Dan Shepherd & Allan Gill
Artist Reception: March 8, 2014 from 6-8pm
Alaska/California Collection
Dan Shepherd, Nevada City #2,
2013, Archival Pigment Print on Hahnemühle fine art parchment paper with a
hand torn deckle edge, 12” x 18”, 24” x 36”, or 36” x 54”
Xradiography
Allan Gill, Hummer and Hibiscus Xray,
2009, archival inkjet, 16" x 20" or 24" x 30"
Dan Shepherd & Allan Gill
March 8 - April 26, 2014
dnj Gallery is pleased to announce its upcoming exhibitions, Alaska/California Collection by Dan Shepherd and Xradiography by Allan Gill. Both exhibitions feature photographs that explore the interplay between science and art. With years of training in their respective scientific disciplines, the artist both use their expert knowledge as a starting point for works that include not just scientific analysis but also very personal perspectives on the natural world.
Dan Shepherd develops a layered, formal view of our environment by focusing on colors, shapes, and textures. As he explains, he seeks to “use the power of abstraction to filter out the science details in his head” so that he can focus on the purely visual elegance of nature and create almost portrait-like images of trees, plants and landscapes. In this exhibition, he expands his breadth by photographing the characteristics of our landscape at two of his favorite botanical locations, Alaska and California. With an M.A. in Environmental Science from Columbia University and an International Diploma in Plant Conservation from the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, England, Shepherd uses his expert knowledge of plants to capture their most interesting and graphic features. Shepherd’s series is fundamentally about his return to seeing, rather than scientifically analyzing, the natural world.
Dan Shepherd currently works as both a visual artist and as a conservation professional for organizations in Los Angeles. His photographs have been exhibited in various locations throughout the country, and have been featured in several recent publications, including “The Orion Magazine,” “The F-Stop Magazine –Abstraction” and “Lenscratch.” This is Shepherd’s second solo exhibition at dnj Gallery.
After practicing veterinary medicine for decades,
Allan Gill turned his medical X-ray equipment on flowers and plants. His glowing images depict both the internal and external structures of his subjects. As he explains, “images are captured in much the same way as with conventional photography, with the difference being instead of utilizing reflected light, I am able to utilize another part of the electromagnetic spectrum….” Gill’s technique may seem simple but in fact is the result of years of experimenting with different kinds of X-ray equipment to find the right combination of conditions that would allow him to record the level of detail he desired.
Gill lives and works in Kelowna, British Columbia, Canada. In addition to establishing a growing audience for his photography, Gill is also a veterinarian. His photographs have been exhibited in Canada and sold in the United States and have been featured in LensWork Magazine, Focus Magazine, American Art Collector, Color Magazine, ‘digitalis photo’ (Hungary), and Black and White Photography (Britain). This is Gill’s first exhibition at dnj Gallery.
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