FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
Toronto, Canada, April 21, 2010 – Meta Gallery is pleased to present In Death I Bloom: Photographic Journeys From Destruction Through Creation, the work of Wayne Martin Belger. In his first exhibition with the gallery, Belger presents artworks that transcend the traditionally structured boundaries between sculpture and photography while challenging the photographer-camera-subject relationship. Wayne Belger’s vision is truly unique and one whose execution represents an authentic evolution in the subject of photography.
Belger makes each and every single camera he uses to capture his subject matter. Each body of work is photographed using a specific camera, and each camera is specifically created with the intention of capturing a chosen body of work whose content is thematically related to the design of the camera itself. Working entirely using pinhole cameras, the artist machines each part by hand. Utilizing materials as diverse as aluminum, titanium, steel, bronze, copper, brass, blood, human skulls, deceased insects, animal parts, and pages from ancient scriptures to name a few, he then painstakingly assembles the complex and sophisticated designs over the course of many months. On his use of pinhole cameras the artist states; “With pinhole, the same air that touches my models can pass through the pinhole and touch the photo emulsion on the film. There is no barrier between the two. There are no lenses changing and manipulating light. There are no chips converting light to binary code. With pinhole what you get is an un-manipulated, true representation of a segment of light and time.”
Once complete, each camera, incredibly inspired works by themselves, goes on to capture the people, places and moments that originally inspired their creation. This cycle of subject inspiring object, which in turn creates the object inspired by the subject, remains a powerful theme in the artist’s oeuvre and a potent metaphor for the death/birth/re-birth experience permeating much of Belger’s work.
Wayne Martin Belger was born in 1964 in Pasadena, California. Entirely self taught, he began making his camera creations in 2000 and since that time has participated in many group and solo exhibitions including Art Cologne 21, Germany (2009) Etherton Gallery, Tuscon (2005) w/Joel-Peter Witkin and Billy Shire Fine Art, Culver City, (2006) His artworks have been featured in The Los Angeles Times, B&W Magazine and Juxtapoz. He lives in the desert outside of Tuscon where he works away on his camera creations.
In Death I Bloom: Photographic Journeys From Destruction Through Creation will be on view from April 30 - May 30, 2010. Gallery hours are Wednesday through Saturday from 12-6 and Sunday from 12-5. The opening reception will be on Friday April 30 from 7-10pm. Artist in attendance.
The artist will also give a free talk at the gallery on Sunday May 2 from 1-3 about his art and the specific inspiration behind his artworks. Using his cameras and photographs as reference, specific details will be explored regarding what inspired and went into creating these extraordinary works of art. Attendance will be strictly limited to 45 people. Please call the gallery to RSVP @ 416.955.0500 or email Meiko Kanamoto mk@metagallery.com. We do expect this event to fill up so please RSVP!
To be put on the preview list for this exhibition or to inquire about works please contact Jody Polishchuk at jp@metagallery.com
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