waterforms
Photographs by Dorothy Kerper Monnelly
Introduction by Arthur Ollman
From ice and snow patterns, to the rounded rocks of Acadia National Park’s shoreline, and the sinuous kelp and wind scoured sand of the California coast, waterforms presents a stunning collection of 70 black and white photographic abstractions, capturing the effects of water on the shoreline environment and natural surfaces. This body of work has been drawn from the artist’s archive spanning 35 years.
In his introduction to the book, Arthur Ollman, founding Director of MOPA (San Diego, CA) observes: “There is a ‘calligraphy’ of ice and snow, water and stone. Each has a root language, spoken in different accents, as the water stills to ice, or falls as snow, or freezes into crevices, expanding, splitting stone. It is not easily deciphered. Kerper Monnelly has a clear sense of the grammar of her images. She has created a lexicon, beyond her subject matter.”
Kerper Monnelly’s large format black and white abstractions provide a departure from conventional reality, sometimes slight, sometimes partial, and in the case of her Ice Patterns the move to abstraction is complete. However, the origin is always nature; unmanipulated, and unstaged. Through her observations Kerper Monnelly refines her own visual language, a lyrical abstraction, encompassing fundamental changes taking place by photographing with a unique point of view. Kerper Monnelly feels strongly that waterforms represents her deepest and most significant work, exploring alternatives within her visual experience.
Published by Verlag Kettler, 2016
9.7 in x 12 in, 156 pgs, 70 b&w plates, Hardcover
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