Archive for March, 2016
UT Art faculty member work accepted to international juried exhibition
Tuesday, March 15th, 2016
Deborah Orloff, Professor of Art and Associate Chair of the Department of Art at The University of Toledo, has just been chosen to exhibit her new work in “Macro” an internationally juried exhibition at New York City’s Jadite Gallery. She also won a second place award from the New York Center for Photographic Art for the piece, and will have the work published in the exhibition catalog. The competitively selected exhibition was curated from an international pool of over 500 entries and will open April 21st. The attached diptych is from her current body of work, “Elusive Memory.”
In addition, 6 of Orloff’s large-scale photographs from this series were recently selected for a curated exhibition at the Riffe Gallery in Columbus, Ohio, opposite the State House at Capitol Square. The group show, “Earthly Delights,” will feature 10 artists’ photographic work and run August 4 – October 8. Five other large-scale pieces from “Elusive Memory” are currently on view at the Toledo Museum of Art Library in UT’s Center for Visual Arts through the end of the semester.
Samples of Orloff’s work can be seen on the web at DeborahOrloff.com and Deborah Orloff: Elusive Memory http://www.deborahorloff.com/ElusGal.html
Artist’s Statement:
Elusive Memory
“In America, the photographer is not simply the person who records the past, but the one who invents it.” – Susan Sontag
Do you really remember your past, or have you simply seen the photographs so many times, you believe you retain those memories? The relationship between photography and memory is complicated; it is dubious at best. I have always been fascinated with family photos and have collected them most of my life. Recently, I’ve been drawn to the abandoned pictures that were relegated to my parents’ basement. These once precious objects have been neglected and forgotten. Inadvertently exposed to water, heat, and humidity, they have undergone a powerful transformation. This new work utilizes these severely damaged pictures as subject matter. Elusive Memory explores the significance of vernacular photographs as aesthetic objects and cultural artifacts. The resulting large-scale photographs make commonplace objects monumental and emphasize their unique details. In their final representation, these banal objects become simulacra of loss and speak eloquently to the ephemeral nature of memory.
Bio
Deborah Orloff has run the Photography area at the University of Toledo‘s Center for Visual Arts and exhibited her artwork internationally for more than 20 years. She has won numerous awards for both her artwork as well as her teaching. She received her MFA in Photography from Syracuse University and her BFA from Clark University. Her work has been included in over 100 exhibitions at national and international venues that include: the Whitney Museum of American Art in New York City, and the Royal Scottish Academy in Edinburgh, Scotland. Orloff’s new work, Elusive Memory, was recently selected for inclusion in the Museum of Contemporary Photography’s collection as part of their Midwest Photographers Project.
###
Contact:
Deborah Orloff
419-530-8314 (office) or 419-882-7631 (home)