Edwynn Houk Gallery provides an exhibition by Christopher Bucklow (British, b. 1957), Guests and Tetrarchs: A Retrospective. Bringing two of his most well-known series together, this program includes vibrant, large-scale cameraless photographs that have actually become the artist’s trademark.
Part painter, part professional photographer, part alchemist, Bucklow harness the power of the sun to infuse his figure studies with energy. He starts by tracing the shadow of his sitter onto a sheet of aluminum foil into which he punctures hundreds of tiny pinholes. An accomplished art historian, Bucklow brings his understanding of photography’s early years to this work, adapting a pinhole electronic camera not unlike those utilized in the 19th century. At one end, he positions a sheet of light-sensitive photographic paper. At the other, the punctured aluminum shape. When held to the sun, the light filters through the pinholes, every one serving as an aperture.
The resulting object is a photogram silhouette filled with countless small pinhole pictures of the sun– luminous and unique. The colors of the paper shift depending upon the angle of the sun, its intensity, and the length of the exposure time. The azure blues, intense oranges, and luscious lavenders look like auras– the subjects’ energies radiating from the surface area of the paper behind the heavenly constellations of their bodies.
Christopher Bucklow started his profession as a curator at the Victoria & Albert Museum, London. He has actually exhibited & his photographs and paintings extensively throughout Europe and abroad. His works are consisted of in many public collections including the Museum of Modern Art, New York; the Guggenheim Museum, New York City; the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York; the High Museum, Atlanta; and the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. He is the author of numerous monographs including Christopher Bucklow: Pictures(Blindsport Publications, 2004), Christopher Bucklow: Illustrations(British Museum, 2004), among others. He lives and works in southwest England. Christopher Bucklow: Visitors and Tetrarchs
: A Retrospective from 10 January to 25 February 2023. Edwynn Houk Gallery 745 5th Ave fourth floor New York, NY 10151 www.houkgallery.com