Pictures Come from Pictures: Selected Photographs 1955-2007
by Carl Chiarenza

A preview of photographs from the exhibition will be on display May 15 – June 4, 2009. View the full exhibition June 5 – August 15, 2009. A reception with the artist will occur Sunday, June 7, 2:00 – 4:00 PM. This event is free and open to the public.

The full exhibition consists of 19 artist printed black and white silver gelatin photographs selected from Chiarenza's sixth monograph Pictures Come from Pictures (David R. Godine, Boston, 2008). With gallery representation in New York, Los Angeles and Boston, it is a rare pleasure for Through This Lens to offer Chiarenza's work to our local audience and collectors.

Respected and revered as photographer, art historian, writer and teacher, Carl Chiarenza's photographic career now spans six decades. His work explores and challenges the common belief that photographs capture reality and present visual information in a true, unbiased manner. His photographs are abstract studies of forms and patterns found in nature, man-made structures, and, later, collages created specifically for the camera. The subject matter is often ambiguous, freeing the viewer to study and appreciate the luscious tones of chiaroscuro. Rather than focus on the identity of the object photographed, the mystery of the image itself becomes the subject of the work.

In addition to pieces in the permanent collection of the Ackland Art Museum in Chapel Hill, Carl Chiarenza's photographs are included in the collections of over 50 public institutions worldwide such as Museum of Modern Art, New York; National Gallery of Art, Washington, DC; International Center of Photography, New York; George Eastman House, Rochester; Art Institute of Chicago; Museum of Fine Arts, Boston; Bibliotheque Nationale, Paris.