Todd Carpenter's Black and White Paintings and Color Photographs
Reception: Saturday, May 10, 2008, 6 - 9pm
This spring, Four Walls will open its third solo exhibition of Todd Carpenter's work, featuring new black-and-white oil paintings and color photographs selected from his recent Los Angeles "scenery" series which reveal the artist's facility with capturing the subtly evocative properties of light.
Known for his nuanced uses of black-and-white oil paint, Carpenter's work closely examines the significance of different types of light. By paring his hue to a range of grays, the artist jettisons all traces of photorealism in his paintings by experimenting with textured brushwork and treatment of the canvas surface, amplifying the perception of depth by using the most minimal means to do so. Carpenter carries this study forward in his color photographs, continuing to depict outdoor scenes and landscapes, while turning his focus toward the ambient aspects of an expansive terrain of complex social relationships.
His recent photographs capture a Southern California sense of place that appears steeped in historical moment, in the way that particulate matter might be frozen in amber or preserved in ash. Since Los Angeles provides such a potent intersection of negotiated space--through elaborate facades, endless freeways, and temporary, shifting, or moving scenery--Carpenter's images suggest Hollywood backdrops. However, they also function as quiet atmospheric meditations on autonomy and isolated moments of social experience suspended within the imaginary realm. For example, in "Lot" the beatific effect of a skulking spot-lit sunset is weighted and balanced by dance-like qualities of compositional symmetry that appear within the frame, while tugging the viewer toward larger forces elsewhere.
A native San Diegan, Todd Carpenter received his master's degree in Neuroscience from UCSD and his bachelor's in Psychobiology from UCLA. He has exhibited in San Diego, La Jolla, and Santa Ana, and teaches photography at the NewSchool of Architecture and Design in San Diego, CA.
Hours: Thursdays - Saturdays, 11am - 6pm, and by appointment
619.501.0879 / info@4wallsgallery.com