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June 5, 2021 — July 3, 2021
Stone Wall III — Matthew Gammon
The "(s)Light of Hand 2020 AWARD WINNERS" exhibition showcases the innovative works of Matt Connors and Matthew Gammon, celebrated for their mastery in alternative photographic processes. Connors captivates with his Palladium prints and toned Cyanotypes, while Gammon impresses with his intricate Photo Intaglio prints. This dual exhibition highlights the unique talents of these award-winning artists and their contributions to contemporary photography.
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Matthew Gammon is a self-taught artist living and working in the historic town of Boyle in the West of Ireland. After nearly thirty years of working in libraries, he became a full-time professional visual artist. His journey in photography commenced in March 2012, after having been lent a camera to take on holiday. He now works in both film and digital photography and enjoys trying out different types of photographic technique.
Matthew has exhibited widely at prestigious group shows, including the annual exhibitions of the Royal Ulster Academy and the Royal Hibernian Academy, the 158th International Print Exhibition of the Royal Photographic Society, and the 2017 Original Print exhibition of the Royal Society of Painter-Printmakers. He has had three solo exhibitions and was appointed to the board of the Graphic Studio Dublin, where he has been a member since 2016.
Through my own unique interpretation of structure, line, and form, I love to capture and interpret the innate beauty found in both the natural and man-made worlds. I am particularly interested in how we interpret architectural structure across natural and man-made landscapes. Through the abstraction of what I believe to be the essential elements in what I see around me, I produce works that offer a different perspective on how we witness our surroundings—providing fresh insight into the aesthetic value of what can become, through habit, the commonplace and everyday.
Having trained in a wide variety of photographic techniques, I feel that the photo intaglio process allows me to create works of art that best express this vision. Through the use of modern technology in the form of both digital photography (hardware and software) and photopolymer plates, I am able to retain the intimate links between photography and printmaking while pushing the boundaries of what can be created in this modern reincarnation of the photogravure process.
Matt Connors flirted with photography in his twenties, taking pictures with his OM-2 camera and learning how to make a silver gelatin print in the darkroom. Life intervened, and Matt did not take photography back up again until 2014, after a long career in the software industry. At that point he was working digitally, but by 2018 he became dissatisfied with the full digital process. He found it a bit sterile, and it did not fulfill his need to work with his hands. Late in 2018, Matt took a digital negative and palladium printing workshop with Kerik Kouklis, and in 2019 began making palladium prints in his home studio from digital negatives. In late 2020, he began making cyanotypes and experimenting with different toning techniques.
Matt is a member of the ImageMakers of Monterey County and is currently President of the Board of Trustees for the Center for Photographic Art in Carmel, California. He resides in Carmel Valley, California, with his wife Elneda and his black Lab, Norton.
I agree with what Robert Adams said in his wonderful essay "Beauty in Photography"—"successful art rediscovers Beauty for us." Perhaps it is not in vogue for art to be about beauty, and certainly there are many worthy and worthwhile art projects that express insight into the human condition or what is going on in our world. My hat is off to those artists, yet I do not seek to emulate them. I simply seek to rediscover Beauty.
I believe there is a place for Beauty in the world, and that if more of us spent more time feeling the wonder, awe, appreciation, and humility one feels when one brushes one's fingertips against Beauty, we'd live in a better world.
