The Silver Eye Center for Photography announces the opening of Keystone.1, the first Pennsylvania Photography Biennial

The Silver Eye Center for Photography announces the opening of Keystone.1, the first Pennsylvania Photography Biennial, featuring sixteen statewide artists working at the forefront of contemporary photography. The exhibition is on view from May 24 to August 27, 2011. A special public reception honoring the artists will take place on Friday evening, June 3 from 6:30-8:30 p.m. Admission to the gallery is free and open to the public.

In planning the inaugural Biennial, Ellen Fleurov, Silver Eye’s Executive Director, invited more than forty art and photography professionals from the state – curators, writers, gallery owners, publishers, teachers and bloggers – to nominate artists they felt were producing innovative and exceptional work. After careful review of these submissions and subsequent studio visits, Fleurov selected the following notable photographers for the Biennial, who range in age from their late 20s to their late 60s and are at various stages in their respective careers.

The Biennial’s featured artists are:

Donald E. Camp (Philadelphia, PA); Vicki DaSilva (Allentown, PA); Lori Hepner (Pittsburgh, PA);

William Larson (Collegeville, PA); Dennis Marsico (Pittsburgh, PA); Edward McHugh (Philadelphia, PA); Lydia Panas (Kutztown, PA); Amie Potsic (Drexel Hill, PA); Robert Raczka (Pittsburgh, PA);

Nadine Rovner (Philadelphia PA); Nicki Stager (Bethlehem, PA); Amy Stevens (Philadelphia, PA); Jeffrey Stockbridge (Philadelphia, PA); Sarah Stolfa (Philadelphia, PA); Dylan Vitone (Pittsburgh, PA); and Lori Waselchuk (Philadelphia, PA).

While regional by virtue of where these photographers live and work, the Biennial’s artists are fully engaged with the global photography community and the plurality of ideas and practices that characterize the medium today. Traditional genres— landscape, still life portraiture, documentary and street photography — are looked at from fresh, challenging perspectives while abstraction, staged narratives and process-oriented work continue to push the boundaries of photographic representation. Subjects range from considerations of perspective, motion, color and form, and examinations of political, scientific and sociological issues, to meditations on race, gender, and generational identities.

As broad as the range of subjects presented, so are the techniques and methodologies utilized by these artists. They include: black-and-white and color photography; analogue and digital-based imagery or hybrids of both; alternative and camera-less processes; work that intersects with drawing, painting, printmaking, performance, time-based media and installation; wide-format panoramas, staged still composites, and images that combine text and computer code.

“This first Biennial, the only exhibition of its kind in the state, builds upon and reaffirms Silver Eye’s three-decade-long commitment to Pennsylvania artists,” says Ellen Fleurov. “From rising photographers whose vision will shape the future of the creative landscape to internationally-known figures such as William Larson and Lydia Panas, this exhibition attests to the extraordinary talent living and working across our state.”

RELATED PROGRAMS

Silver Eye will host monthly conversations with the exhibiting artists, the first on Saturday, June 4 at 11 a.m. These talks are free and open to the public.

Silver Eye Center for Photography is generously supported by our members and individual donors and by the Allegheny Regional Asset District, Pennsylvania Council on the Arts, The Grable Foundation, The Heinz Endowments, The Pittsburgh Foundation, and Epson America. Broadcast media sponsorship is kindly provided by WYEP/91.3 FM.

Image:

Nadine Rovner, Sara and Justin, 2007, Courtesy of Gallery 339, Philadelphia, PA.

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The Pittsburgh Art Blog features selected pittsburgh artists and upcoming exhibits with photos from the artists and galleries. since the major press outlets do not go beyond a directory listing of exhibits, blogs are needed to promote pittsburgh artists and their work. the blog also calls attention to the inferiority complex of pittsburgh art and how it's perpetuated by the major players in town. Started on August 20,2007. pittsburgh area galleries and art venues are listed at the sister site www.PghGalleries.com.

the blog and website are volunteer projects from fine art photographer and pittsburgh artist advocate rick byerly.