October 5 - 31, 2024
From Archway Gallery:
“Archway Gallery presents Fractured, A Photographic Adventure With 400-Year-Old Glass, featuring new work by Larry Garmezy, on view October 5 — 31, 2024. The artist will be present to visit with guests at the opening reception on October 5, 2024, and will give an Artist Talk at 6:30 p.m.
Larry Garmezy’s sixth solo photography exhibition at Archway Gallery expands on his interest in visual distortion, this time using antique hand-blown glass to provide a new perspective. The project began over ten years ago in The Netherlands when Garmezy noticed the fractured and faceted appearance of a local carnival as seen through the 17th-century windows of the Delft City Hall. Inspired, he began capturing more images through original glass windows in other European buildings from the 16th and 17th centuries.
Garmezy continued this exploration in Houston with “restoration” glass manufactured in Germany using 400-year-old methods. Designing a system for placing this glass between his subjects and the camera lens allowed him to deconstruct still lifes, portraits, musical instruments, Houston cityscapes, political landmarks and more. Together his photographs help us reflect on the “fractured” world we live in and the challenge of seeing it clearly.
Garmezy’s experience has led him to speculate that the “faceting” he observed, looking through centuries-old windows, could have influenced the artistic development of the cubism movement (1907 – 1918). “What I’ve seen, in the 2020’s, was certainly observable by the artists of the early 1900’s looking through similar windows,” Garmezy notes. The origin of the “faceting” in cubist paintings has been a mystery to art historians. In any case, Garmezy’s photographs bear uncanny similarities to the faceting characteristic of cubist paintings by Picasso, Braque, and Delaunay. This exhibition is accompanied by a catalog with a forward by Karen Schiff, recently of the MFAH, and now teaching Drawing at Harvard’s Graduate School of Design, whose research on the early work of Picasso informs her commentary on Garmezy’s work.
Fractured also includes a selection of Garmezy’s landscape photography, created without distortion, for those who prefer a straightforward perspective. His forty-year career as a geologist informs all his photography, as he continues to chronicle what he finds intriguing in the natural world.
ABOUT ARCHWAY GALLERY Artist owned and operated since 1976. Archway Gallery, one of Houston’s, and the nation’s, oldest artist-owned and operated galleries, is located at 2305 Dunlavy and is open Tuesday – Saturday from 10 a.m. – 6 p.m. and Sunday from 1 – 5 p.m. Since 1976, Archway Gallery has been exhibiting the work of the area’s finest artists, providing an excellent selection of affordable, high quality art including sculpture, pottery, and painting in a variety of media and styles. One of the more than thirty member artists is always on site, providing visitors with a unique opportunity to meet the artists who created the work, offering a personal insight into the process. Each month features a special exhibition highlighting member artist(s). The public is invited to the monthly opening receptions that celebrate the new installations and work, usually held the first Saturday of each month from 5 – 8 p.m. In addition to monthly exhibitions, Archway also hosts a variety of demonstrations and monthly readings for local writers and authors, as well as a “Tea and Tour” program, providing visitors with a free artist-led tour of the current exhibition, followed by tea and refreshments. With thirty artist-members, Archway Gallery is THE destination in the Houston area for affordable art directly from the artist. For more information, visit ArchwayGallery.com or call 713.522.2409. Like Archway Gallery on Facebook.”
Reception: October 5, 2024 | 5–8 pm
2305-A Dunlavy
Houston, 77006 TX
(713) 522-2409
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