Contact Sheet Number159
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ContaCt Sheet NUMBER159 Yolanda del amo Contact Sheet is published by LIGHT WORK a non-profit, artist-run photography organization Robert B. Menschel Media Center 316 Waverly Avenue, Syracuse, NY 13244 p: 315.443.1300 f: 315.443.9516 www.lightwork.org LIGHT WORK STAFF WE THANK Jeffrey Hoone Executive Director Robert and Joyce Menschel Hannah Frieser Director Vital Projects Fund, Inc. Mary Goodwin Associate Director JGS (Joy of Giving Something, Inc.) Mary Lee Hodgens Program Manager The New York State Council on the Arts Jessica Reed Promotions Coordinator The National Endowment for the Arts Vernon Burnett Customer Service Manager Central New York Community Foundation John Mannion Digital Lab Manager Coalition of Museum and Art Centers (CMAC) Syracuse University LIGHT WORK BOARD OF DIRECTORS and our subscribers for their support of our programs Lisa Jong-Soon Goodlin Chair Charles P. Merrihew Treasurer Kim Waale Secretary Ellen M. Blalock, Vernon Burnett, Contact Sheet is published five times a year and is available from Light Work through print Hannah Frieser, Mary Giehl, and online subscription. This is the 102nd Michael Greenlar, Jeffrey Hoone, exhibition catalogue in a series produced by Glen Lewis, Stephen Mahan, Light Work since 1985. Scott Strickland ISSN: 1064-640X ISBN: 0-935445-70-6 Contents copyright ©2010 Light Work Visual Studies, Inc., except where noted. All rights reserved. Eastwood Litho, Inc. Printer Light Work/Community Darkrooms Prepress ContaCt Sheet NUMBER159 Yolanda del amo arChipelago November 1–December 23, 2010 Reception: Thursday, November 4, 5pm LIGHT WORK Robert B. Menschel Media Center 316 Waverly Avenue Syracuse, New York 13244 Gallery hours are 10am to 6pm Sunday through Friday except for school holidays Lives lived together can grow closer or more distant Rendered in the exquisite detail made pos- constant push and pull between public and private, in the vast space opened up by silence. In moments sible by using a view camera, the images in intimacy and distance just below the surface of when words become superfluous, thoughts, reac- Archipelago invite close inspection of seemingly human connection. By identifying the people in 2 tions, and feelings do the work of keeping people private moments. On the surface the photographs her photographs only by their first names, del Amo together or driving them apart. appear to utilize a direct approach that underscores leaves the relationships of her subjects to each Artist Yolanda del Amo explores the tender the everyday. However, the artist structures each other deliberately vague, which makes her images terrain between people in her series Archipelago, a image with a subtle formality, creating a mixture of all the more personal and far reaching. Each pho- sophisticated suite of images that brings the impor- reality and fiction, that builds a stage upon which tograph represents a fragile time in any relationship tance of these moments of emotional connective dramas could be imminent or recently passed. In when people—whether they are mothers and sons, tissue to light. She photographs family, friends, and del Amo's photographs, people gather at immacu- brothers and sisters, husbands and wives, lovers, or acquaintances in various settings around the world late breakfast tables, uncluttered living rooms, and simply friends—momentarily live alone, together. as they perform scenes that suggest a universal pristine parks. These regular places attain a mute John Donne wrote that no man is an island. narrative of human relationships. theatricality through the absence of detritus that In Yolanda del Amo's images, the island has been In naming her series, del Amo uses a meta- collects in everyday life. In this careful staging, reimagined as an archipelago, one whose many phor that describes the turbulent nature of intimacy. del Amo creates an elegant visual metaphor for the sided shores wax and wane with the coming tides. Powerful forces deep below the surface of the earth silence enacted by her subjects. form archipelagos, which are chains or clusters of The narrative dramas implied in Archipelago individual islands. These unstoppable natural forces are insinuated by a masterful use of glance. Rarely Mary Goodwin push up and out to create distinct bodies of land do the subjects look at each other or beyond the that are grouped together to form a larger whole, frame, and when they do, the people who populate existing at once by themselves and also connected these rooms and landscapes appear to stare past to each other. any potential audience toward a distant point of Concerned with the geography of hu- reference. This use of glance forges an emotional man interaction, del Amo depicts the natural pressure that pushes outward from the picture forces that lie just below the surface of relation- plane and at the same time inward, toward an un- ships between people—their conflicting needs speaking interior world. The players give no hint for intimacy and connection, independence, and about how the silence might resolve itself if at all; individuality. In Archipelago, these competing their faces remain ambiguously stoic allowing view- forces seem to have reached a temporary stasis. ers to draw their own conclusions about what the Del Amo's beautiful images show people complete- next act might be. ly submerged in their own inner worlds even when In photographing people of all ages and in they are in the presence of others, in private rooms combinations of twos, threes, and sometimes and public spaces. fours, the artist touches on the universality of this 3 Aron, Helen, Laura, 2008 All images are digital chromogenic prints, sizes vary 4 Álvaro, Yolanda, 2006 5 Gonzalo, Miguel, 2007 6 Macarena, Rosario, 2007 7 Jesse, Kerry, 2005 8 9 Marina, Mercedes, 2004 10 Nicole, John, 2009 11 Elena, Max, 2008 12 Isabelle, Emilie, 2006 13 Winfried, Brigitte, 2006 14 15 Leonor, José, 2005 16 Elena, Malena, Dean, 2005 17 Charo, Fernando, 2005 18 Jenny, Kristen, 2006 19 Sophie, Josh, 2008 20 Pablo, Virginia, 2007 21 Antonia, Miguel, 2005 22 23 Edith, Juan, 2007 24 Clover, John, 2009 25 Sarah, David, 2007 26 Claudia, Peter, Luna, 2006 27 Minou, David, 2006 28 Diana, Josefina, 2007 29 Ingo, Roland, 2009 30 31 Hunter, Piper, Frances, 2008 32 33 Anabel, Paula, Clara, 2008 34 Noemí, Joseant, 2010 35 Fernando, Juan, 2010 36 Gaëlle, Chloé, Noemí, María, 2010 37 Claire, Jonathon, 2006 38 39 Amanda, Jimmy, 2006 40 41 Hans, Hilde, 2008 42 Rafael, María Jesús, 2007 43 Marisol, Javier, 2008 44 Juan, José Antonio, 2010 45 María, Nieves, 2010 46 47 María, José Miguel, 2008 48 Marcela, Hugo, 2007 Yolanda del Amo is an artist working in the me- Photography erupted into my life unexpectedly I want to thank warmly my parents Álvaro dium of photography. She was born in Madrid in 1999. At the time, I was an adult with a fully and María Antonia for their love and their uncondi- and received a Bachelor and Master of Science in established corporate profession. The force of tional support in my endeavor as an artist. Mathematics from the Universität zu Köln, Cologne, photography in my life was so powerful that I had Thank you to Ben Diep at Color Space Imag- Germany in 1993 and a Master of Fine Arts in no choice but to follow its path. However, I would ing in New York City for his commitment and dedi- never have been able to maintain my enthusiasm cation throughout the last years in perfecting each Photography from the Rhode Island School of and drive without the support of all the people and one of my photographs. He has challenged me and Design in Providence in 2004. institutions who had faith in my work. taught me so much about color and light. Thanks Her work has been exhibited nationally and I cannot thank enough all the sitters who to Ben and Yong Guan especially for the tireless internationally in numerous venues, including have been portrayed in my work and have been sessions they spent with me at the lab to achieve the Hudson Franklin Gallery, New York City; the an inspiration for each one of the photographs. I qualities in my images I never thought possible. Barbara Walters Gallery at Sarah Lawrence deeply appreciate their trust and willingness to col- Thank you to Vicki Goldberg and Steve Smith College, Bronxville, NY; the Bronx Museum of the laborate with me in this adventure; their openness for their encouragement and continued support. Arts, New York City; the National Portrait Gallery for sharing their stories and providing me access I am especially grateful to the following both in London and in Washington, DC; the Centro to their lives; and their patience for sitting through Spanish institutions who have supported me finan- de Cultura Contemporánea, Barcelona, Spain; the long shooting sessions. cially in the production of this body of work: the Instituto Cervantes, New York City; and the Palais I feel extremely honored to have met the Fundación Arte y Derecho, the Spanish Ministry of de Glace, Buenos Aires, Argentina. Light Work team, and I want to express my sincere Culture, the Spanish Consulate in New York City, She was a resident fellow at the Spanish gratitude for their generous support. The resources and the Spanish Academy in Rome. Academy in Rome in 2010. Previous artist resi- and opportunities you have offered me have been Last but not least, thank you to all my former decisive in developing my project. Thank you to and current students, who have taught me at least dencies include Light Work in Syracuse, NY; the Jeffrey Hoone, Hannah Frieser, Mary Lee Hodgens, as much, if not more, than I have taught them. Terra Foundation for American Art, Giverny, France; Jessica H.