“Lookout” displays just one strand of Lynn Silverman?s photographic pearls.
Silverman presents 16 black and white photographs taken around the world ? yet the setting isn?t apparent.
Each photograph transforms a viewer into an active observer looking out a window, into an unknown place.
“Most of the photographs employ a minimal amount of detail to evoke a sense of place, which may make the identification of place ambiguous,” Silverman said. The uncertain setting leads viewers to compare the inside environment to the outside world. One photograph juxtaposes paintbrushes? furry heads with an evergreen tree?s downy branches.
Silverman captured spontaneous moments for “Lookout” while living in Australia, England and the U.S.
One photograph taken in Baltimore captures the wind whipping up trees that pervade the entire frame. Every element in the photograph is in motion. Darkness around the perimeter of the image ? and all images in “Lookout” ? conveys the feeling of being inside.
“The simple, yet stunning act of turning the camera out the window, switching up our voyeuristic impulse to peek into a private interior is brilliant,” said a professor at MICA, Regina DeLuise. “I look at an image of a hulking tree trunk on the other side of the glass and am startled every time.”
“Lynn is one of the most important photographers working in our area. I feel more so as I see more of her work,” said the chair of photography at MICA, Jack Wilgus.
Silverman shot in black and white to create an abstract world. “With color, people immediately identify with green grass or the blue sky, whereas with black and white they are a little more removed and can see the situation different,” she said.
“Lynn places us squarely in her experience while leaving us completely to our own devises,” DeLuise added.
Once a visitor steps into the gallery, “boom, you?re right into Lynn?s vision,” said director of exhibitions at MICA, Gerald Ross.
IF YOU GO
Lookout: 1999-2006, Lynn Silverman
» Venue: Maryland Institute College of Art, Pinkard Gallery
» Where: 1300 Mount Royal Ave., Baltimore
Free Through Sunday, March 4
» Reception: Thursday, March 1 at 5 p.m
» When: Open Saturday through Monday from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.
Sunday from 12 p.m. to 5 p.m.
» Information: mica.edu, 410-225-2300
