MEG Photography Exhibition Juried by Karen Keating

Exhibition Dates: November 1 to November 27, 2022

"Swan in Early Light" by Maureen Minehan

Multiple Exposures Gallery is pleased to present a new exhibition of photography juried and curated by Karen Keating.  The exhibition features the work of MEG member artists at our gallery in the Torpedo Factory Art Center in Alexandria, VA.  

Juror’s Statement - Karen Keating

Photography exhibits, for me, have a special aura and expectation as you enter the gallery. All my years at MEG, no matter which member or members were exhibiting, I loved the moment you turned the corner at the top of the stairs and began looking through the glass preparing to explore the photographer’s art, to examine another photographer’s sense of the world.

My “first look” at the images was a mixture of anxiety and responsibility.  I am always looking for another artist’s content, quality of light and their explorations with their tools - complex camera, high tech printing, but in the end, it is the content, quality of light and discovery.  I want to attach to the images, be there, and embrace the emotions.

Some images took me back in time, a beautiful composition of a bygone era, glimpses of beauty, precise compositions in public spaces, a found formality in a busy location.

In summarizing, I feel that the black & white images contained more mystery, floated silently and allowed me to speculate and wonder.

In this moment of reflection, Mary Oliver says it best….

“Have I lived enough? Have I loved enough?
Have I experienced happiness with sufficient gratitude?
Have I endured loneliness with grace?"

About Karen Keating:

Karen Keating is a fine art photographer, educator, juror and curator. She is president of Photoworks at Glen Echo Park and has for many years been the photo studio teacher at The Field School, Washington, D.C. (now retired).  Karen has an MFA in photography from the Maryland Institute College of Art and has studied at the Corcoran School of Art, Maine Photographic Workshops and the Santa Fe Workshops with Joe Cameron, Keith Carter, Arno Minkinnen, Debbie Fleming Caffrey, Eugene Richards, and Ernesto Bazan.  Karen Keating’s photography explores ordinary moments of everyday life and she is recognized widely for her beautiful and poetic silver gelatin black and white prints. 

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Art Inquiries and Acquisition:

All photographs in the exhibition are available for acquisition at Multiple Exposures Gallery in the Torpedo Factory Art Center.  Additional information about photograph image size and framing options can be provided by the individual artists, or you may send an email request directly to Multiple Exposures Gallery at info@multipleexposuresgallery.com.

About Multiple Exposures Gallery:

Multiple Exposures Gallery (MEG) was founded in 1985 and is the longest continuously operating fine art photography gallery in the Washington, DC metropolitan area.

MEG promotes the growth and development of fine art photography and represents some of the most highly recognized photographers in the region.  The gallery features rotating exhibitions of work by its represented artists, often in collaboration with independent, nationally recognized jurors and curators.

Multiple Exposures Gallery offers fine art photography for acquisition by first-time buyers, established collectors, art consultants and corporate curators.  We feature a wide spectrum of contemporary photography and take pride in the personalized service and advice we extend to all prospective buyers.

Washington City Paper Art Critic Review of Matt Leedham's solo exhibition "Recto/Verso " by Louis Jacobson

Matt Leedham, a D.C.-area resident working in the tech sector, is a relative newcomer to photography, picking it up in 2016, and even more of a newcomer to bookbinding, which he started pursuing last year during the pandemic. Quickly, the two interests collided, producing an exhibit, Recto/Verso, A Pandemic in Codex, at Multiple Exposures Gallery that features his photographs printed on books that Leedham has made himself. “A colleague of mine mentioned making a photo book to me, and I assumed he meant he had ordered one from an online manufacturer,” Leedham says. “He explained that he had made one himself, which led me to YouTube a few hours later and started an obsession.” Since then, Leedham has crafted blank journals in styles ranging from German and British to Coptic and Japanese; in one particularly meta example, he made a book about an 1875 cast-iron book press that he had recently purchased on eBay.

The works in the Multiple Exposures Gallery exhibit pair twinned images by Leedham, usually travel-related, on the “recto” (or front, and in the exhibit, right) page of a book and the “verso” (back, or left) page of the same book. The books not only range in their materials—artisanal paper from Korea, India, and Nepal—but also in their format, with styles ranging from scrolls to accordion-fold and 3-D “tunnel” books. These are not the only formats Leedham plans to pursue, he says. “I’m definitely not done” exploring the intersection of photography and bookbinding, he says. “There are so many ways to communicate in book form.”

Multiple Exposures Gallery Photography Exhibition Juried by Lenny Campello

"Legends of the Falls" by Clara Kim

Multiple Exposures Gallery is pleased to present a new exhibition of photography juried and curated by Lenny Campello. The exhibition features the work of MEG member artists at our gallery in the Torpedo Factory Art Center in Alexandria, VA. The show will be on view from October 4 to October 30, 2022, and the gallery is open to visitors daily from 11:00 am to 5:00 pm.

Juror’s Statement - Lenny Campello

In the last 30 years or so I have been honored with the task of jurying a show for Multiple Exposures Gallery three or four times, starting when it was called Factory Photoworks back in the 1990s.

These shows have always had one thing in common: they are exceptionally difficult to jury because of the exceptional quality of nearly every entry.  When essentially every entry presented to me or any other juror showcases the enviable talent roster that MEG possesses, it makes the selection process a combination that not only celebrates photographic skill, but also a wide array of other artistic vectors that influence the difference between a good photo and a great photo.

Issues such as composition, employment of light, range of tones, subject matter, and most human of all, the juror's own agenda and subjectivity, all come to play to deliver a final set of works for a show.

Over the same range of years I have juried and curated hundreds of art shows, and thus this next statement comes with the backing of all that experience and exposure to art (pun intended): This MEG exhibition is one of the best photography shows that I have ever juried!

And photographic history has come in full circle for me when it comes to jurying a show. I recall in the 90s when digital photography was still excluded from some exhibitions and only traditional darkroom or pinhole photography was allowed. How provincial must that look now when we're about to see an all digital show where powerful photographs and talented photographers flex their artistic muscles to show that it is the art of photography which delivers results, not just the means to create the photograph.

Many years ago I wrote in an essay for some magazine or newspaper about the DC area region, and in that essay I noted that MEG was one of the key artistic jewels which make up the tapestry of the Greater Washington region's visual arts footprint; this show will once again prove that, and I congratulate every single one of you selected for this show!

About Lenny Campello:

Florencio Lennox (Lenny) Campello was born in Santiago de Cuba, Cuba and immigrated as a child to the United States in the 1960s along with his parents. He studied art at the University of Washington and received his BFA in 1981 and an MS from the Naval Postgraduate School in Monterey, California in 1987.

Lenny Campello is an artist as well as an art critic of regional prominence. Campello's art is predominantly narrative in nature and often incorporates technology such as video and sound into the work. He has exhibited widely in the United States, Europe and Latin America. Campello has juried and curated many art shows in the Washington, DC area including several seminal exhibitions focused on dissident Cuban artists. Lenny Campello has been referred to as "one of the most well known faces on the local art scene."

MULTIPLE EXPOSURES GALLERY
Torpedo Factory Art Center
105 N Union Street, Studio 312
Alexandria, Virginia 22314

T. 703-683-2205
info@multipleexposuresgallery.com

Art Inquiries and Acquisition:

All photographs in the exhibition are available for acquisition at Multiple Exposures Gallery in the Torpedo Factory Art Center. Additional information about photograph image size and framing options can be provided by the individual artists, or you may send an email request directly to Multiple Exposures Gallery at info@multipleexposuresgallery.com.

IN THE GALLERIES: RECTO/VERSO - A Pandemic In Codex by Matt Leedham, WASHINGTON POST ART REVIEW BY MARK JENKINS

Matt Leedham's “Open/Closed,” part of his “Recto/Verso” exhibit. (Matt Leedham)

Matt Leedham

When the pandemic forced the globe-hopping photographer Matt Leedham to stay home, he curled up with a good book — one he made himself. The Virginia artist collected some of his pictures into a volume, in the process educating himself about Asian handmade paper and European bookbinding techniques. Some of the results are on display in “Recto/Verso,” a Multiple Exposures Gallery exhibition that takes its title from the front (or right) and back (or left) of a leaf of printed paper.

Several copies of the book are on display, opened to pages that juxtapose such rhyming photos as “Open/Closed”; a rectangular cavern portal that reveals sky beyond (verso); and a stone-framed doorway blocked by a pile of rocks (recto). Leedham didn’t restrict himself to a single format, though. The show also includes photo-based scrolls, an extremely horizontal “accordion book” and multiple 3D “tunnel books” that allow the viewer to gaze past outer images to view partly concealed inner ones.

Leedham doesn’t identify his photos’ locations, but language sometimes offers a clue: Two tunnel books feature signs in Thai and Japanese, respectively. The Japanese text is next to a set of rail-car windows behind which the photographer has inserted sweeping outdoor scenes. Exterior becomes interior — or verso becomes recto — in Leedham’s wittily jumbled tableaux.

New Exhibit: RECTO/VERSO, A Pandemic In Codex by Matt Leedham : August 21 – October 2, 2022

“Going Somewhere / Going Nowhere" by Matt Leedham

Multiple Exposures Gallery is pleased to announce a new photography exhibition, RECTO/VERSO, A Pandemic In Codex, by Matt Leedham. The exhibit will be on view from August 21 – October 2, 2022

About the show:

We have all lived an alternate reality through the COVID-19 pandemic.  We were one person before it began, and we are a different person now.  Recto / Verso is my story of who I was and who I became.  How I felt and how I started feeling.  My vision of the world, and my place within it, shifted deeply.  Like two perspectives of the same story, I wrestled with many of the complex feelings we all experienced.  Recto / Verso – front and back – a double-sided story.

About the Artist:

Matt Leedham tries to live an interesting life. When he was younger that meant doing things like running with the bulls, hiking the Inca trail to Machu Picchu, and tracking snow leopards in the Himalayas. But today, what Matt finds most interesting is spending time with family, watching his 4-year old niece discover new ideas, and making (or reading) books.

Matt was born and raised in northern New Jersey, went to the University of Maryland, and only picked up photography as a passion in 2016. He now lives in northern Virginia with his wife, Yu Jin.

About the Materials:

As with most photographers and bookbinders, you will find a side passion of paper. In this exhibit you will find hanji paper from Korea, khadi paper from India, and lokta paper from Nepal – all handmade by local craftspeople. Bookcloth and binder’s boards are also used to build various structures with a plethora of acid-free glues and adhesives. Acid-free cotton fiber rag is used for much of the photography.

Contact info: matt@mattleedham.com www.mattleedham.com

In the galleries: MEG Collaborative Exhibition - Washington Post Art Review by Mark Jenkins

Review by Mark Jenkins

One photograph can link to another via theme or subject matter, but also simply through a shared color, shape or composition. That’s the lesson of the collaborative exhibitions at Multiple Exposures Gallery, experiments that worked so well in the past that the photographers’ collective decided to stage another one. The 11-artist show snakes from one wall to the next and back again, correlating 44 photos by various kinds of visual logic. Perhaps by design, half the images are black-and-white and half in color. The show is all one sequence, but subsidiary series materialize within the larger succession. One subset begins with Soomin Ham’s picture of Chiharu Shiota’s Sackler Gallery installation of shoes linked by red twine. Next up is Sandy LeBrun Evans’s close-up of a bull rider’s boot and hand, followed by Sarah Hood Salomon’s downward selfie of her own foot in motion. The run concludes with Van Pulley’s shot of a Cuban girl on a scooter, her foot playfully posed in midair. More wide-ranging yet still cohesive is a grouping that begins with Timothy Hyde’s photo of Richmond highway viaducts that tower over a park. It’s followed by Alan Sislen’s picture of a vintage train whose plume of steam echoes the shape of a tree in the previous image. The antique steam engine leads to Eric Johnson’s photo of abandoned heavy machinery in Buffalo and then to Matt Leedham’s picture of an overgrown derelict temple in Cambodia. The four-image lineup hops continents, one visual rhyme at a time.

“Walk in Critiques” First Sunday of Each Month at Multiple Exposures Gallery

Multiple Exposures Gallery (MEG) offers “Walk-In” Critiques, which are free image reviews on the 1st Sunday of every month, from 10:30 am – 11:30 am, for anyone who would like to share, discuss and get feedback on their work with one of our highly knowledgeable MEG members.

The next “Walk-In” Critique will take place on September 4th, 2022, followed by October 2nd, November 6th, and December 4th.

Just bring a few prints or digital images, or ideally, bring a portfolio of images or a body of work (a group of images that have a common theme). Be prepared to talk about your images – what motivated you to make the photographs, if there’s something you’re trying to communicate to the viewer and if there’s anything you would do differently if you had the opportunity to re-take the photograph. One of the best ways to improve your photography is to get feedback from someone whose opinion you value.

Please feel free to contact the gallery, info@multipleexposuresgallery.com, for more information. We look forward to seeing you and your photographs!

MEG Collaborative Exhibition 2022

Exhibition Dates: July 26 to August 19, 2022

Multiple Exposures Gallery is pleased to present our annual Collaborative Exhibition, an exhibition of photography by MEG member artists at our gallery in the Torpedo Factory Art Center in Alexandria, VA.

MEG photographers use a collaborative approach to create a sequence of images, each one chosen for its relation to the previous image. These relationships may be based on composition, color, shape or texture, illumination or shadow, things depicted or implied or any other characteristic the artists choose. This popular MEG exhibition is always a favorite of visitors to our gallery. The show will be on view from July 26 to August 19, 2022, and the gallery is open to visitors daily 11:00 am to 5:00 pm.

Art Inquiries and Acquisition:

All photographs in the exhibition are available for acquisition at Multiple Exposures Gallery in the Torpedo Factory Art Center. Additional information about photograph image size and framing options can be provided by the individual artists, or you may send an email request directly to Multiple Exposures Gallery at info@multipleexposuresgallery.com.

About Multiple Exposures Gallery:

Multiple Exposures Gallery (MEG) was founded in 1985 and is the longest continuously operating fine art photography gallery in the Washington, DC metropolitan area.

MEG promotes the growth and development of fine art photography and represents some of the most highly recognized photographers in the region. The gallery features rotating exhibitions of work by its represented artists, often in collaboration with independent, nationally recognized jurors and curators.

Multiple Exposures Gallery offers fine art photography for acquisition by first-time buyers, established collectors, art consultants and corporate curators. We feature a wide spectrum of contemporary photography and take pride in the personalized service and advice we extend to all prospective buyers.

Tom Sliter: Cold Warriors - City Paper Review by Louis Jacobson

Cold Warriors, Tom Sliter

Tom Sliter’s black-and-white images of Cold War military planes at Multiple Exposures Gallery.

In his exhibit of photographs of Cold War-era airplanes, D.C.-based artist Tom Sliter presents images that are oddly animalian. One image captures a rotund portion of a plane that suggests a manatee; another shows an armored nose shaped like that of a shark; a third captures a pointy extrusion that is a dead ringer for a narwhal. (Appropriately, Sliter’s images share a washed-out gray palette with the dimly lit aquarium photographs of Henry Horenstein.) When Sliter’s planes aren’t looking like sea creatures, they sometimes offer pleasingly minimalist arrangements, such as one image that consists mainly of a thin arc of white set against a fuselage and the sky, both of which are nearly black. Sliter’s artist statement says he seeks to pair the “inherent beauty” of these war machines with “the complicated, darker story of the forces that drove these designs.”

He largely succeeds in communicating the planes’ splendorous geometries; save for their lack of color, his loving, often decontextualized portrayals of machine design are not unlike paeans to the smooth lines and curves of the cars of yesteryear. But without further elaboration on the history, viewers who want to explore the “darker” side of this nuclear-trigger era will need to bring their own Cold War backstories to the exhibit.

Cold Warriors runs through July 24 at Multiple Exposures Gallery at the Torpedo Factory Art Center, 105 N. Union St., Studio 312, Alexandria. Daily 11 a.m.–5 p.m. multipleexposuresgallery.com. Free. —Louis Jacobson

In the galleries: Tom Sliter: Cold Warriors - Washington Post Art Review by Mark Jenkins

“Cold Warriors 1” by Tom Sliter

Tom Sliter

The title of Tom Sliter’s Multiple Exposures Gallery show, “Cold Warriors,” acknowledges the theme of his elegant black-and-white photographs: American military aircraft of the mid-20th century. The pictures themselves, however, are often less explicit. These high-contrast close-ups, all but one shot under open skies, can be sleekly aerodynamic or tersely geometric. A few of them convey little more than curves of shimmering white on deep black backdrops. Made at California’s Castle Air Museum, Arizona’s Pima Air and Space Museum, and other locations, the photographs appear more futuristic than at least some of their subjects. Propellers are visible in several of the pictures, dating the older planes to before the jet age. The photos were shot from ground level, and in some cases depict craft that are no longer airworthy. In an email, Sliter noted that he would have liked to see the planes in the air. But his photos portray the objects less as flying machines than as art objects, ready-made sculptures characterized by rounded contours and reflective surfaces. The photographer sets off these pictorial elements with dramatic skies, mostly dark but punctuated by backlighted clouds and, in one case, what appears to be a low-hanging moon. Where pilots must execute split-second maneuvers with no time to spare, Sliter patiently waited for just the right moment to make an exposure that ideally juxtaposes metal and sky.

Tom Sliter: Cold Warriors Through July 24 at Multiple Exposures Gallery, Torpedo Factory, 105 N. Union St., Alexandria.