Clarissa Bonet: City Space + Stray Light
@ Catherine Edelman Gallery
300 W. Superior St. Chicago, IL 60622
Opening Friday, September 9th, from 5PM - 8PM
On view through Saturday, October 29th
Clarissa Bonet: City Space + Stray Light
September 9 – October 29, 2016
Opening Reception with the artist: September 9, 5:00-8:00pm
The concept of place, and our relationship to it, is at the heart of Clarissa Bonet’s work, who was born and raised in Tampa, Florida – a coastal port city known for its amazing climate, sports teams, national defense outposts, and healthcare businesses. While the city is currently undergoing a population growth, it used to be a quiet place dominated by the warm gulf water. In 2010, Bonet moved to Chicago to attend graduate school at Columbia College Chicago. She immediately noticed the density of the city, its people, and its traffic. As she wandered the city, she was stunned by the isolation she felt among the throngs of people rushing along the sidewalks. It was this feeling that led her to City Space, an ongoing body of work about individuality in a large city.
Walking for hours, Bonet uses her phone to photograph the interactions between people, architecture and light. Later, she would revisit these places and recreate the feeling she had first experienced, hiring models to play specific roles at the precise time of day when the light was perfect. The resulting photographs are carefully staged memories that appear to be snapshots of everyday city life. As she states: “The urban space is striking. Its tall and mysterious buildings, crowds of anonymous people, and endless sea of concrete constantly intrigue me. The images I create provide a personal interpretation of the urban landscape.”
In 2014, Bonet embarked on a second ongoing project, Stray Light, which looks at the anonymity of people in their homes at night. Bonet photographs once the sun sets, capturing the colorful glows from hotel and apartment windows. Back in her studio, she carefully constructs each image from multiple photographs, transforming the urban cityscape into a constellation, as the mind tries to organize the information presented. Ultimately, the viewer is left dazzled by the glow emanating from windows that fill the city skies, much like the stars do on a clear night, far away from the lights of an urban landscape.
For more information and to see all the work in the exhibition, visit www.edelmangallery.com.
All events are free and open to the public.
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Tags: Catherine Edelman Gallery, Chicago, City Space, Clarissa Bonet, Near North, Stray Light
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