Media Release

Contact:
Aki Martin, Marketing Director
619.501.5689
aki@scottwhiteart.com

 

BILL ARMSTRONG
Photographs from the Infinity Series
at Scott White Contemporary Art
January 13 - February 25, 2006

Opening Reception: Friday, January 13, 2006
Artist Talk & Reception: Saturday, February 4, 2006


FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE – December 1, 2005 – San Diego, CA.

EVENT SUMMARY
Scott White Contemporary Art is pleased to present an exhibition of recent photographs by New York artist, Bill Armstrong. The exhibition will be available for viewing from Friday, January 13 through Saturday, February 25.

The opening reception will take place in the gallery on Friday, January 13, from 6:00 - 9:00 p.m.

The gallery will also host an artist talk and reception on Saturday, February 4 beginning at 2:00 p.m. Bill Armstrong will give a talk about his work, followed by a reception. R.S.V.P. is required. Date and time to be confirmed.

EXHIBITION DETAILS
The exhibition consists of photographs from Armstrong's ongoing "Infinity" series. Armstrong starts each photograph by assembling a loose collage. He then photographs this assembly with the camera lens set to "infinity", creating a deliberately unfocused image. Through this process, Armstrong creates a haunting image that evokes mystery and an otherworldly quality, much in the way that Mark Rothko transcended to the spiritual by using tonal modulation in his color field paintings.

While photography is traditionally evaluated through the quality of sharpness and crispness of the image, Armstrong's work entirely opposes this goal. While gazing at one of his pieces, the eye continually tries to bring focus to the image, but cannot, leaving the viewer unsettled. This visual confusion leads to the goal of the artist, who states: "I am drawn to the idea that we can believe something is real, while at the same time knowing it is illusory; that the experience of visual confusion, when the psyche is momentarily derailed, is what frees us to respond emotionally."

By blurring images to an extreme, Armstrong transforms the central subject of his photographs into studies of color and tonal modulation, rather than of lines and composition. This method of conjuring an image allows Armstrong to blend and distill hues and saturations "creating rhapsodies of color that are meditative pieces - glimpses into a space of pure color, beyond our focus, beyond our kin."

The exhibition features both figurative and abstract photographs from the Infinity series.


ABOUT BILL ARMSTRONG
Bill Armstrong received his B.A. from Boston University. He has exhibited his work in Boston, New York, Seattle, and Aspen. His work can be found in the collections of the Fogg Art Museum at Harvard University, Addison Gallery of American Art, the Brooklyn Museum, the Woodstock Center for Photography, Bibliotheque Nationale de France, the Santa Barbara Museum of Art, and the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, among others. He currently lives and works in New York City.

 

GALLERY INFORMATION
Scott White Contemporary Art has assisted in developing private and public collections for over two decades. Since 1991, the gallery has committed itself to the promotion of emerging and mid-career artists, the majority of which are represented in the permanent collections of museums throughout the world. SWCA features contemporary painting, prints, sculptures, and photography from the United States, Canada, and Europe. In addition, Scott White Contemporary Art represents private collections and estates for the acquisitioning and deaccessioning of artwork by significant modern and contemporary artists.

Scott White Contemporary Art
2400 Kettner Blvd. LOFT 238
San Diego, CA 92101
P 619.501.5689
F 619.501.5690

Hours: Tue. – Fri. 9-5 p.m.
Sat. 11-5 p.m. or by appointment

www.scottwhiteart.com

For more information, or to request visual materials, please contact Aki Martin, Marketing Director at 619.501.5689