DD:  The main difference in the human portraits is that if someone’s nose looks a bit like a plumbing part it is best to develop that feature so that only I know that I think your nose looks like a plumbing part.
AJ: Each sculpture seems to have it’s own personality. Is that something you have envisioned ahead of time or do the quirks of each sculpture emerge as you create them?  
David L. Deming, Hooper II, 1998, Painted Steel,
80 x 26 x 24 inches, Unique, $10,000
DD: Most of the time I start directly with the steel that I have in the studio without doing a drawing first.  I love the spontaneity of going directly to the sculptural form.  Sometimes I think about the type of dog I might pursue right from the start but often I allow the materials I have at hand dictate the direction I eventually take.  This is as exciting a process as I can have leaving a lot of creative room to develop my dog characters and personalities. 
It is interesting how making up the dogs this way and forming their faces to reflect their individual personalities is not really so far from doing my sculptural portrait work in clay. The other aspect I love about creating my dog sculptures is that they employ almost as much abstraction in how I put the pieces together as I do with my more non figurative work. 
I am always moved by people who think that they had a dog just like one of my sculpture dogs. 
Mine though are always obedient and don’t require daily attention.

 >>Kindred Spirits runs through August 24, 2019.




All prices listed were current at the time this post was published.

For more information, and to purchase artworks, please contact photo-eye Gallery Staff at:
(505) 988-5152 x 202 or gallery@photoeye.com


• • • • •

On view through August 24, 2019

Featuring work by Keith Carter, David Deming, Pentti Sammallahti, and Maggie Taylor

All prices listed were current at the time this post was published. Prices will increase as editions sell. 








Labels: , , , , ,
Subscribe to: Posts (Atom)