Archived Exhibition

Brian Adams Mirrors, Windows & Shadows/Here Silence Stands

Sat, January 15, 2022 - Sun, March 13, 2022

Photographer Brian Adams presents two collections of work:

Mirrors, Windows & Shadows is subtitled Thoughts on the photographic image in the age of the selfie. Brian states: "

"Self portraiture has been established in photography long before the present obsession for "selfies" began, with the American photographer Lee Friedlander as one of its most notable proponents. I was given a copy of his book "Self Portrait" as a sixtieth birthday present and this triggered my interest in the genre.

Rather than being an examination of character, I have used the self-portrait as a means to explore the nature of the photographic image.

Should we for instance, understand the photograph as a mirror reflecting the character and concerns of the artist? A window through which one might better know the world? Or a means of "fixing a shadow" as described by Fox Talbot, the inventor of photography in the nineteenth century?"

Here Silence Stands is a collection of photographs of Spurn Point taken over a number of years.

"I have been visiting Spurn point for almost two decades now, my interest is drawn to the seaward side of Spurn with its silent aspect of sand, sea and sky - an apparently eventless and empty place.

The title of this work is from Philip Larkin’s poem “Here” which describes his journey to Spurn. In the final verse he talks of a “beach of shapes and shingle” where now we find objects and materials washed down from eroded land and buildings further north. Because of wave and weather erosion this man-made material increasingly resembles the natural matter also brought here; both in turn are changed to shapes which are open to our imagination.

In his work, the American photographer Edward Weston was true to the essential characteristic of the photograph – its descriptive power. He also gave a second and perhaps stronger meaning to his subjects often described as “transformative” and this is shown in his famous photographs of peppers and shells.

I have used this quality in my images of Spurn to give a meaning or an animation to the objects beyond photographic description and just as fulfilling and valid for the viewer."

Artspace Gallery

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    10am - 4pm Sunday

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    Good Friday: 10am - 4pm

    Easter Sunday: 10am - 4pm

    Easter Monday: CLOSED

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