Richard Slechta
Photograms
Elegant Detection, 2015 Light on photo paper, unique 30 x 30 inches
Roused Spasm, 2015
Sensitive Configurations 2015
Light on photo paper, unique 30 x 30 inches
Hard Boiled Neutrality, 2014
Upthrust Distraction, 2014 Light on photo paper, unique 30 x 30 inches
Whimsical Uncertainty, 2014
Self Organized, 2014
Light on photo paper, unique 30 x 30 inches
Rectifying Conductor, 2014
Net Artifice, 2014
Light on photo paper, unique 14 x 14 inches
Immersed Boundary, 2014
Truly Physical, 2014
Light on photo paper, unique 48 x 48 inches
Ecotone Unification, 2014
Departures from Linearity 2014
Disrupted Polarization, 2014 Light on photo paper, unique 48 x 48 inches
Amorphous Enterprise, 2013 Linear Regression, 2013 Light on photo paper, unique 30 x 30 inches
Buoyancy Center, 2014 Light on photo paper, unique 48 x 48 inches
Critical Superposition, 2013
Boundary Organizations, 2013 Light on photo paper, unique 48 x 48 inches
Optimal Inflection, 2013
Effective Torque, 2013 Light on photo paper, unique 30 x 30 inches
Enterprising Intent, 2013
Variationally Consistent, 2013 Accumulate Ordinary, 2013 Light on photo paper, unique 48 x 48 inches
Commentary
Form appearing in space is a fundamental condition of art. This arising of phenomena encompasses millennia of expression, and yet still maintains its mystery.
In his photograms, Richard Slechta engages the basic dyad of presence and absence, giving it a striking immediacy. His art is minimal in its economy of means, a spare distribution of spiking lines, flaring discs, and other forms that seem shifting and transitory. Simultaneously, Slechta’s art is rich with visual sensation and emotive power.
Looking at the animated forms as they emerge from the white field we are confronted by the twin conundrums of how they came into being and how they make us feel. The photograms begin with creating paintings on clear plastic sheets. The paintings are then reinterpreted using gestures of chromatic light onto light sensitive photographic paper. The recorded exposures coalesce into the final shapes, colors and textures.
Slechta’s work is abstract, a congruence of process and poetry that does not depict, but rather stimulates a wide range of associations. Forms often suggest dark shadows or burned traces, evidence of an unspoken conflagration. The auras that surround them seem to imply that the darkness is a deep concentration of color, made visible only at its margins. The spiked arrays moving across space are like readouts of seismic events or vital signs. The discs move more freely, points of energy in contrast to the long lines of oscillations.
Slechta’s photograms have a sense of expansiveness and disorientation, as if we are moving through a dimension beyond our own. The forms are wave-like phantoms, vibrantly there, dilating and contracting, but ready to vanish. These works do not call for narrative responses, rather they allow us to immerse ourselves in a domain without language. Paradoxically, the titles of the works point us beyond words to states of being. The titles speak of knowing, induction, causation, breakage, and release. These are not descriptions of the photograms, but instead a way of awakening our responses to the moral implication of this art.
In the white space of these works, we enter a kind of active emptiness, capable of generating vivid colors and profound darkness. This space is the matrix out of which the visual takes form and back into which it sinks. The implications of this are existential – we see in the drama of forms an inevitable reflection of our own lives.
John Mendelsohn
Richard Slechta
Biography
Richard Slechta believes it is essential to challenge the boundaries of contemporary photography, to think differently, to pioneer and to innovate. He delivers an expansive and dynamic experience beyond the picture frame. Slechta’s absorption with the phenomenon of light has been a defining influence on every aspect of his work. Wielding light and pigment, his richly luminescent images investigate the boundaries of photographic abstraction through a hybrid of painting and photography.
Slechta is a Los Angeles-based artist. He was born in 1972 and raised in farming towns in both Oregon and California. Receiving a scholarship to the School of Visual Arts, he moved to New York City. He graduated in 1995, with honors, receiving a BFA in Fine Art Photography. He would live in New York City for 13 years as a studio photographer, videographer and multimedia artist. During this time, he balanced the duality of using analog photography while simultaneously embracing the first wave of digital imaging technologies.
Slechta began working with large-scale camera-less photograms in 1992. An important part of his artistic investigation was the space between discovery and calculation. His influences draw a line from 18th century Japanese painters, such as Ito Jakuchu, who embodied daring and spatially lean compositions. Slechta’s early works are softly contoured, multi-dimensional silhouettes of figures in various states of anthropomorphic changes. His following work of skeletal efflorescent botanics are revealed with sketch-like gestures of light.
In 2002, he transitioned away from using naturalistic forms into incorporating translucent paintings that become re-interpreted with light, creating a new visual language to the dialog of photographic abstraction.
In 2003, Slechta continued his study of lighting in a different media, focusing on visual effects for film.
Up until a few years ago, Slechta was at the top of his game as one of Hollywood’s most accomplished Lighting Technical Directors in the field of photo-realistic, computer generated imagery. He worked on big budget feature films, including Harry Potter and Chronicles of Narnia.
In 2011, armed with his successes in the commercial arena, Slechta committed to his studio practice full time. His professional experiences feed the ongoing innovation in his art practice. He continues to experiment with the application and interaction of color and light, using varying materials and environments.
Today, the photograms he creates fall between the fields of painting and photography. These visceral images present the relationships between control, volatility and play. Turbulent patterns and darting movements express the release of kinetic and potential energy. The images have a foundation of geometric shapes that tell of a physical shift and displacement.
Slechta’s works are represented in several museum collections. He also has solo exhibitions across the country. In 2015 he had a large scale installation at Gallery 825 in Los Angeles. Recent solo exhibitions include International Museum of Art & Science, McAllen, TX (2015), Museum of Arts
Richard Slechta
Artist’s Statement
Wielding light and pigment, Slechta’s richly luminescent images investigate the boundaries of photographic abstraction through a hybrid of painting and photography.
These visceral images present the relationships between control, volatility and play. Turbulent patterns and darting movements express the release of kinetic and potential energy. The images have a foundation of geometric shapes that tell of a physical shift and displacement. Slechta’s signature blue bars, unwavering, activate the space, enforcing compositional order as a stark response to the encompassing movements.
The slick and pristine finish may give the appearance of a digital image, but it is not. This work is a creation based on chemistry and physics. Slechta paints with both pigments and light. He produces compositional paintings on translucent surfaces, to be re-interpreted with gestures of light. He uses sensitive photographic paper as his canvas, and the resulting artistic process reveals ‘light on photo paper’.
Richard Slechta
Richard Slechta
Exhibition Description
Slechta’s photograms have a sense of expansiveness and disorientation, as if we are moving through a dimension beyond our own. The forms are wave-like phantoms, vibrantly there, dilating and contracting, but ready to vanish. These works do not call for narrative responses, rather they allow us to immerse ourselves in a domain without language. Paradoxically, the titles of the works point us beyond words to states of being. The titles speak of knowing, induction, causation, breakage, and release. These are not descriptions of the photograms, but instead a way of awakening our responses to the moral implication of this art.
In the white space of these works, we enter a kind of active emptiness, capable of generating vivid colors and profound darkness. This space is the matrix out of which the visual takes form and back into which it sinks. The implications of this are existential – we see in the drama of forms an inevitable reflection of our own lives.
NUMBER OF OBJECTS: 27 photograms; images provided on pdf presentation.
SPACE REQUIREMENTS: Dependent upon the size and amount of works chosen, from 150 up to 250 running feet.
PARTICIPATION FEE: Round-trip shipping, wall-to-wall insurance (50% of retail value), and color exhibition announcement card (with a $200 production allowance from Katharine T. Carter & Associates.) INSTALLATION: Instructions will be included with exhibition details.
TRANSPORTATION: The exhibiting institution will provide all transportation for the exhibition and cover all related costs. This will include full responsibility for delivery at the conclusion of the exhibition.
Work must be fully insured during transport.
ANNOUNCEMENT CARDS: Katharine T. Carter & Associates will provide a $200 production allowance towards the production of a color announcement card pending the terms from the sample letter of confirmation.
PRESS KIT: All pre-written press materials, to include biographical summary, artist statement, petite essay, press releases, media releases, pitch letters and e-release/radio/television spots, to be provided by Katharine T. Carter & Associates. All publicity releases, invitations/
announcements, catalog, exhibition brochure, and other printed materials concerning the exhibition shall carry the following infor- mation: “The exhibition was organized through Katharine T.
Carter & Associates.” Copies of any printed matter relating to the exhibition shall be sent to Katharine T. Carter & Associates
Richard Slechta
CONDITIONS:
CANCELLATION:
1. Exhibiting institution must provide object insurance to cover replacement costs should items be damaged or stolen while on premises. Minimum insurance required: 50% retail value.
Should loss, damage or deterioration be noted at the time of delivery of the exhibition, the artist shall be notified imediately.
If any damage appears to have taken place during the exhibi- tion, the artist shall be informed immediately.
2. Security: Objects must be maintained in a fireproof building under 24-hour security.
3. All packing and unpacking instructions sent by (artist) shall be followed explicitly by competent packers. Each object shall be handled with special care at all times to ensure against damage or deterioration.
4. As stated above (see space requirements), the number of works to be exhibited can be dictated by the space and needs of the exhibiting institution.
5. Exhibitors may permit photographs of the exhibition and its contents for routine publicity and educational purposes only.
Exceptions may be made pending discussion with the artist.
Any cancellation of this exhibition by the hosting institution, not caused by the actions of the artist, shall entitle Katharine T. Carter and Associates to an award of liquidated damages of $3750.00. The hosting institution further agrees that any suit brought to recover said damages may only be brought in Columbia County, New York.
Contact and additional information:
Katharine T. Carter
Katharine T. Carter & Associates 518-758-8130
fax 518-758-8133 [email protected] P. O. Box 609
For exhibition inquiries contact Katharine T. Carter & Associates
Email: [email protected]
Phone: 518-758-8130 Fax: 518-758-8133 Mailing Address:
Post Office Box 609
Kinderhook, NY 12106-0609 Website: http://www.ktcassoc.com
