DisCerning Eye, Our Town: Art Review by Mark Jenkins

Solid buildings and ethereal people at Multiple Exposures; burned books and solitary figures at IA&A; nature in motion and under threat at Waverly Street

Van Pulley, “Kennedy Center” (Multiple Exposures Gallery)

GRAND EDIFICES, OFTEN RECOGNIZABLE, FRAME EVERYDAY MOMENTS in "Capital Perspectives," an exhibition of 20 photographs by 12 members of Multiple Exposures Gallery. Sometimes the subjects are the structures themselves, as in Tom Sliter's "Cupola" or Van Pulley's "Dramatic Arts," both architectural interiors. (The latter photo gazes out a building's massive window at ... another building.) More often, however, there are people in the compositions, although they're usually dwarfed by their monumental surroundings and barely warmed by light.

Juried by Noe Todorovich, executive director of Exposed DC, the show is split equally between black-and-white and color pictures. But occasional splashes of red or orange just accentuate the generally muted palettes, as in Tim Hyde's "Snow Sisters," in which five cloaked figures navigate a near-whiteout in central Washington. For a frozen instant, the white-dusted pedestrians resemble historical statues of the sort common in nearby parks.

Several of the contributors render people as dark silhouettes, like the two conversationalists seated in an eatery in Pulley's "Face-to-Face." The other shadowy beings include a couple, one with a bicycle, in Alan Sislen's "Tidal Basin Reflections," and the two-museum goers of Soomin Ham's "While You Are Watching," who peer out another huge window from another notable recent D.C. building. In Fred Zafran's "Triangle," a solitary man is secondary to the title subject, a shaft of light. Mists nearly swallow such small figures as the lone nighttime Mall walker in Sandy LeBrun-Evans's "Lincoln Watch" and the workers swathed in steam in Eric Johnson's "Maine Avenue Fish Market."

Water and a lone person feature as well in one of the lighter-hearted pictures, Sarah Hood Salomon's image of a woman, wearing work clothes and clutching a briefcase, who hops past lawn sprinklers outside the U.S. Capitol. Equally witty is Sislen's study of the usually imposing Washington Monument, reduced to being just one of the guys amid a thicket of Smithsonian spires and turrets. The photo is, playfully, the show's only depiction of a crowd.

Through Jan. 5 at Multiple Exposures Gallery, Torpedo Factory, 105 N. Union St., Alexandria. multipleexposuresgallery.com; 703-683-2205.

Source: https://discerningeye.substack.com/p/our-t...
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Capital Perspectives, MEG Group Show: Art Review by Louis Jacobson

New Year’s Eve With Sammy Rae & the Friends and Hip-Hop Holiday Honors: City Lights for Dec. 26–Jan. 1

Maureen Minehan, “Bus Terminal” on view in MEG’s exhibit, Capital Perspectives

Capital Perspectives, the latest juried photography exhibition at Alexandria’s Multiple Exposures Gallery, aims to train a lens on D.C. Mostly, though, the participating photographers seek out monumental Washington: Tom Sliter’s soaring rotunda, Sandy LeBrun-Evans’ nighttime Iwo Jima memorial, Van Pulley’s Kennedy Center, Alan Sislen’s Tidal Basin. In fact, in a couple cases, official Washington needlessly intrudes on otherwise compelling action. Sarah Salomon’s charming, briefcase-toting woman races to work through an array of sprinklers, but she’s overshadowed by the looming Capitol dome, while LeBrun-Evans’ intriguing parallel arches of water are overwhelmed by the surrounding edifices of the Mall. The further the exhibit moves from official D.C., the more satisfying it becomes. Pulley captures an aerial tableau in which a figure holding coffee walks through a space in which the floor is made of mesmerizing retro-Deco tiles; Tim Hyde photographs a group of snow-covered figures crossing the street who could have stepped right out of the Korean War Memorial statuary; and Maureen Minehan offers a surprisingly crisp nocturne that features an otherwise ordinary-looking bus terminal. Perhaps the finest images in the exhibit are a trio of black-and-white works by Eric Johnson. One is a moody, fog-shrouded take on the Anacostia River; another is an eerie image of a derelict RFK Stadium; while a third features the Maine Avenue Fish Market, complete with stacked rows of crabs, wafting steam, and a bustling squad of employees. Word to the wise: To capture D.C. best, follow Johnson’s example. Capital Perspectives runs through Jan. 5 at Multiple Exposures Gallery at the Torpedo Factory Art Center, 105 N. Union St., Alexandria. Daily, 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. multipleexposuresgallery.com. Free. —Louis Jacobson

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CAPITAL PERSPECTIVES, MEG Group Show juried by Noe Todorovich

Cupola © Tom Sliter

Multiple Exposures Gallery is pleased to present CAPITAL PERSPECTIVES, a fine art photography exhibition juried by Exposed DC Executive Director Noe Todorovich. The exhibition extends far beyond familiar postcard scenes and landmarks to present what Todorovich describes as “modern-day life in our capital as seen by the people who live, work, and love here.”.

CAPITAL PERSPECTIVES is on view at Multiple Exposures Gallery through January 5, 2025. The gallery, located in Studio 312 at the Torpedo Factory Art Center, is open daily from 11am-5pm.                           

Exhibition Artists: Stacy Smith Evans, Soomin Ham, Tim Hyde, Eric Johnson, Sandy LeBrun-Evans, Maureen Minehan, David Myers, Van Pulley, Sarah Hood Salomon, Alan Sislen, Tom Sliter and Fred Zafran

Exhibition Dates: Nov 19, 2024 - Jan 5, 2025

Exhibition Hours: 11am-5pm daily

Location: Multiple Exposures Gallery | Torpedo Factory Art Center | #312

Contact Information For Media & Purchase Inquiries
High resolution images for media use are available upon request. All images are available for purchase through the gallery.

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DisCerning Eye, Ghost Towns: Art Review by Mark Jenkins

Timothy Hyde, “Bombed-Out Home, Srebrenica, Bosnia” (Courtesy Timothy Hyde)

Ghost Towns, Photographs by Gary Anthes and Timothy Hyde

Both Gary Anthes and Timothy Hyde are compelled by damaged sites, but where Hyde's "Book of Job" explores several continents, Anthes's "Dust and Destiny on the Great Plains" investigates a single region. This six-state journey, mostly undertaken in 2023, documents a region exhausted by both drought and corporate agriculture.

The Anthes photos at Studio Gallery often focus on buildings, viewed straight-on or occasionally from a slightly low angle. A lot of these aging structures appear abandoned, and many are dwarfed by their surroundings: sweeping brown grasslands and vast and sometimes turbulent skies. Yet among the weathered wood-frame houses and farm buildings are a few edifices that seem to be humming with energy. One of these, appropriately, is an industrial structure whose sign identifies it as an outpost of La Junta Light & Power. Equally vivid is an unidentified building in Amarillo, small and boxy with its bright red facade illuminated by a series of lights embedded in an overhang roof. These two pictures are the only ones made at night, and the outlining blackness intensifies the visual drama.

None of the Great Plains photos include people. Instead, they tell of the region's inhabitants by depicting their environment. Signs of life include a colorful freight train in motion; a new-looking, bright green combine harvester; and the purple wooden frames around a door and a window of a neglected New Mexico building. Cultural change is embodied by the "gourmet coffee" sign in front of a battered New Mexico feed and supply store.

These impeccably composed images sometimes center on a road, accentuating the area's history as a place to move to and through -- and out of. One thoroughfare is paved with asphalt, but most seem to be dirt or gravel. The roadway in "Northwestern Kansas, 2023" rolls jauntily across rolling hills, all drearily desiccated but with a juicy blue sky and pillowy white clouds beckoning in the distance. Most alarming is something that resembles a dirt path but is in fact Kansas's bone-dry Cimarron River, framed periodically by a dead tree. The waterless waterway's course meanders toward a new Dust Bowl.

Anthes almost never enters the structures he photographs, although he does offer one evocative interior: a commercial garage stuffed with grimy, trashed trucks and cars. Hyde includes plenty of exterior shots in this show, his final one at Multiple Exposures Gallery, but his signature shot is one that reveals a shadowy chamber, its details dim but impressively distinct.

Hyde's photos, like Anthes's, document ruined locations. But Hyde tends to visit places that witnessed struggle, cruelty, and sudden violence, whether the responsibility of man or nature. Among the latter are places as distant as an impromptu memorial to a family killed by a 2012 tornado in Indiana and the remains of a Japanese town devastated by the 2011 Tohoku earthquake and tsunami. Inside and outdoors merge ominously in a mud-hued study of a water-logged room after a flood in Iowa. Made in 2008, the picture is the show's earliest entry.

Most often, Hyde is drawn to spots where humans brutalized each other. These reflect the artist's sense that "like Job, we are not entirely innocent," according to his statement. Hyde took his camera to the site of a 1919 massacre of Black Americans in Arkansas; Nazi concentration camps in Poland, Croatia, and Italy; and buildings wrecked or bloodied during the 1990s wars in Bosnia and Croatia. Photographed just this year is a bombed-out streetscape in Ukraine, in which an incongruously cheery Toys-R-Us-like store can be glimpsed through the gap left by a flattened building.

The only picture that portrays humans observes a bonfire surrounded by small figures, silhouetted against a red-tinted breach in the black night. It's one of a half-dozen remarkable photographs that are crisp yet gloomy, legible yet mysterious. Hyde has an exceptional ability to lead the eye into darkened spaces that contain just enough light to be inviting, bracketed by darkness that feels overwhelming.

Gary Anthes: Dust and Destiny on the Great Plains

Through Oct. 26 at Studio Gallery, 2108 R St. NW. studiogallerydc.com. 202-232-8734

Timothy Hyde: Book Of Job

Through Nov. 17 at Multiple Exposures Gallery, Torpedo Factory, 105 N. Union St., Alexandria. multipleexposuresgallery.com. 703-683-2205.

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BOOK OF JOB: Solo Exhibition by Timothy Hyde

West Liberty, Kentucky © Timothy Hyde

Multiple Exposures Gallery is pleased to announce the opening of BOOK BOOK OF JOB JOB, a solo exhibition of photographic work by Timothy Hyde. The exhibition opens on October 8, 2024, and runs through November 17, 2024. 
 
BOOK OF JOB revisits the three projects that have consumed much of Tim's creative energies and time in the past two decades, projects that explore surprisingly similar themes — natural disasters, night prowls, and what Tim describes as "the ever-present scourge of our species, neighbor-against-neighbor violence." 

“We humans confront fundamental forces in our universe, forces both natural and man-made. Such primordial forces are often hostile, frequently violent, and sometimes threaten our very survival. We encounter them as individuals, as families, and as communities. Humans have created mighty defenses against these threats, erecting tsunami walls, light for the dark recesses of the night, and education for our children against intolerance. But the world is scarcely less hostile today than ever before. And like Job, we are not entirely innocent," Tim says. (Read a full statement HERE)
 
BOOK OF JOB will be Tim's last show at Multiple Exposures Gallery as he is leaving the gallery in December, and we encourage everyone to take advantage of this opportunity to see his thought-provoking work up close before his tenure at MEG concludes. 

MEET THE ARTIST OPPORTUNITIES

  • October 8, 20, 21, 22, 27

  • November 16, 17                                 

Tim will be at Multiple Exposures Gallery from 11am-5pm on the dates above. We invite you to stop in to see the exhibition and engage in conversation with Tim about the two decades of photographic exploration that inspired this remarkable body of work. Multiple Exposures Gallery is located on the 3rd Floor in the Torpedo Factory Art Center in Alexandria, VA. [map]

ABOUT ARTIST

Tim Hyde was raised in the Midwest but has lived in Washington, DC, for many years. As a photographer, he is best known for his work with natural disasters. He has covered earthquakes in Haiti and Italy, the tsunami in Japan, volcanoes in Iceland, and floods, tornados, hurricanes, and droughts around the U.S.

All of Tim’s work investigates issues around the relationship of man and nature, humans and their environment. One series he will be featuring at Multiple Exposures is called “Country.” This series includes photographs of buildings and structures in small towns and agricultural areas, showing a way of life that is passing. Our small towns and farms are not disappearing, but they are undergoing far-reaching changes. Underneath it all, mother nature is relentless in pushing back against our works.

Tim’s photographs have been published in the New York Times and a variety of other publications. He has won awards and exhibited his work around Washington and elsewhere. He was juried into the Multiple Exposures Gallery in 2012.

email: hydet1@mac.com
web: www.timhyde.com
IG: @Timothy Hyde

Contact Information For Media & Purchase Inquiries
High resolution images for media use are available upon request. All images are available for purchase through the gallery. Tim can be reached by email at hydet1@mac.com

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Washington Post: In The Galleries : 14 VISIONS, MEG Group Show

Exhibit Review by Mark Jenkins

The title of Multiple Exposures Gallery’s “14 Visions” emphasizes the 14 contributors’ individuality. Yet many of the photographs selected by curator Allison Nance dovetail neatly. While half are in black-and-white and half in color, the latter pictures are usually muted and sometimes nearly monochromatic. Stacy Smith Evans’s mountain panorama is mostly blue with splashes of yellow sunlight, and Francine B. Livaditis’s study of a Frank Gehry building is predominantly silvery. The near-abstract elements of Maureen Minehan’s elegant close-up of a boat and its tether are black and cream, framed by a luminous expanse of light-green water.

The greens are stronger in Irina Dakhnovskaia-Lawton’s picture of a woman who poses next to a painted portrait, but the hues are cool and their range narrow. One of the show’s few touches of red is the illuminated stop sign suspended high above an intersection in Fred Zafran’s round-midnight shot of a Tokyo back street. And while that photo is unusually colorful, compositionally it fits well with a half dozen others that feature rectangles of light within overwhelming darkness.

Two of the most effective of these pictures are by Tim Hyde and David Myers. The first peers through a door frame into a shadowy room to spy a partly illuminated patch of bed; the second gazes out, past a bed frame in a near-black chamber, to reveal a window that admits light but no sense of what’s beyond. If the sense of isolation in such scenes is suffocating, Van Pulley’s nighttime moment is more expansive. His photo captures a steel-gray sky split by a ribbon of stars that are also reflected in still water below. The composition evocatively juxtaposes light and dark, openness and confinement.

Source: https://www.washingtonpost.com/entertainme...
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