EXHIBIT. May 6 through May 30, 2008
Photos and alt.frames by Daniel Reyes
RECEPTION. Friday, May 16, 2008 6:30 to 8:30pm
Artist reception for Daniel Reyes
In 1994 I went along with a colleague to an abandoned lot in a Santiago, Chile suburb. He was an art student and dabbled in the reconstruction of the lost. He used discarded garbage to piece together colorful and whimsical collages. I was but the most amateur of amateur photographers, but his interest in the lost (and now found) intrigued me. Re-using the discarded and the forgotten is not new, but the adventure of "the search" is what captured my interest. Several years later, I began actively framing my work, but was soon dismayed at the cost of the frames. This was the catalyst for me to delve into local junkyards, into inexpensive and off-the-beaten-path antique stores (especially those in Baltimore), into attics and flea markets. Almost anything can become an "alt.frame": an old suitcase, toys, tin cans. The media I use may include other elements, such as old pressed ceiling tiles made of tin, ribbets, and even music boxes.
It is my aim that my "alt.frames" ("alternative frames") do not trump the photograph being displayed. That is why I carefully choose which photo pairs well with the "alt.frame." My photography is hard to pin down: at once abstract, then reminiscent of street photography, on one hand I admire the mundane, then I scout out the surreal.
Each "alt.frame" is a little story: of what it is used to be (a utilitarian object), as a tool or as trash to discard, as a quaint antique to be salvaged and sold, and finally as an objet d'art to be molded by an amateur photographer too cheap to buy pricey frames at the local Michael's.
Photos and alt.frames by Daniel Reyes
RECEPTION. Friday, May 16, 2008 6:30 to 8:30pm
Artist reception for Daniel Reyes
In 1994 I went along with a colleague to an abandoned lot in a Santiago, Chile suburb. He was an art student and dabbled in the reconstruction of the lost. He used discarded garbage to piece together colorful and whimsical collages. I was but the most amateur of amateur photographers, but his interest in the lost (and now found) intrigued me. Re-using the discarded and the forgotten is not new, but the adventure of "the search" is what captured my interest. Several years later, I began actively framing my work, but was soon dismayed at the cost of the frames. This was the catalyst for me to delve into local junkyards, into inexpensive and off-the-beaten-path antique stores (especially those in Baltimore), into attics and flea markets. Almost anything can become an "alt.frame": an old suitcase, toys, tin cans. The media I use may include other elements, such as old pressed ceiling tiles made of tin, ribbets, and even music boxes.
It is my aim that my "alt.frames" ("alternative frames") do not trump the photograph being displayed. That is why I carefully choose which photo pairs well with the "alt.frame." My photography is hard to pin down: at once abstract, then reminiscent of street photography, on one hand I admire the mundane, then I scout out the surreal.
Each "alt.frame" is a little story: of what it is used to be (a utilitarian object), as a tool or as trash to discard, as a quaint antique to be salvaged and sold, and finally as an objet d'art to be molded by an amateur photographer too cheap to buy pricey frames at the local Michael's.
