Hemphill Fine Arts focuses on the work of two very different photographers for the gallery’s Fotoweek show. 

They are harder and harder to find these days, but if you look closely, many towns still have a vintage movie theatre that boasts the extravagant feel of old Hollywood.  Imagine growing up with one of these theatres in your neighbor’s house!  Photographer Kendell Messick tells the story of Gordon Brinckle, who devoted his life to building a fully functioning, faux vintage, nine-seat movie theatre in his home.  Growing up across the street from the Shalimar Theatre in suburban Delaware instilled childhood memories which compelled Messick to return and document.  His work, The Projectionist, is a multimedia installation of photographs, works on paper and film, which tell the story of the eccentric Gordon Brinckle and his vision, collected over a six year span, and culminating upon the death of Brinckle in 2007.

“[The exhibition] is intended to transcend the documentary chronicling of human experience culminating in a reflection on larger themes of acceptance, intimacy, the nature of memory, and the historical significance of individuals typically overlooked.”  -Artist Kendall Messick

Hiroshi Sugimoto takes a slightly different approach with Drive in Theaters and Portraits.  Most of us have visited a wax museum and stood in awe at the uncanny likenesses of our favorite movie stars and world leaders.  Would you be able to tell these wax figures from reality, if viewed as photos in a magazine or newspaper?  Sugimoto’s 30-year collection of photographs taken in Madame Tussaud’s Wax Museum blurs the boundaries of reality, drawing comparisons to paintings by Hans Holbein and Anthony van Dyck.  His long-exposure photographs of drive-in movie theaters will bring back memories of these once popular family venues. 

Opening Reception: Saturday, November 8, 6:30 - 8:30 PM
Hours: Tuesday-Saturday 10:00 AM – 5:00 PM

Hemphill Fin Arts
1515 14th Street, NW
Washington, D.C.  20005
202.234.5601

This entry was posted on Saturday, November 8th, 2008 at 4:36 pm and is filed under Participants. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.