NewsPress Release - 10/27/99
Marlboro College -- The second public exhibition of "Tracing
Time: Photogravures by Eight Latin American Photographers"
will be on display at Marlboro College's Drury Gallery from October
29 through November 23. Fully accessible, Drury Gallery is free
and open to the public from 1 to 5 p.m. Sunday through Friday.
The exhibit brings together photogravures by eight Latin American
photographers who explore the complex terrain between history, myth,
and identity. These artists are at the forefront of a movement among
Latin American photographers whose work intersects the past. By
probing cultural origins, historic references, and ceremonial acts,
these artists set the context for new associations and meaning.
On loan from the Widener Gallery at Trinity College in Hartford,
the exhibit was produced by Alafot International in collaboration
with local publisher Paul M. Taylor of Renaissance Press in Hinsdale,
NH. Renaissance Press is a fine art atelier specializing in the
historic technique of photogravure publishing, platemaking, and
printing.
Included in the exhibit are photogravures by Maria Elena Alvarez
and Alexander Apostol of Venezuela; Luis Gonzalez Palma of Guatemala;
Marta Maria Perez Bravo and Ernesto Pujol of Cuba; Gerardo Suter
of Mexico; Milagros de la Torre of Peru; and Victor Vasquez of Puerto
Rico.
The conceptual sources for each artist's work remain as diverse
as Latin American culture itself. Underlying this diversity, however,
are shared intentions and strategies rooted in the past and triggered
by memory. The human form -- actual or implied -- serves as a vehicle
to these artists for reaching back. Each portrays some aspect of
the figure, from the symbolic use of garments as vestiges of human
presence to the actual body.
Photogravure is one of the most difficult, time-consuming, and archival
of all photographic processes, using the same basic principles as
aquatint. Taylor has both mastered and expanded upon the traditional
photogravure approach, while creating and utilizing innovative platemaking
and printing techniques.
