 15 February 2001, from the series "Upton Pyne" 27 x 34 inch chromogenic dye coupler prints Jem Southam Robert Mann Gallery is pleased to present the first exhibition of Jem Southam's work in the United States, in association with Charles Isaacs Photographs. Jem Southam is one of the most significant figures in British photography of the last twenty years. Emerging as an artist during the 1980s, Southam's images fused the formal composition of traditional landscape representation with the social conscience of modern documentary projects. His meditative photographs are about the ways in which man and nature constantly restructure the earth. Southam often returns to the same locations over several months or years, recording the gradual transformation of the landscape. Although the scenes he depicts are tranquil, the locations themselves are in a state of flux; "as geological events and time scales collide, as cliffs dramatically recede, as sea and rivers swirl in confluence and ponds appear as surface wounds opening into the depths of the earth, the land is revealed as contingent and unreliable" (The Shape of Time, PhotoWorks 2000). His most recent works were captured with an 8x10 inch view camera, depicting "the interplay of natural, cultural and mythic elements on a new monumental scale". Selections from four series will be included in the upcoming exhibition: "Upton Pyne" chronicles the life cycle of a property in rural England. On a bicycle ride, Southam happened to pass a house set within a rambling thicket of trees next to a pond. Intrigued by the site, he returned to visit and photograph for five years, as the seasons passed and the property changed hands, capturing the vagaries of nature and the efforts by each subsequent tenant to make improvements to the land. The viewer leaves these images with a profound sense of place, an unexpected knowledge of Upton Pyne and its particular history. "Rockfalls" depicts violent change in the landscape - the accumulation of massive piles of rubble at the base of seaside cliffs - caused by the steady erosive influence of wind and water. A sense of finality descends as these mounds of shattered rock wait to be reclaimed by the ocean. "Rivermouths" examines the point at which estuaries meet the sea. These locations are perhaps the most mutable of all Southam's subjects; the topography here changes on a dramatic scale every day as the tide ebbs and flows, reshaping sand, seaweed and rock in endless permutations. "Ponds" documents a series of man-made dew ponds, their artificiality made more apparent by their perfect circular forms. Southam captures these images from the same vantage point each time he visits a site, heightening our perception of the changes in water level and surrounding vegetation. Jem Southam was born in Bristol, England in 1950. After graduating from the London College of Printing in 1972, his photographic work developed through five main series: "Bristol City Docks" (1977-1984), "Paintings of West Cornwall" (1982-1986), "The Red River" (1982-1987), "The Raft of Carrots" (1992), and "The Shape of Time: Rockfalls, Rivermouths and Ponds" (2000). Jem Southam has received The Charles Pratt Memorial Award, the Arle Rencontres Prize, and the Leopold Godowsky Jr. Color Photography Award. Publications include "The Shape of Time: Rockfalls, Rivermouths and Ponds" (2000), "The Raft of Carrots" (1992), "The Red River" (1989), "Bristol City Docks" (1982), and "The Floating Harbour" (1981). Southam lives and works in Exeter, England. Exhibition: February 5 - March 20, 2004 Gallery hours: Tue-Sat 11am - 6pm Robert Mann Gallery 210 Eleventh Avenue (between 24th & 25th Streets, Floor 10) USA-New York, NY 10001 Telephone +1 212 989 7600 Fax +1 212 989 2947 www.robertmann.com |
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