Something new for the Mansion

Three photographers who capture images of themselves as a key element in their work will be on display at Rockville’s Glenview Mansion, January 8 - 31, 2006. Gathered under the banner "The Lens as Mirror," the exhibit brings together the work of Gary A. Wolfe, Sara Pomerance, and John Borstel. Mixed-media artist Theresa Knight McFadden will complete the exhibition lineup, providing a sculptural counterpoint to the photography.

This exhibition is something "new" for the Mansion; in fact a giant forward step into a more provocative look at the visual arts. From the news release:

Gary A. Wolfe takes pictures of himself in motel rooms, documenting the details of environments that will seem familiar to anyone who travels in the USA: TV consoles, wall-mounted lamps, wood-grain Formica and stain-resistant upholstery. He also documents himself as a kind of everyman-in-underwear, stripped of any symbols of status or profession. Isolated and vulnerable, he nonetheless creates a human imprint on sterile surroundings. "Have I been here before?" these black-and-white images ask. "Have you?"

Sara Pomerance, blends "narrative mystery and whimsy in a beguiling recipe that yield[s] a sense of the unexpected complexity of human life... Her human subjects are caught in positions of poise, as if stilled by her attention" -- Andy Grundberg, Photography Chair at the Corcoran College of Art + Design. Among those human subjects is Pomerance herself, who sometimes appears in her images, but isn’t always recognizable, who sometimes asserts herself with a decisive gesture, at other times recedes as a fragment or shadow.

John Borstel employs self-imagery as a form of overtly theatrical performance. Striking stylized or declarative poses, Borstel uses props, costumes, and sundry adornments. At times these implements produce masquerade-like transformations of age, gender, and character. At other times they make more subtle points, as the images are anchored to short texts drawn from such sources as Sir James Fraser’s The Golden Bough and an old manual on traditional Japanese puppetry.

This trio represents a range of two generations, two genders and three points of view, offering a stimulating capsule of contemporary self-imaging.

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Glenview Mansion is located in Rockville Civic Center Park at 603 Edmonston Drive in Rockville, MD. Gallery hours are Monday, Wednesday and Friday 9 a.m. - 4:30 p.m., Tuesday and Thursday, 9 a.m. - 9 p.m. An artists’ reception takes place 1 to 4 p.m. on Sunday, January 8. The Gallery offers an artist talk at 7:30 p.m. on Thursday, January 12 and a guided tour at 10 a.m. on Friday, January 13. For information call 240-314-8682 or 240-314-8660 or visit www.rockvillemd.gov. For recorded directions call 240-314-8660.