Exhibition Lab

How do I get there from here?

Michael Foley leading an Exhibition Lab critique
Michael Foley leading an Exhibition Lab critique

You might wonder where is here? and there? Good questions!

First – The Exhibition Lab run by Michael Foley of the Foley Gallery helps participants get from here to there. The Exhibition Lab is a monthly critique group which helps participants refine their work to be exhibition ready. It culminates in a June exhibition at The Foley Gallery.

scroll… Philip Toledano critiques work
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I was accepted for the 2019 E-Lab and have been meeting and working on two of my projects: Borderlands and Anthropocene. Borderlands is a project I have been working on for years: Imaginary landscapes created by appropriating the edges of my own collodion glass plate negatives and manipulating tonality and color to extract panoramas of landscapes. More recently I have been making the Anthropocene series of photogram sculptures which are modern day imaginary fossils created by making collodion wet-plate photograms on slate and flagstone. I weld steel mounts which stand in natural stone bases.

Anthropocene
Anthropocene – scroll for more
Wilted Fern Anthropocene Sculpture
Wilted Fern Anthropocene Sculpture
Anthropocene 7 – scroll….
Massoura Breaks – scroll….
Gribladine Islands – scroll….
Portragonia – scroll….

We were originally 7 photographers entering upon our individual journeys together, one had to drop out for family reasons. We were led by Michael Foley who brought in 3 wonderful outsiders – photographers Elinor Carucci, Matthew Pillsbury, and Phillip Toledano who provided fresh eyes and new insights into the work we were doing. There is another group like ours which meets on a different evening. Michael meets with each photographer individually to choose work for a group show of all the artists from both groups.

I feel that my work has evolved and been improved throughout the process. The fresh eyes and insights from the other artists, the guest critiquers and Michael Foley have been very helpful. My work went from a good idea to a well realized cohesive body of work.

The exhibition runs from Wednesday June 26th through July 27th 2019. There opening was June 26 6-8pm at the Foley Gallery 59 Orchard Street on the Lower East Side. Thanks to everyone who joined us to celebrate the end of our journeys and see where we arrived! Here is an image of my pieces on display.

Anthropocene and Borderlands at Foley Gallery
Anthropocene and Borderlands at Foley Gallery

and here are a couple of other shots from the openingMichael Foley and BW at Exhibition Lab opening

Michael Foley and BW at Exhibition Lab opening

Foley Gallery Exhibition Lab 2019 artists
Foley Gallery Exhibition Lab 2019 artists