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September 9, 2023 — October 7, 2023
Cabins under Blue Moon — Dan Burkholder
Twosome is a joint photography exhibition featuring works by Dan Burkholder and Jill Skupin Burkholder. Dan is recognized for looking over photography's horizon to discover new ways of capturing and expressing the photographic image, pioneering digital negative techniques and high dynamic range photography. Jill specializes in handcrafted processes including bromoil printing and wax techniques.
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Dan Burkholder is known for looking over photography's horizon to discover new ways of capturing and expressing the photographic image. In the early 1990s, Dan wrote the groundbreaking book Making Digital Negatives for Contact Printing, opening doors for legions of image-makers wishing to combine the precision of digital imaging with the warmth and charm of the handmade print. After Hurricane Katrina ravaged the Gulf Coast in 2005, Burkholder recorded the chaos of post-Katrina New Orleans in his poignant monograph, The Color of Loss, the first coffee table book photographed entirely with high dynamic range (HDR) techniques. In 2012, Burkholder led the mobile photography revolution with his forward-looking book iPhone Artistry.
Dan earned his BA and master's degrees in photography from Brooks Institute of Photography in Santa Barbara, California. His platinum/palladium and pigmented ink prints are included in private and public collections internationally.
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The prints in this exhibition include early platinum/palladium prints made in 1984 to recent gilded photos printed on voluptuous vellum. As the human element becomes more prominent in my newest work, you'll find work from Cuba and Mongolia. Trying to bring the same compositional formality I use for landscapes to these latest photos—harmless and old, you are perceived as non-threatening, almost invisible—making the act of photographing that much easier.
Historically, I am more concerned with the emotional honesty than the literal honesty in photography. I strive to create photographs that act as an expressive launching pad, always leaving room for viewers to complete the visual voyage, to form an interpretive narrative of their own. And yes, this means I take liberties with the subject and its treatment. The amount of enhancement I impart to an image depends on the subject, the mood I'm working to construct, and possibly how much caffeine I've consumed during the day.
"I'm constantly looking for new approaches, subject matter, and chemical or digital technologies that push me into the next exciting and beautiful way to express the photographic image. Engaging both archival inks and precious metals in my prints, I try to meld modern technology with classic aesthetics to capture my surroundings, making the final print a reflection of both my personal vision and photography's ever-evolving path."
Jill Skupin Burkholder is a photographer and artist whose work includes handcrafted techniques such as bromoil printing—an alternative photography process using brushes and lithography ink to create an image—and wax techniques using cold wax medium and oil.
She began working with photography in 1985 and studied both traditional and digital photography. Burkholder's prints are in various private and permanent collections. She taught at the International Center of Photography in New York and currently teaches online for Santa Fe Workshops.
With an artist's touch, a photograph can move beyond reality. This collection of images relies on a variety of creative twists and techniques that bend perception and allow space for the imagination. Animals live in a delicate, fantasy world, antiques become animated, and landscapes blossom with unexpected texture and color.
The exhibition's unity comes from my creative choices as the photographer and image maker. Interpretation is heightened using hand-applied paints and inks or by embracing the sooty, raw, low-resolution images from a trail camera. When viewed side-by-side, a theme begins to emerge.
Reality is enriched with strange symbolism. As authentic detail falls away, a unique fantasy emerges—brimming with forgotten dreams and fresh revelations.
