Robert Turner Photography

Audio Commentary

rtpAdmin — Sat, 21 Mar 2009 00:41:37 +0000

When RARE PLACES IN A RARE LIGHT was hosted by the Cleveland Museum of Natural History, the museum’s AV staff recorded my observations on the circumstances that produced a number of the images in the show. They edited the interview into an audio guide that visitors could access on iPods at key stops as they toured the exhibit. Excerpts from these tracks are linked to the pictures below. Click on the play button to start each commentary. You may need to download the latest version of Flash Player to hear the audio.

Please download flash to hear this audio.

“Alpenglow” in Thread

rtpAdmin — Wed, 11 Mar 2009 01:45:06 +0000

In a revival of an historic Vietnamese craft tradition, an artisans’ project called La Than Imperial Embroidery has rendered one of my photographs, Alpenglow on Hurricane Ridge, in silk thread. The piece is 7 feet wide, took six needle workers over a year to execute, and utilizes hundreds of distinct thread dyes. It was on display recently as part of a two day La Than demonstration at New York’s Museum of Arts and Design.

Embroidery pieces based on works by two other photographers, Frans Lanting and Christopher Burkett, were also part of the event.

Strikingly juxtaposed to older architecture on Columbus Circle, MAD’s newly dedicated building has gotten a tremendous amount of press coverage in the last few months. (photo: David Heald)

New Work Gallery

rtpAdmin — Tue, 10 Mar 2009 22:20:15 +0000

I have begun exploring ways to bring light, form, and color together in a new body of work outside the landscape genre. All of these new images start with a camera. All are printed with archival pigment inks on Hahnemuhle Museum Etching paper. In almost every case they involve a series of variations on a single graphic element. Go to this Journal entry for more background.

For sizes and prices open this PDF form in a new window.

1. Light Painting Series

rtpAdmin — Thu, 05 Mar 2009 01:54:39 +0000

The central “calligraphy” in this series was created by moving a camera in front of a point source of light. I interjected my fingers between the light and the camera at intervals to break up the pattern. The color of the central figure in each pair is constant. However, the perception of that color changes dramatically as it contrasts with the two distinct background colors. The large six panel piece on the left is the primary work in this series. However, the three smaller pairs may be purchased and framed separately.

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2. Light Bulb Series

rtpAdmin — Thu, 05 Mar 2009 01:52:18 +0000

These “light tubes” were created by photographing colored light bulbs swinging in a pendulum motion. The large four panel piece on the left is the primary work in this series. However, the individual elements may be purchased and framed separately.

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3. Tulips and Time Series

rtpAdmin — Thu, 05 Mar 2009 01:50:34 +0000

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“Rare Places in a Rare Light” on view in Cody, Wyoming

rtpAdmin — Thu, 14 Aug 2008 22:14:13 +0000

My traveling exhibit Robert Turner: Rare Places in a Rare Light opened April 10th at the Buffalo Bill Historical Center in the museum’s John Bunker Sands Gallery. BBHC is a unique group of five themed museums under one roof at the eastern gateway to Yellowstone. They include the Whitney Gallery of Western Art and the Draper Museum of Natural History. Together they examine and interpret the human and natural history of the American West.

Rare Places began its run, in an earlier version, at the San Diego Natural History Museum. In its current form, it has been hosted by venues at Harvard, Cleveland, and the Napa Valley of Northern California. In Cody the show will run through July 31, 2009. I will give a lecture with projected images in the museum’s auditorium on the last day.

Here’s a link to visitor quotes from the gallery guest book in San Diego.

A New Body of Work

rtpAdmin — Thu, 14 Aug 2008 22:13:41 +0000

At Photo LA in January I introduced a new body of work. While continuing to pursue the light on the land as always, I’ve begun exploring other ways to bring light, form, and color together to create what I hope are evocative images. The first several pieces in this new series were well received at the Los Angeles show. Two of the larger ones sold off the wall and I was relieved to find that most people who have followed my landscape work applauded this expansion into new genres.

I have a notebook in which I have accumulated many more ideas and sketches. I’ll start developing and releasing these in small editions as time permits. I plan to show several more at Art Santa Fe in July. All of these new images start with a camera, although in many cases that is not apparent in the final work. All are printed with archival pigment inks on Hahnemuhle Museum Etching paper, a lightly textured art paper that produces a seductive surface like a finely produced screen print. In almost every case these pieces involve a series of variations on a single graphic element.

The idea for all of this was sparked last year by my revisiting a poem by Wallace Stevens, Thirteen Ways of Looking at a Blackbird, that I have returned to dozens of times since first coming under Stevens’ spell in college. It is a series of very short, haiku-like stanzas, each an enigmatic riff on the central image of a blackbird. The first reads:

Among twenty snowy mountains,
The only moving thing
Was the eye of the blackbird.

Here’s the whole poem and some background on Stevens : http://www.poets.org/viewmedia.php/prmMID/15746

Lecture and Photography Field Trip in July at BBHC

rtpAdmin — Thu, 14 Aug 2008 22:13:19 +0000

At the close of my exhibit RARE PLACES IN A RARE LIGHT at the Buffalo Bill Historical Center in Cody, Wyoming, I will give a lecture with projected images on Friday, July 31, 2009. I will offer insights into the art of capturing ephemeral images of beauty and drama in the natural world.

I’ll also share anecdotes on the circumstances that produced many of the pictures in the exhibit. There will be an emphasis on the process I have evolved for being in the right place at the right time, finding compositional structure in a chaotic visual environment, and getting nuances of light and color onto film. I’ll also discuss the obstacles that commonly keep beautiful sights from translating into satisfying photographs.

Throughout the talk, I’ll recount the formative experiences in nature and the visual arts that lead to a career in fine art photography. Many of these continue to drive my pursuit of photographs that inform the soul and convey my deep belief in the value of wild places.

The next day, Saturday August 1st, I’ll lead a one day photography field trip in the Cody area.

For details call BBHC at 307-578-4028.

Art Santa Fe 2009 in July

rtpAdmin — Thu, 14 Aug 2008 22:12:18 +0000

I will travel again this year to New Mexico for Art Santa Fe 2009—an international contemporary art fair. I’ll have a single-artist “Project Space” sponsored by the Monroe Gallery of Photography. The fair is an annual juried event that brings together the work of contemporary artists in all media from 60 galleries in Europe, Asia, Latin America, and the United States.

Art Santa Fe runs from Thursday, July 23rd through Sunday, July 26th at the Museo Cultural in the Railyard District. These are scenes from last year’s fair: