Startling images

Font Size:

By Katie Vaughn | Sunday, September 17, 2006 1:13 AM CDT | () comments

Consumption

No special soundtrack accompanies visitors to the latest exhibition at the Figge Art Museum. No blurbs of information on the walls, bright spotlights or even benches enhance the art-viewing experience.

Instead, only subdued lighting, deep green walls and silence contribute to a no-frills exhibition approach that keeps focus on the drama unfolding in the artwork on display.

“The Architect’s Brother” features 42 large-scale photographs, either gelatin silver prints with mixed media on panels or photogravure prints mounted in black frames, on the third and fourth floors of the museum. Made by Robert and Shana ParkeHarrison, the photographs raise questions about humankind’s treatment of and role in the environment.

Images of a man blowing pollen off a mammoth flower, producing clouds in a pit or bandaging branches to a dying tree may seem the result of simple manipulation of digital photos. Yet curator Michelle Robinson said viewers are often shocked to hear the truth: Nothing in the photographs is computer generated.

Robert ParkeHarrison is extremely knowledgeable about photographic techniques, and also has studied art history and silent films, Robinson said. He and his wife have a complex process for creating the images.

The couple often constructs a scene in the backyard of their Great Barrington, Mass., home. Shana ParkeHarrison serves as set director and Robert as actor, donning a suit to become the “everyman” in the photographs. They capture several images on film and patch them together in a collage arrangement. Next, they paint over the seams and cover the surface with varnish to give a smooth appearance. The entire process takes about five weeks.

The ParkeHarrisons’ approach is chronicled in a nine-minute DVD played on the first floor of the museum. Robinson suggests viewers watch the presentation, then visit the exhibition. Additional trips back and forth between the DVD and galleries may enhance understanding of the artwork, she said.

Robinson believes a reason why Roberts ParkeHarrison’s work engages viewers is that he raises questions – about existence, responsibility, and the impact of humankind, industrialization and war – but doesn’t offer answers. Some photographs are overwhelmingly sad in tone, while a few can be described as hopeful; many are ambiguous.

“Da Vinci’s Wings” of 1998 is set in a field of rubble. A lone tree truck with a few weak branches looms from the ground. Atop the tree, the everyman played by ParkeHarrison perches with handmade wings strapped to his arms. Looking up into the foggy sky, he appears ready to take off, but it is unknown why he desires to take flight as well as how successful he will be in his attempt.

The photograph is part of his Promisedland series in which the everyman builds contraptions to try to preserve the earth. Other series, from Industrial Land, in which factories dirty and dominate the landscape, to Earth Elegies with its desolate open spaces, are interspersed throughout the two floors of the exhibition. However, most of the artist’s early work is on the fourth floor and more recent photographs are shown on the third, Robinson said.

Robinson said viewers should take time to examine ParkeHarrison’s placement of subject matter within his photographs. He plays with composition to create drama and tension, she added.

In “Suspension,” created in 1999 for the Earth Elegies series, the everyman crouches on a sloping grassy hill to the far right of the photograph. To the left, the man has roped up clouds and attached them to posts pounded into the ground. The man is in the process of tying a third cloud down closest to the viewer, and looks over his shoulder at his progress.

Another member of the series, “Garden of Selves” of 1999 reveals row upon packed row of cardboard boxes that blurs into the distance. The everyman takes a different position within each distinct box. Robinson said the individuality of each part of the image proves the painstaking work ParkeHarrison took to create the photograph.

Furthermore, it shows a moment in a story that begs to be unraveled, Robinson said. Who are these people, where are they, are they at the beginning or end of the world – these are just a few of the questions the image raises. And ParkeHarrison purposely doesn’t provide answers, she said.

“He wants to maintain some mystery,” Robinson said. “He’s leaving it to you to finish the narrative.

“I think he wants you to make up the story.”

Katie Vaughn can be contacted at (563) 383-2282 or kvaughn@qctimes.com.

“The Architect’s Brother” runs through Oct. 29 on levels 3 and 4 of the Figge Museum of Art, 225 W. 2nd St. in Davenport. The museum is open 10 a.m.-5 p.m. Tuesday through Sunday, and until 9 p.m. on Thursday.

Docent-led tours of the exhibition are available at 11 a.m. and 1 p.m. Saturday and times scheduled through advanced arrangements.

For more information, call (563) 326-7804 or visit www.figgeartmuseum.org.