Alameda on Camera Review

by Karen Braun Malpas

 

Decades ago, Ed Sullivan might have called this a “really big shoo.” Now it’s 2024 and I too call this exhibit a really big show. It showcases the photo-based work of 48 artists who each had 48 hrs. in which to document their randomly drawn 1/48 of the map of Alameda.

The walls of the gallery are hung salon style i.e. bumper to bumper high and low to accommodate as many pictures as possible. Because Alameda is rich in subject matter, everyone found something worth recording, often something they had never seen before because they’d never had to look with such focused intention and intensity.

There happened to be a full moon on the weekend of the photo shoot so many of the images show that mystical orb and her sister sun…sunsets, moonrises, sun rays, moon glow. Being an island, Alameda has waters…bay water, lagoon and estuary water with their concomitant beaches, footprints, tidelines with their detritus, waterbirds and reflections. Stellar among the images of reflections is Stephen Elbert’s” BLU42” showing one of the pure and elegant moments nature produces which would have gone uncelebrated had Elbert not noticed and cared to freeze the transitory. Many other artists showed the visual echo effect of reflections to fine ends: “Water building” by Jim DuPont, ”Lagoon Moon” by Michael Ruggiero, “Sycamore Selfie” by Melina Meza and “Outside Looking In” by Eddy Lehrer which produced a surprisingly Art Nouveau image. Was that art imitating life or life imitating art?

Some of the work seemed to serve as social comment. Kyle Gorman shows us a directive sign which, as in a bad dream, can’t be read hence, the message is lost. Re Casper shows a “Silent Playground” which leaves us wondering what happened to the kids. An anxious imagination runs wild. The same is true of David Bock’s” Chair” at the end of a dock facing lights on the other side of the water. Where is the sitter, are they coming, did they leave, fall into the water, should we take their place there?  Jim Van Slyke’s “A Nice Place to Nest” shows seriously grim big guns pointing to the sky occupied by carefree birds, bathed in rosy light, innocently preoccupied with domestic frivolity in the face of potentially grave danger. But, elsewhere in his area, Van Slyke found a “Window of Hope” where glass doors slide open to reveal a huge red, white and blue American flag. These doors have been deliberately and consciously opened to show the intact treasure sequestered within. It could be otherwise since glass is fragile and can be shattered.

“Six Sea Ravens” swimming in precise formation were spotted by Anna Smalley. Viewed from a distance, it could be an ad for the proud discipline of the Air Force.  Photography, with its instantaneous click-to-capture, certainly seems the most appropriate medium for the brief moment she witnessed as opposed to endless noodling with a paint brush. Chris Adamson’s “Down Under” seems like a modest piece of simple design but, through arts power to trigger associations, I saw not Alameda but the acropolis in Greece, specifically the Porch of Maidens and thoughts about archaeology chronicling the passage of civilizations. “Breakfast All Day” by Lynn Landry shows the prototype of old-timey diners with swivel stools at the counter. A limited color palette contributes to its quality of timelessness. You can smell the hash browns and are transported to a place just like this and a time you’ll never forget.

This show is dense with visual and emotional content providing visitors with a rewarding alternative trip through the lovely island of Alameda.