RJ Muna - 1998

The Robin Rice Gallery announces a solo exhibition of photography by R J Muna. The opening reception will be held on Thursday, September 10, 1998 from 5:30 - 8:30p.m. The show runs through October 31, 1998.

In this exhibit, Muna presents a visual doorway to those singular moments when the mind relaxes and drifts away into distant thought. Places and times unknown to others overtake the present with a palpable mental exhale. Self-consciousness disappears, and the body surrenders itself into a sort of self-leveling liquid state, at ease in whatever place it rests. These photographs are concerned with this mental exhale, and the calm that comes over the body. Not so much to report its existence, but to elicit a self-recognition from the viewer.

The invitational piece, “Tess” communicates in a manner that avoids time and place, style or fashion. Other images exhibit sections of faces, hands and bodies composed tightly within edges of the frame. They seem unconfined by these borders, just as their floating thoughts seem unconfined by the bodies that contain them. In the simplicity and elegance found in these details, Muna goes through great length’s to abstract the images so only gesture and form come through.

R J Muna, a native of San Francisco, studied at San Jose State University and received a BFA with concentration in Graphic Design in 1976. Presently, he is a commercial photographer with a wide range of clients from Levi’s Jeans to Lexus Automobiles to Columbia Sportswear. As a fine art photographer, he has shown in several galleries in California. His work has been published internationally and in American Photo and in Communication Arts.

Since 1995 he has shown in several group shows at the Robin Rice Gallery. This is his first solo show at The Robin Rice Gallery.