March 7 - April 2, 2020
Archway Gallery presents Mostly Water, Some Rock featuring photography by resident artist Larry Garmezy. The exhibit will be on view March 7 through April 2, 2020. The artist will be on hand to visit with guests during the exhibition opening reception on Saturday, March 7 from 5 – 8 p.m. at the gallery and will talk about his work at 6:30 p.m.
This exhibition, like Garmezy’s previous solo shows, is shaped by his early adventures as a geologist. Through this filter he observes and captures the unique and subtle patterns and textures hidden in the details of nature’s recesses. Mostly Water, Some Rock chronicles what he finds visually and intellectually intriguing in the natural world. Understanding the physical processes that create patterns in nature allows Garmezy to capture unusual impressions and abstractions of the visual landscape.
This exhibition focuses on two realms: water and rock. Photographing the same natural springs over many years, Garmezy finds that, like snowflakes, no two images are the same. The constant is the incredible interplay of light with surface ripples and the extraordinary palette of colors from plants beneath the surface. Varying the time of exposure creates a further abstraction of the scene. This fluid environment is ideal for the photographic art form. While the human eye can see the motion created by the upwelling of water, it takes a mechanical shutter to “freeze” the scene, revealing the composition’s unique beauty. Likewise, a close-up of a rock cliff face brings the intricate interplay of fracture patterns
to life. Their growth leaves a subtle and beautiful record. The common thread between these two realms is the patterns
created by the distortion of light, shape, and color formed either by ripples in a spring or the convoluted fracturing of a cliff face.
Although raised in the flat plains of Minnesota, Garmezy’s fondest childhood memories began in the mountain states of the
west. “To this day, I can close my eyes and return to every mountain range, valley, stream, or snowfield I have traversed
over the past 50 years,” he says. Garmezy attended Amherst College, in the mountains of central Massachusetts and graduate school in geology at Penn State, in the mountains of central Pennsylvania. He retired from Shell Oil after a 32 year career traveling the globe.
A life-long photographer, Garmezy’s art career began in earnest in 2007. His work has been in several juried shows across
the U.S. and Europe, in addition to the work hanging in homes, offices and public spaces across the U.S and Great Britain.
Two pieces from this show have been published in Spotlight Contemporary Art Magazine. Garmezy is a member of the
Houston Center for Photography and the Houston Visual Arts Alliance. This is his fourth solo show since becoming an
Archway Gallery resident artist in 2011.
Opening: March 7, 2020 | 5–8 pm
2305-A Dunlavy
Houston, 77006 TX
(713) 522-2409
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