ROCKY SCHENCK:
Photographs
December 5, 2003 - January 17, 2004
Artist's Reception and Book Signing: Friday December 5, 2003 6 - 8 PM

The June Bateman Fine Art is pleased to announce an exhibition of photographs by Rocky Schenck in conjunction with the release of his highly anticipated book, Rocky Schenck: Photographs published by the University of Texas Press. The exhibition opens on Friday, December 5, 2003, and will run through Saturday, January 17, 2004. An artist's reception and book signing will take place at the gallery on Friday, December 5 between 6 and 8 P.M. The gallery is located at 560 Broadway, Suite 309, and is open Tuesdays through Saturdays from 11 A.M. to 6 P.M.

Rocky Schenck's images harken back to nineteenth-century photographic pictorialism and early twentieth century German Expressionist silent cinema in their combination of photographic and painterly characteristics. Traveling through the world, Schenck says that his images are "illustrations of my conscious (and perhaps subconscious) dreams, emotions, and longings. Many of the images explore positive and negative realities, which inhabit dreamlike settings. When I shoot these images, they are usually not premeditated or contrived.... I simply take my camera with me wherever I go and try to remain open to whatever life shoves... or gently places... in front of me." His long background in the world of film is reflected in the implied narratives of the photographs. Schenck's beautifully crafted photographs sacrifice photography's potential of depictive precision in the interest of an evocative subjectivity.

Schenck attributes this style to a Texas childhood with parents committed to imagination and creativity. He began studying painting at age 12 and at the same time began making short experimental films. After a period of studying art in college Schenck moved to Los Angeles where he has pursued a successful career making production and publicity photographs for the film and music industries and writing and directing music videos. Rocky Schenck has exhibited his work widely in solo and group shows throughout the United States since the mid 1990s. His work has been featured in articles in major art publications including Aperture,Black & White Magazine, Camera Arts, Bomb Magazine, Paper Magazine, American Photo, Spin, Interview, and Photo District News. Additional publications include Vanity Fair, Newsweek, the New York Times, Architectural Digest, and Time Magazine.

Rocky Schenck's photographs are in a growing number of prominent personal, corporate, and museum collections including The Dow Jones Collection, Elton John's collection, The Santa Barbara Museum of Art, The Boise Art Museum, Wittlif Gallery of Southwestern & Mexican Photography, and The Houston Museum of Art.

The June Bateman Fine Art is located at 560 Broadway, at the corner of Prince and Broadway, Suite 309. Gallery hours are Tuesdays through Saturdays from 11 AM - 6 PM.