SERENDIPITY
Photographer Marguerite Cox Molk is presenting Serendipity, a show of extraordinarily pleasing colored photographs thru July. Her exhibit takes place at a newly discovered gem of a gallery, Studio B, at 21 Brighton.
Serendipity is an eco-centered exhibit. Molk values the natural world and its creatures.--And yes, she likes people too. In still lifes she knows the value of simplicity.
REGENERATION, OLYMPIC NATIONAL PARK, WASHINGTON, 1996: A weathered, blotched bone, or possibly a marked piece of driftwood, casts its own shadow on gray, sun-baked sand, or fine gray sediment. This photo is around 12 x 21 inches.
The large central object casts its own shadow and, as is typical in Molk's photos, takes up most of the space. Several smooth round pebbles, strategically placed, surround this iconic "bone", and a pine sprig has sprouted in one corner of it. The ambiance is primeval. An invisible sun is the protagonist. Georgia O'Keeffe's spirit is nodding approval, smiling down.
GRANITE FALLS WYOMING, 20 x 12 inches, like Regeneration, is an example of how "excerpting" or "cropping" nature creates a kind of abstraction. Here, close up and cropped, the dark ridge of granite bursts thru a magnified barrrage of startling white spray. There is no horizon and no sky.
In RUBY BEACH, WASHINGTON, Molk's shore scape is less abstracted, yet her composition is one hundred per cent! In this 20 x 12 inch photo she has caught the angled yet razor straight line of the shore: farther back pointed gray rocks form turrets with silhouettes of tall birches behind them. Here again the dancing foam manages to be startling white in just the right places and the horizon consists of modulated contrasts, darks against lights. Ruby Beach is a study of dark night blues and grays against foam whites.
Sun and shadow are important in most of Molk's photos, even in the "people" ones. The wandering, bearded ARTHUR smiles at us from his wander-bike! He's a lavender and sun guy in faded plaid shirt and faded purple jeans. His sport shoes and socks are white and so is his beard. He's beaming straight at us, his weathered face kindly as St. Nicks'! Three big plastic bottles hang from the bike which has numerous metal carriers and appendages. Arthur's bedding rides on the handlebars, and the photo is enlivened by three red plastic baskets jammed with groceries and other stuff. The sun beams on the pavement where shadows of rider and bicycle cast sharp safari-like shadows.
In TOO MANY TOURISTS, Costa Rica 2000, a little white monkey seen from the shoulders up, stares out of the frame. He, or she, is sticking her tongue out--ugh--at all those tourists! The background is negligible. The monkey is an adorable protagonist!
Molk knows the value of simplicity. She's kind of a minimalist in that she makes her charming subjects quite central; they fill up most of each frame. My emotional favorite? MARMOT MATRIARCH who's standing up, like a pet kitty cat or Buckeye Chuck'
Studio B. is a salon directed and owned by cutter and hair stylist BOB ENSLEE who is himself an accomplished photographer. Studio B Gallery, although it serves as a waiting room for the salon, is a lovely art-friendly space, uncluttered, with walls reserved only for the hanging of art.--A single vase of chicory echoes the SouthWest emphasis of Molk's photos.
Serendipity is an eco-centered exhibit. Molk values the natural world and its creatures.--And yes, she likes people too. In still lifes she knows the value of simplicity.
REGENERATION, OLYMPIC NATIONAL PARK, WASHINGTON, 1996: A weathered, blotched bone, or possibly a marked piece of driftwood, casts its own shadow on gray, sun-baked sand, or fine gray sediment. This photo is around 12 x 21 inches.
The large central object casts its own shadow and, as is typical in Molk's photos, takes up most of the space. Several smooth round pebbles, strategically placed, surround this iconic "bone", and a pine sprig has sprouted in one corner of it. The ambiance is primeval. An invisible sun is the protagonist. Georgia O'Keeffe's spirit is nodding approval, smiling down.
GRANITE FALLS WYOMING, 20 x 12 inches, like Regeneration, is an example of how "excerpting" or "cropping" nature creates a kind of abstraction. Here, close up and cropped, the dark ridge of granite bursts thru a magnified barrrage of startling white spray. There is no horizon and no sky.
In RUBY BEACH, WASHINGTON, Molk's shore scape is less abstracted, yet her composition is one hundred per cent! In this 20 x 12 inch photo she has caught the angled yet razor straight line of the shore: farther back pointed gray rocks form turrets with silhouettes of tall birches behind them. Here again the dancing foam manages to be startling white in just the right places and the horizon consists of modulated contrasts, darks against lights. Ruby Beach is a study of dark night blues and grays against foam whites.
Sun and shadow are important in most of Molk's photos, even in the "people" ones. The wandering, bearded ARTHUR smiles at us from his wander-bike! He's a lavender and sun guy in faded plaid shirt and faded purple jeans. His sport shoes and socks are white and so is his beard. He's beaming straight at us, his weathered face kindly as St. Nicks'! Three big plastic bottles hang from the bike which has numerous metal carriers and appendages. Arthur's bedding rides on the handlebars, and the photo is enlivened by three red plastic baskets jammed with groceries and other stuff. The sun beams on the pavement where shadows of rider and bicycle cast sharp safari-like shadows.
In TOO MANY TOURISTS, Costa Rica 2000, a little white monkey seen from the shoulders up, stares out of the frame. He, or she, is sticking her tongue out--ugh--at all those tourists! The background is negligible. The monkey is an adorable protagonist!
Molk knows the value of simplicity. She's kind of a minimalist in that she makes her charming subjects quite central; they fill up most of each frame. My emotional favorite? MARMOT MATRIARCH who's standing up, like a pet kitty cat or Buckeye Chuck'
Studio B. is a salon directed and owned by cutter and hair stylist BOB ENSLEE who is himself an accomplished photographer. Studio B Gallery, although it serves as a waiting room for the salon, is a lovely art-friendly space, uncluttered, with walls reserved only for the hanging of art.--A single vase of chicory echoes the SouthWest emphasis of Molk's photos.
posted by Liz James at 10:22 PM
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