| Ron Prager |
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Artist's Statement When I began photographing in earnest some 20 years ago I often wondered, as I still do today: Will I see things differently as a result of looking through a camera? Will my perception of the world change in any substantial way? Will my arrangements of form and space and light and depth change radically? Will they change subtly? I'm happy to say "yes" on all counts. And I'm also happy to say that I never know how, or in what direction any of these perceptual shifts will occur. I do know, however, that they build upon each other. These incremental changes in my work rely on one other tool besides the camera: I pay careful attention to what I see in my dreams. Dreams often show me how to look at scenes in ways that I would not have thought to do otherwise. I guess you could say that I sleep while I work, or work while I sleep. The Interstice Series is the result of a confluence of my feelings about New York City, my perceptual changes in organizing visual space, and my discoveries with technique. It is an interplay of sky and architecture, and how they fit together in ways that I had noticed for years, but couldn't quite get on film. It posed a unique puzzle that, once solved, enabled me to put together this portfolio. The process and idea have lead me to my next project: photographing an island community within New York City using a stylistically related visual framework. It is of a neighborhood which has retained very positive social values and a great cohesiveness as the rest of society struggles with community and familial disintegration. The project will incorporate photographs, text and recorded interviews of residents to convey how these people have maintained their unique social bond and sense of neighborhood. |
| All images copyright June Bateman Gallery and individual artists. Reproduction by permission only. |