RON HAMAD - 2011
MAY 4-JUNE 19, 2011
The Robin Rice Gallery announces “Surrender”, an exhibition of photographs by Ron Hamad. An opening reception will be held on May 4th, 2011 from 5:30 to 8:30pm. The show runs through June 19th, 2011.
Ron Hamad's second solo exhibit at Robin Rice Gallery invites us to contemplate the cycle of life in a new way. Inspired by his own recent near death experience, Hamad set out to capture the beauty that exists in a world that continually ebbs between permanence and impermanence. This new collection of landscapes, still lives and figurative studies expresses what happens when one surrenders their own fear of death and embraces life.
The realization that nature is where he gets the “strongest sense of the divine” led him to the myriad plateaus of New Mexico and open vistas of California to free himself from the everyday and explore the duality of life without filters.
In “The Meeting”, the invitational image, the land is at once the foundation and the canvas. A woman in serpentine repose kneels in tumbleweed while a mountain rises behind her in the distance. The composition draws a graceful line between heaven and earth with her sensual movement and ethereal white flowing gown. In her act of bowing to the earth she is at once vulnerable and strong. The camera captures the moment of accepting death enveloped by a sense of calm while portraying an awakening to the beauty that surrounds us.
In “Passageway”, what appears as a mystical key to the heavens invites us to contemplate the passageway between light and dark—what is on the other side? The close up of what is literally a cross-shaped window found in ancient Adobe structures with light pouring through it has a temporal quality. The viewer is transported to a place where time is held aloft. The image is surrounded by a cloudy veil of light, creating a metaphor for the gray matter we pass through in our everyday lives.
This effect was created by the unique chemistry process used in lith printing which produces exquisite, variable hues from rich chocolate brown to stronger, more definite tones. Hamad is one of the few artists using this heritage-rich method due to its complexity. The subtle, delicate shifts of color are a function of the level of exposure, choice of paper and age of the chemicals. Each print requires several attempts, making the process as much a work of art as the end result.
Ron Hamad launched his photography career in 2002 with gallery shows in Los Angeles, Tokyo and New York City. A long-time award-winning commercial film director, Ron Hamad is known for his arresting cinematic flair and visual storytelling. Fine art photography was a natural extension of these talents. Hamad weaves absorbing images into the fabric of each piece with highly evocative art direction. One of the most sought after commercial directors working today, his clients range from the Mayo Clinic to Motorola.
Hamad made his filmmaking debut this year with “The Wait”, a short that is a finalist in the Taos Film Festival. His great passion for humanity and pragmatic understanding of media and culture allows him to tell the stories that will impact people for years to come.