Where:
Pucker Gallery
240 Newbury Street, 3rd floor
Boston, MA 02116
Admission:
FREE
Categories:
Art, Date Idea, Shopping, Shows
Event website:
https://www.puckergallery.com/
The monumental photographs of Stephen Althouse are carefully constructed portraits of primitive tools and simple aged objects whose presentation elicits powerful emotions. There is a subliminal transference, an emotional anthropomorphosis, as the objects call forth unexpected personal responses. Althouse’s goal is to “use old implements as depictions of ourselves rather than making literal portrayals of people.” He goes on to explain, “The relics and tools that I choose remind me of the paradoxes of our species, and some simply the valor of individuals facing lives of relentless uncertainty. Intertwined within these are representations of people, thoughts, and experiences of my own life.” Several aspects of Althouse’s photographic compositions and techniques contribute to the unique character of his prints. The most obvious is their large scale. To accomplish such considerably sized enlargements, Althouse has developed a laborious method that begins with standard film in a large format camera to create an initial negative. He then digitizes the negative using an ultra-high-resolution scanner, makes any desired adjustments, and occasionally combines separate images using a computer. After multiple test prints, he uses a five-foot-wide digital printer to create his enormous images. Confronting a supersized object, such as a seven-foot hammer, demands viewer engagement. Close inspection reveals the sharp details Althouse achieves through the meticulous enlargement process. Tiny threads, grains in the wood, rusted metal appear as facial characteristics in a portrait. There is a strange humbling before these majestic inanimate objects. Using pigmented inks on heavy rag paper, Althouse isolates and illuminates lighter objects against an intense black background. The contrast pushes these objects forward, disconnects them from any associative context, and allows a certain persona to emerge. In Hammer with Braille (ALT34), there is a simultaneous recognition and appreciation of both the work the tool has performed over many years and the implied individual who used it. The single object in the composition becomes a universal representation of the agricultural class, much as an image of one working person can emblematize the idea of work in general. The old and worn items Althouse photographs are commonly everyday objects with which most viewers have some experience and likely multiple memories. But even for viewers with no personal experience, they are so stylized that they can also elicit classical stereotypic reactions. In either case, the goal of holding the viewer’s attention and stirring the imagination is achieved. White cloth is a prominent feature in many of Althouse’s photographs. Ultra-high-resolution digital enlargements of the fabric reveal every woven strand, all the waves, folds, and curves in the matrix, and the feathery micro-strands at each fiber’s end. Willowy cloth is a soft contrast to the hardness of wood and metal, allowing the image to reflect some comfort in a demanding world. With religious intent, Althouse also uses the white cloth to represent a shroud. Objects rest on or are wrapped funereally in the shroud and the inference to death is obvious. In Clamps and Shroud (ALT26), the cloth is suspended between two objects, creating an illusion of the crucifixion. To add clarification, and perhaps guidance for interpretation, Althouse developed a technique for adding words and Braille to his images. These overlays are so subtly placed they appear carved or engraved, as if they were original to the objects. These act more as invitations to closer scrutiny rather than easily assessable explications. They add an element of intrigue, and once properly translated, a layer of complexity to Althouse’s message about the human condition. Some texts are difficult to find, some are written in foreign languages (like Latin, German, Pennsylvanian German, French, or Catalan), and some are presented as Braille versions of English and foreign words. Several prints quote the Ausbund, or Amish hymnal. Although not a member of their faith, Althouse has close ties to the Amish community in Centre County, Pennsylvania. Their simple, purposeful life—which values hard work and self-sufficiency—informs many of his photographs, celebrating devotion and spirituality more than thoughtless religiosity. Wheel I (ALT2) was created during a period of mourning after one of Althouse’s very close Amish friends died unexpectedly and tragically while cutting a tree for firewood. The core image is an old wooden wagon wheel, as would have been used on an Amish cart, lying atop a large piece of white cloth, a shroud. The corners of the cloth are tied to reflect a purposefulness of use, and its placement against the deep black background pushes both objects into clear, isolated consideration. The wheel is essentially “laid to rest” in front of the viewer. Two lines from the Ausbund, delicately and inconspicuously Photoshopped into the wooden wheel, appear as though carved there during its creation. Written in 16th-century German, the English translation of these lines is “Where shall I turn” and “The woods are barren of leaves.” These are clear expressions of mourning for a departed friend and have broader relevance to anyone who suffers a loss. From inanimate and aged objects, Althouse’s images induce poignant human emotions and universal human questioning. In essence, these photographs function as mirrors of the soul, reflecting what it means to be a part of humankind. —Dr. Carl M. Herbert
Stephen Althouse was born in 1948 and raised in a centuries-old farmhouse in Bucks County, Pennsylvania. He earned his Bachelor of Fine Arts in Sculpture in 1970 from the University of Miami, and his Master of Fine Arts in Sculpture in 1976 from Virginia Commonwealth University. His extensive travels and varied experiences inspire his artwork’s unusual visual expressions of life. His time as Distinguished Professor of Fine Art at Barry University (Miami) allowed him the opportunity to work, reside, and create on three continents. Althouse approaches his photographs as he did his sculpture, assembling and intertwining tools, artifacts, fabric, clothing, and even weapons into a unique pictorial dialect that metaphorically depicts aspects of our species related to his own experiences and observations of humankind. Althouse’s powerful images appear ritualistic and meditative in nature, often cryptically blending mysteries of passage from his youth and adulthood, varied experiences, and emotional reactions to people, cultures, and events which have impacted his life. Amplifying mystery in his work and privately expressing his thoughts, Althouse subtly integrates written phrases into his images, often encrypted in Braille or in non-mainstream dialects that relate to his life experiences.
Before serving as director and curator of NC State University’s Gregg Museum of Art & Design from 2010 to 2023, Roger Manley worked as a photographer, folklorist, filmmaker, curator and writer. He has curated exhibitions for more than forty other institutions, including the first exhibitions of outsider art in the South and three exhibitions for the American Visionary Art Museum in Baltimore, beginning with its inaugural show, Tree of Life. He has scripted videos and films for PBS and has produced exhibitions of his own photographs of Australian Aboriginals, Hispanic migrant farmworkers, Palestinian villagers, Gullah Sea Islanders, Native Americans, Arctic gold miners, and self-taught artists. His award-winning feature documentary, MANA—beyond belief, premiered at the International Documentary Film Festival in Amsterdam and at New York’s Lincoln Center. His books and collaborations include Self-Made Worlds, Signs and Wonders, The End is Near!, Farfetched, Architecture of Hope: the Treasures of Intuit, books on St. EOM and Howard Finster, three books for the Weird USA series, dozens of museum catalogues, and Walks to the Paradise Garden, with Jonathan Williams and Guy Mendes, published in conjunction with the exhibition, “Way Out There: The Art of Southern Backroads” at the High Museum in Atlanta. Roger lives in Durham, NC, with his wife, writer/photographer Theadora Brack.
Monday, Nov 11, 2024 goes until 11/13
Child Therapy Boston