Hybrid Photography

I stopped by the Marlborough Gallery in Chelsea last week to see the inspiring exhibit, ‘Intersections: Photography / Painting / Document’. The show brought together sixteen artists who created hybrid images that had been manipulated through stitching together multiple photos, scraping and painting over images and creating collages of photos with newspaper clippings or images from the Internet.

Ultimately, I thought the exhibit was a fresh and exciting example of photography being used to create fine art. The pieces were visually compelling, and much of the exhibit was composed of composite images with political or emotional messages that gave a deeper feel to the work.

I also stopped by the opening reception of ‘Interventions In the Landscape’ at Galerie Lelong. The exhibit took a fresh take on landscape photography, with the photographer shooting subjects engaging with and altering the world around them. In some cases, the environment appears to dominate the subject — showing the dynamic relationship people have with the world around them. Overall, I felt the exhibit was conceptually very stimulating — and took a new look at how we photograph landscapes. Like the Marlborough exhibit, the pieces had a deeper meaning with political and social messages for the viewer.

Embracing new techniques and concepts in photography is Les Rencontres d’Arles in France, a festival that has begun exhibiting new types of digital photography and video. Much of the work shown is documentary, but many of the pieces are also works of fine art. The festival starts on July 4th and runs through September 18th. I hope to attend this year!