May 28 – June 27, 1982
I produced the photographs exhibited at Blue Sky while I pursued my MFA degree at the University of Colorado. Understanding one’s art (or perhaps anything) only occurs by peering into the rearview mirror. In retrospect I understand this exploration of natural history museums and workspaces of zoologists and paleontologists as an interrogation of the values of progress and scientific objectivity that were central to my youth. The images were produced roughly between 1979 and 1982, locally at the university’s science labs and during cross-country trips to various natural history museums. I loved the color and light that resulted from long exposures with existing light, often in dimly lit environments, hoping to imbue these spaces with a sense of wonder and sometimes with a tinge of humor and irony. Although I work intuitively, the photographs were no doubt informed by my readings at that time of Steven Jay Gould, Thomas Kuhn, Jacques Ellul and others who regarded science and technology as a human process conditioned by ideologies and cultural assumptions in which we are embedded. I am grateful for the opportunity to have exhibited this work at Blue Sky Gallery at a formative point in my career.
All photographs are chromogenic prints, 10 ½ “ x 10 ½ “.
Lou Marcus’ work has been exhibited both nationally and internationally and is held in numerous public and private collections, including those of the Bibliothèque Nationale, the George Eastman House, the Southeast Museum of Photography, Blue Sky Gallery, and the University of Arizona. He is the recipient of two NEA regional fellowships and two Florida Individual Artists’ fellowships. He is professor emeritus at the Univ. of South Florida where he taught photography and history of photography courses for thirty years. He lives in Paris and continues his photographic projects inspired by the intersections of nature, culture and memory.