Lights, Camera, ACTION at Gallery 222 - Photography by Charlie Lawton

My current artist at the gallery here is hosting a screening of two of his shorts this weekend, so I did a couple posts for him on the Facebook page. One of them featured the short films, and the other is for these two little photographs. Now, to tell you the truth, the meaning behind most of Charlie's work here is beyond my abilities to explain. I think he was searching more for a feeling than a story, and so I'm having a more difficult time putting words to them.

The general stream of consciousness behind the photography in this show responds to light and shadow, darkness and joy within the human spirit, the depths of pain and the heights of joy. As mentioned in my previous post, the photos depicting the darker part of this duality had to be relegated to a private space out of the direct window-viewing of the gallery. we're in a mall. A commercial condo. Across from a church, and subject to the private rule of a commercial HOA. Also, what used to be a Super-8 Hotel atop the building has been reclaimed by the city and converted into social housing. The people who live there as often as not, are people who suffer from drug addictions and severe mental health issues, and thus we must be quite sensitive to them. I'll share one of the images at the end of this post so you can be the judge, but let this be your content warning.

These two pieces, called 'Colour of the Night', and 'Lamp', represent the bright side of this dichotomous show.
The model in 'Lamp' is luminated literally by the glow of a bulb in the darkness of night, and reflects this light with pure unfettered joy as the moon reflects the light of the sun into the shadows of the earth. So simple a name for a piece, but it is also a cheeky nod to the apparent attraction of moths to light in the darkness.

Moths, often associated with fear and horror, denizens of the unknown, are a psychological counterpart to the butterfly, creature of the day, famed for beauty and associated with the spirit world.
Above, in Colour of the Night, the waning sun seems captured by the glass of the bulb, like a teardrop made of light. A tear of Joy.

The following is one of the tamer of the proposed photos. Some of the others have light nudity and/or death themes. At first I was very nervous. I'd never had to tell any of my artists a hard no before. In general, I give advice on what I think is more likely to be successful - and that based on my own limited experience - but I try not to be controlling in how an artist wants their show to look. It's their work, it should be presented as they would want it to be seen. For me, this is a lesson in boundaries. Everything turned out fine because I had to draw that line. If I'd let some of the work get printed large scale and put up where it could not be hidden from the windows, I'd be facing the ire of the owners, and with enough controversy, probably find a very difficult time finding curatorial work down the road.

Now I'm forced to press artists for their images much further in advance of putting the work up, which annoys me, but maybe that's just growing pains.

Anyway, peace out.
And hey, if you DO love what Charlie has going on here, you can send both him and I a tip through Ko-fi. I split everything I get evenly with my current artist by the end of their show.

https://ko-fi.com/rachelsvparry