Gordon Stettinius

Miss Americana

September 20- October 29, 2006

The Robin Rice Gallery announces a solo exhibition of photography by Gordon Stettinius. The opening reception will be held on Wednesday September 20th 2006 from 5.30 to 8.30pm. The show will run through October 29, 2006.

Inspired by an unusually wry sense of humor, Gordon Stettinius juices the mundane with a surreal varnish to develop a collection of photographs which create a wondrous journal of the American spirit.  The images combine quirky real-life observations with such old-time devices as vintage and toy cameras and  vignetted borders to create a feeling of nostalgia for an idyllic, theatrically-enhanced America.  Often centered around word signs or visual displays, the photographs can’t help but intrigue us – what am I looking at, where is this, why is this here.

The invitational image, “The Thing…What Is It?”, thus captures the feeling of the entire collection.  In this image which appears to be set in a non-descript warehouse, the back of a young boy in a tee-shirt and shorts is leaning over and looking down into a life-size rectangular cement vat.  Above him reads the sign captured by the title of the image. The lighting, shadows and overall cinematic quality in this sepia-toned photograph enhance the mysterious and timeless feel of the scene.

Gordon Stettinius is a photographer based in his native Richmond, Virginia. He received a B.A. in Studio Art and History from the University of Virginia in 1988, and over the past decade has widely exhibited his art photography in galleries throughout the United States and in Japan. His photographs are included in several collections and he won Golden Light Awards from the Maine Photographic Workshops in each of 2003 and 2004.  Presently working on two books, Miss Americana and Gord Is Dead, Stettinius teaches at Virginia Commonwealth University in Richmond, Virginia.  Included in several group shows, this is his second solo show at the Robin Rice Gallery.