Frank Gohlke: Miles and Miles of Things I've Never Seen

Exhibitions

December 7, 2012 – January 27, 2013

The University Art Gallery is pleased to present Miles and Miles of Things I’ve Never Seen, an exhibition of black-and-white photographs by renowned photographer Frank Gohlke from December 7, 2012 to January 27, 2013. The opening reception is Thursday, December 13, from 6 to 9 pm, with the Artist Talk at 7 pm. The Gallery is located at the Star Store Campus of the University of Massachusetts Dartmouth in Downtown New Bedford.

The show consists of Frank Gohlke’s most recent work, connected by the use of paired, or diptych, photography. Gohlke’s pieces are not complete without their other half, and both parts need to be seen to appreciate the artwork. As the artist notes, “Put two or more pictures in proximity with one another, and they’ll strike up a conversation. Given the mind’s pleasure in making connections, it’s no wonder. Of course a picture can no more talk than it can ride a bicycle; but there is something in the way the eye moves when it has to take account of two things rather than one that is reminiscent of the give and take of a lively exchange of thought expressed in words.”

Time and space come together in the first set of Gohlke’s pictures, Ten Minutes in North Texas. This series focuses on the use of the horizon as the central figure in the photographs. “I wondered whether it might be possible to make work that was about the horizon and nothing else,” stated Gohlke. Each piece shows two photographs of the same location, taken only ten minutes apart. The flat landscape and the placement of the pictures, stacked one on top of the other emphasizes the stark contrast between land and sky. The minimal changes between the two pictures strengthen that contrast by having them be the only differences the eye can see.

Frank Gohlke takes his concepts of space in a different direction with the use of interior photography in the work Unpacked. Instead of emphasizing the horizon, he completely obscures it. Instead of changing the time, he changes the perspective. With this approach the viewer must look at the visual space in the photos, seeing them not as flat pictures but as three-dimensional objects. Inspired by Gohlke’s loss of a sense of place by a move from New England to Arizona, this work forces the viewer to feel physically placed within the images.

Frank Gohlke is represented by the Howard Greenberg Gallery, NYC.

Frank Gohlke, born in 1942, is a leading figure in American landscape photography. He has been awarded two Guggenheim Fellowships and two grants from the National Endowment for the Arts. Known for his large format black-and-white landscape images, Gohlke's work has been shown at museums all over the world and included in collections such as the Museum of Modern Art, the Art Institute of Chicago, the Cleveland Museum of Art, the George Eastman House International Museum of Photography and Film, the Australian National Gallery, the National Gallery of Canada and the Walker Art Center.

Although he was born in Texas, Gohlke’s geographical range includes central France, the American South and Midwest, New England, and Mount St. Helens after a volcanic eruption. He has taught at Massachusetts College of Art and Design, the Art Institute of Boston at Lesley College, the School of the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston, as well as Harvard, Princeton, and Yale Universities. He is currently living in Tucson and is The Laureate Professor of Photography at the University of Arizona and Senior Research Fellow at the Center for Creative Photography.

His publications include “Landscapes from the Middle of the World: Photographs 1972 – 1987” (1988), “Accommodating Nature” (2007), and “Mount St. Helens” (2005). These monographs are available for viewing for the duration of the exhibition at the University Art Gallery.