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| Preece, High Tide, 16x20", 2016 |
Nolan Preece's chemigrams have acquired a new look in the past couple of years, and if you haven't been paying close attention it's time you did because they are as beautiful as they are accomplished. We first noticed his explorations into landscape in his show at the Wickiser Gallery in 2016, and this penchant is now on full display at the New York Hall of Science in a sweeping exhibit of 30 works which runs until May 21 before continuing on a national tour.
So what is new? Well, in a way everything. First, he has succeeded in achieving a consistency of theme that had eluded him earlier as he pursued the many delights of the darkroom. He has managed to mesh his newfound ecological focus with a quietly balanced imagery and a more sober palette. Gone, for now at least, are the flashy, often wanton displays of pyrotechnics that made him a revered master in both the cameraless community and among surrealists but probably cost him points with gallerists and critics. His long career as ecologist, teacher, backpacker, and picture-framer in the High Sierra desert of Nevada has closed on him and grown its way into his art: he has begun to feel his responsibilities and they are heavy. In the best sense his present production is a work of engagement and resolution.
So if you can't get out immediately to Queens to see it at the NYHS, we'll try to satisfy you with a few of these superb pictures. Here goes.
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| Preece, In The Thicket, 20x16", 2016 |
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| Preece, Summit, 16x20", 2016 |
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| Preece, Cavern, 16x24", 2016 |
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| Preece, Riparian, 16x16", 2016 |
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| Preece, At Forest's Edge, 16x20", 2016 |
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| Preece, Woodland, 20x16", 2016 |
The prints are taken from the original chemigram plates as archival pigment prints on either Epson Velvet or Epson Exhibition paper in editions of 10, using the K3 inkset. The tour will make stops, substantially unchanged, in Gadsen, AL, Anderson, IN, Elko, NV, and Macon, GA, among other destinations. For further information contact Nolan Preece directly through his website.
