PERSPECTIVE BLUE
Taiyo Watanabe + Dan Schwalm + Mike Nesbit, 2019
Digital Prints + Concrete, steel mesh, archival paper
“However, there is no neutral site. Every context has its frame and ideological overtones. It is a matter of degree.”
- Richard Serra, "The Yale Lecture, January 1990." Kunst & Museum Journaal (Amsterdam), vol. 1, number 6 (1990).
To revisit a painting within a traditional gallery or museum might require one to work a bit more to pull something new from what they’ve already seen. At face-value the painting is still red (if it was painted red), the white walls are still white (if they were painted white), the floors are still wood (if they were indeed wood) and the conversations are still quiet (if there were conversations). However, at a closer glance the red isn’t quite red, but a terracotta enriched landscape. The white walls are not quite white, but a vanilla beige with hairline fractures like that of coffee stains. The wood floors are still wood, however moisture from recent rains have left an aroma of oak and mildew. And last, the conversations were not conversations at all, but instead the humming from a nearby broken condenser. Now, to revisit a painting in the context of the landscape presents the viewer with a greater extreme of perception and scale. Depending on the geographical location the temperature can raise or drop one-hundred degrees within an annual cycle, the heat can cause unbearable comfort and the cold can shut one’s eyes to just a squint. The painting becomes more about the context then the context about the painting. The viewer is presented with a wider range of questions of what it might mean to represent the landscape and even more what it might mean to represent the landscape within the landscape it’s representing.
Perspective Blue is an exhibition that captures that conversation using photography from Taiyo Watanabe (Los Angeles) and Dan Schwalm (Omaha) to document THE BLUES at different points during the ever-changing landscape of Ames, Iowa. A field of concrete objects are hung within the gallery to confront the viewer’s perceptual approach to viewing the photographic images. The individual is led to meander while never quite getting a full view of any one image, constantly altering their perspective like that of the ephemeral landscape.
Show Sponsor:
Lucky Bucket Brewing Co.
Taiyo Watanabe + Dan Schwalm + Mike Nesbit, 2019
Digital Prints + Concrete, steel mesh, archival paper
“However, there is no neutral site. Every context has its frame and ideological overtones. It is a matter of degree.”
- Richard Serra, "The Yale Lecture, January 1990." Kunst & Museum Journaal (Amsterdam), vol. 1, number 6 (1990).
To revisit a painting within a traditional gallery or museum might require one to work a bit more to pull something new from what they’ve already seen. At face-value the painting is still red (if it was painted red), the white walls are still white (if they were painted white), the floors are still wood (if they were indeed wood) and the conversations are still quiet (if there were conversations). However, at a closer glance the red isn’t quite red, but a terracotta enriched landscape. The white walls are not quite white, but a vanilla beige with hairline fractures like that of coffee stains. The wood floors are still wood, however moisture from recent rains have left an aroma of oak and mildew. And last, the conversations were not conversations at all, but instead the humming from a nearby broken condenser. Now, to revisit a painting in the context of the landscape presents the viewer with a greater extreme of perception and scale. Depending on the geographical location the temperature can raise or drop one-hundred degrees within an annual cycle, the heat can cause unbearable comfort and the cold can shut one’s eyes to just a squint. The painting becomes more about the context then the context about the painting. The viewer is presented with a wider range of questions of what it might mean to represent the landscape and even more what it might mean to represent the landscape within the landscape it’s representing.
Perspective Blue is an exhibition that captures that conversation using photography from Taiyo Watanabe (Los Angeles) and Dan Schwalm (Omaha) to document THE BLUES at different points during the ever-changing landscape of Ames, Iowa. A field of concrete objects are hung within the gallery to confront the viewer’s perceptual approach to viewing the photographic images. The individual is led to meander while never quite getting a full view of any one image, constantly altering their perspective like that of the ephemeral landscape.
Show Sponsor:
Lucky Bucket Brewing Co.
Photos Courtesy of Dan Schwalm
About the Artists:
Taiyo Watanabe is a professional architectural designer and an accomplished architectural photographer. He received a Bachelor of Architecture from the Southern California Institute of Architecture in Los Angeles. With a background in architecture coupled with a keen interest in photography this has resulted in masterful and technically precise architectural captures. Watanabe's photographs have been included in publications such as Architect Magazine, Architectural Record, CLOG, HYPEBEAST, Log, Taschen books and others.
www.taiyowatanabe.com
Dan Schwalm is an architectural photographer for HDR’s global architecture company based out of Omaha, Nebraska. He creates visually compelling images for projects ranging in size from 1,000 square feet to millions of square feet for both domestic and international HDR architects, interior designers and other professionals to help tell their project stories, all while adhering to a corporate budget. Schwalm’s work is featured in many publications, and he has helped HDR win an ever-increasing amount of design awards.
www.danschwalmphoto.com
Mike Nesbit is a fine artist based in Los Angeles. With a background in architecture, his multidisciplinary trajectory greatly informs his artwork, allowing Nesbit to explore areas between art and architecture with a focus on technique, repetition, and representation. Nesbit has participated in solo and group shows throughout the United States. He received a Bachelor of Architecture from the Southern California Institute of Architecture in Los Angeles and played four years of professional baseball with the Seattle Mariners.
www.mikenesbit.com
Taiyo Watanabe is a professional architectural designer and an accomplished architectural photographer. He received a Bachelor of Architecture from the Southern California Institute of Architecture in Los Angeles. With a background in architecture coupled with a keen interest in photography this has resulted in masterful and technically precise architectural captures. Watanabe's photographs have been included in publications such as Architect Magazine, Architectural Record, CLOG, HYPEBEAST, Log, Taschen books and others.
www.taiyowatanabe.com
Dan Schwalm is an architectural photographer for HDR’s global architecture company based out of Omaha, Nebraska. He creates visually compelling images for projects ranging in size from 1,000 square feet to millions of square feet for both domestic and international HDR architects, interior designers and other professionals to help tell their project stories, all while adhering to a corporate budget. Schwalm’s work is featured in many publications, and he has helped HDR win an ever-increasing amount of design awards.
www.danschwalmphoto.com
Mike Nesbit is a fine artist based in Los Angeles. With a background in architecture, his multidisciplinary trajectory greatly informs his artwork, allowing Nesbit to explore areas between art and architecture with a focus on technique, repetition, and representation. Nesbit has participated in solo and group shows throughout the United States. He received a Bachelor of Architecture from the Southern California Institute of Architecture in Los Angeles and played four years of professional baseball with the Seattle Mariners.
www.mikenesbit.com