Echo and Convergence

Robin Rice Gallery, New York, presents Echo and Convergence, an exhibition by the photographer Benjamin Heller. The show works to invite visitors into an expressive dimension of resonating and connected thoughts. The series features pieces collected over extended periods spent travelling, a window into the interior landscapes Heller seeks to see reflected in the world, to contain a sense of this intimate vastness.

A sense of vastness, paired with places of intimacy work to enhance the visitors’ visual experience, teleporting viewers away from reality for just a second. Multiplicities of physical forms, rolling natural curves, and animals in flight work to provide a resonance with the contours of the earth, water and wind, it is wherein the “echoes” of the show reside. The display is carefully curated to authentically portray each images’ meaning and power, yet also placed to create a graphic narrative for viewers to decipher and trail.

As a multidisciplinary artist, working as a photographer, sculptor and performer, movement is central to Heller’s work- this most recent work also evoking this theme. Lines of the body, lived experience, sculpture and even traces of poetry introduce action into this conventionally static medium. Taking inspiration from photographer Duane Michals’ expressive narratives, and Sally Mann’s work, Heller’s series provides a range of innovative and expressive pieces.

Fall, a piece in the exhibition, depicting a graceful figure suspended in a glowing arc, is one of the most significant images in the show. The light, streaming upwards, contrasts against the seemingly infinite shadow of the black background- Heller’s belief that shadows allow the viewer to reside in the experience is demonstrated in this image. Imagined environments, as evoked by the images, speak to our converging lives, and echo moments we experience. This in turn embodies for each viewer what the artist connects with within the practice of photography.

Echo and Convergence. Robin Rice Gallery, New York, 11 January – 26 February. www.robinricegallery.com

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Credits
1. Benjamin Heller, Fall (2008). Courtesy of Robin Rice Gallery.