The idyllic and playful world of The Peconic Bay in Southampton, NY dances to life in Luciana Pampalone's first solo exhibition. Each location was scouted by Pampalone and transformed into a vintage 1930s setting by the use of her models and props. A Graphlex camera, aviator goggles, parasols, retro bathing suit and games of croquet, (just to name a few) subtly tamper with the past, breathing life back into the 1930s. Moment by moment, Pampalone encapsulates the ephemeral quality of life, bending and blending human subjects within the natural landscape.

Exotic machinery, as Phelps calls it, is the central imagery in his latest exhibition. Captured at the Montlhéry Autodrome, a motor racing circuit in Linas, France, these dynamic and powerful photographs render imagery of 20s-era culture. As an avid collector and enthusiast of motorcycles, Phelps features exclusively pre-war automobiles, which begins to evoke this period even further. Both rare and irreplaceable, the subject matter becomes something of ephemerality. The marvel is just this; it's a moment of temporary transportation to someplace distant yet strangely familiar, the relationship between feeling both power and comfort simultaneously. Phelps' photographs have a staggering depth and beauty that can be most appreciated in their utter mystique.

Photographed entirely in the ethereal lakeside environs of the Adirondacks, Lynda Churilla's latest exhibition synthesizes the aesthetics of strength and softness. Central to this aesthetic theme is the portrayal of Churilla's husband and muse John, who she describes as a source of inspiration. Standing nude and silhouetted in the foreground, the powerful form of John's body is rendered stoic and subdued by multiple mist‐wreathed aquatic expanses and looming woodland scenes.

Laurence Salzmann’s first solo show at the Robin Rice Gallery depicts the gritty world of wrestling in the city of Santiago de Cuba. The word “La Lucha” means both wrestling and struggle in Cuban Spanish. Here the dual meaning refers equally to the young wrestlers’ physical struggle and the Cuban people’s fight to survive in an economically and politically oppressed culture. Both rely on pride, ingenuity and an indomitable spirit as they strive to gain respect on the global stage.

Hayman's silver gelatin prints appear as a collection of small portals that permit viewers a momentary glimpse into another era. Ranging from household items, to portraits, and some of New York City's most impressive landmarks, the photographs' soft focus and pictorialist aesthetic evoke the work of early 20th century photographers Edward Steichen and Alfred Stieglitz.

In her new exhibition Churilla draws from her years spent as a swimmer, lifeguard, and athlete to capture the forgotten freedom and exuberance of days of youth spent on the water.Viva la Vida is a mix of timeless portraits and candid photographs "I’ve always been drawn to the water- now my art, my sense of athleticism, freedom and oasis have merged in a way", says Churilla. Her nod to iconic photographers from the past, such as Edward Weston, and Herbert List, is apparent in her portrait work.

Pete Kelly's latest show evokes memory through strong associative, emotional and surreal imagery—stretching reality toward a timeless fantasia. Through his collection, Kelly invites viewers to not only the bear witness to the moments he has captured in frame, but provides tangible windows of access in each piece, rousing their faded cache of memories and permitting them to relive each experience as if it were their own.

In his new body of work, Gordon Stettinius presents Notes From US Route 1. This collection of color and sepia toned images, lies somewhere between Robert Frank’s, The Americans and Alec Soth’s, Sleeping Along the Mississippi. Stettinius has given us a memorable and clear eyed meditation upon the American road trip and a particular moment in time, awash with motels, roadhouses, wanderers, and characters that have been included in any modern back road odyssey.

For the last two years Mark and Kristen have collaborated using one of the earliest photographic methods, collodion wet plate to create ambrotypes on glass and tintypes on aluminum. They use a 1860 style view camera to create one-of-a-kind images, which become windows into an intimate, romantic, and beautiful world of faces, still lives, nudes, and landscapes. In this demanding process, the collodion coated tin or glass plates are immersed in a silver nitrate solution, and then they must be exposed in the camera and developed while still wet. Serendipitous flaws and beautiful imperfections are an inevitable part of this imprecise hands-on process.

“Get back to your Philly roots!” suggested photographer Ted Adams to ex-Philly native Robin Rice. So she did. The Robin Rice Gallery is pleased to present The Philly Salon, a group show featuring nine Philadelphia-based photographers including, Andrea Modica, Eric Mencher, Jenny Lynn, Kass Mencher, Keith Sharp, Laurence Salzmann, Robin Rice, Ron Tarver, and Ted Adams.

Back in Philadelphia, these photographers have created a loose-knit group centered on an artist’s salon held at the home of Ted Adams. Over the years, with its quirky themes, abundant food and drink, and inspired curating, the salon has developed into something of a cult happening. Rice used the group as a starting point, and assembled a show that highlights photography’s potential to create communities from diverse groups of people and ideas.

In an age of artificial beauty,” photographer Jose Picayo explains, "where absolute perfection has become society’s standard, we are often disheartened by the reality of our own flawed reflections in the mirror.” With his newest series, Picayo seeks to revive the concept of pure and unadulterated beauty, spontaneously captured.

“EIGHTEEN” is Reierson’s visual documentation of, and homage to, one of America’s most often ignored yet vitally important subcultures: the trucker, the men and women who crisscross the country piloting their big eighteen wheeler rigs across vast, open landscapes, under the big blue skies of the USA.

For five years Reierson photographed these American heroes. She hung out at truck stops, traveled the highways with them, waking up in 20 different states. The resulting large-format images such as Chrome Hearts, an in-your-face, closely-cropped shot of the elaborate metal-encrusted front cab bodywork and tire rims of an neon- and moon-lit semi proudly on display in a busy truck stop parking lot, And Tigers, Bells, and Whistles, a view of the interior cab of a tricked-out rig, rendered in all of its intricate glory, recall the work of the photo-realist painters Richard Estes and John Salt in their focus on vivid color and their heightened sense of reality. Others such as Truck Tub Truck Wash (the invitational piece), wherein two workers hose down a massive rig, their bodies dwarfed by its immensity, and Have a Nice Day, a candid portrait of affable Trucker Tim Young proudly posing in his homey truck cabin, are poetic depictions of a community and culture in flux.

PETE KELLY - 2004

JOHN DOLAN - 2001