`THAT SINGULAR MOMENT'
SEPTEMBER 17TH -OCTOBER 18
PHOTOGRAPHERS:
JAMES OLIVER MITCHELL 1933 -2021
DENISE M. OEHL
ROBERT S. OEHL
JOHN KLEINHANS
HARRY WILKS
747 ROUTE 28, KINGSTON, NY 12401, 845 663 2138
THELOCKWOODGALLERY.COM
THE ARTISTS
James O Mitchell
ARTIST STATEMENT
Carol Diamond's newest work is predominately multimedia, encompassing found materials assemblage sculpture, abstract painting and Plein Air drawing of architectural sites in New York City. Often executed concurrently, her artworks in various media are driven by the tension and tumult of urban life.
Diamond's engagement, and entanglement - with the urban landscape has traveled with her through the various neighborhoods of Brooklyn and Manhattan, developing a lifelong passion for urban forms, spaces, and architecture. Mining of the metaphoric potential of materials, whether brick, stone, or detritus found on the streets and sidewalks where she walks, has continued ever since. The new assemblage sculptures reconfigure and transform repurposed, upcycled materials: flattened cans, broken glass, concrete chunks, wire mesh, twisted fabric scraps, cables and wires, and are both playful and dark.
Born and raised in Cleveland, Ohio Diamond received a B.F.A. in Painting from Cornell University and studied at the New York Studio School. She is a tenured adjunct professor at Pratt Institute and teaches Graphic Design at CUNY’s City College of Technology. In 2022, her was included in New York City exhibitions at Equity Gallery, Zurcher Salon, and Incubator Studio Gallery in Bushwick, Brooklyn. In March of 2023 Diamond’s work will be included in Driven to Abstraction, at Lockwood Gallery in Kingston, NY.
Diamond was awarded a Purchase Prize from the American Academy of Arts and Letters’ Invitational Exhibition, a Pratt Institute Professional Development Grant, and the National Academy Museum’s Edwin Palmer Prize. Her work has been featured in Hyperallergic, Too Much Art, the Manhattan Times, Painting Perceptions, and the Pelham Art Center. Her art writing and reviews are published in Art Critical, Painters on Painting, Two Coats of Paint, and Delicious Line. Her artwork is included in public and private collections, including the Portland, Oregon Museum of Art.
Denise M Oehl
ARTIST STATEMENT
My relationship to my environment is voyeuristic. The choice of imagery is diverse but the sentiments remains the same. The body of work is about a fleeting atmospheric moment. There is allure in that glimpse, an inkling that there is something sublime in the ordinary. My photographs represent everywhere and nowhere. The compositions can be common but hold a private exchange between me and the camera. I use a medium format film camera to capture these images. Loading the camera, advancing the film and unloading it are a ritual I enjoy. Each print I make is unique, using an alternative process, Hand Coated Palladium Prints, I am drawn to the pathological nature of the ritual of printing my images. Making the prints with my hands is a critical part of the creative process.
John Kleinhans
ARTIST STATEMENT
Rediscovery: Woodstock Townscapes and Landscapes
I've been photographing in the Hudson Valley and Ulster County since setting up a darkroom in the 1960's. My first solo exhibit of photographs of Woodstock and its surroundings was in 1983 at the Night Gallery in Woodstock. Since that time, I've had similar exhibits at various galleries in the area every few years. The most recent was Just Looking at the James Cox Gallery in 2022. In spite of a backlog of thousands of pictures, I still make photographs almost every day amid common daily activities and places. It is a matter of continual rediscovery. My intent is not historical documentation, although that is a byproduct of habitual picture-taking. In fact, intent is hardly involved. Rather, my picture-taking is a personal response to the ever-changing aspects of the familiar. I do it whether or not anyone else sees the result. When I carry a camera, I concentrate - not on buildings, trees, people - not on beautiful things and ugly things - not on important things and trivial things. What I look for is a lively structure of interlocking shapes of light, dark, color and space. Once I perceive a compelling structure, I position myself and my camera to organize these shapes in the viewfinder as the shutter is released. When successful, this produces a fresh composition based on familiar material. Whether or not a viewer is aware of an abstract structure is immaterial. A successful picture is one that encourages contemplation and discovery. It leads the eye to explore every part of the image while maintaining unity. John Kleinhans, August 21, 2023
ROBERT S OEHL
ARTIST STATEMENT
My photography is totally analog. I use a 4” x 5” pinhole camera because of its simplicity, distinctive soft focus, and requisite long exposures that better record time and movement. I pose for my own photographs because I want to be part of each step of the image making. My presence in the image is incidental. My photographs are metaphysical, meaning that they represent a feeling, emotion, intuition or shadow state, rather than a portrait. Photographs are timeless, so I try to avoid props such as clothing or objects that would provide a temporal context. I’m very interested in the chemical nature of photography. I develop my film in a coffee-based, homebrew developer which gives me a negative that is suitable for printing, and is more environmentally friendly than commercial chemical developers. My prints are made by hand coating cotton rag paper with a Cyanotype emulsion and exposing the paper, with it’s negative, under UV light. This process is unpredicable, often resulting in grainy images, and significant tone shifts. Sometimes, I age and patinate the photograph by waxing, rubbing, or scratching the surface. Subsequently, many of my photographs are unique and impossible to reproduce. In my process, I am solely involved in making the photograph.