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Overview, an exhibition of captivating photographs by John
Pinderhughes reflecting on his enduring quest to delve into subjects
revealing both impressiveness and mysteries will open at the June
Kelly Gallery, 166 Mercer Street, on November 30. The works
will remain on view through January 16, 2024.
Pinderhughes, about whom professors C. Daniel Dawson and Robert G.
O’Meally of Columbia University described in an exhibition
invitation, as a fine art photographer who seeks to capture “beauty
we almost saw in life but somehow missed.” Further,
Pinderhughes’ photographs reflect carefully structured and highly
disciplined preparation following painstaking, arduous rituals that
enable him to move “beyond the limits of mere technique into the
realm of spirituality, where … he uncovers the uncommon beauty of
things usually taken for granted or not seen at all.”
Pinderhughes has said, I tend to be a little serious and overthink
things …”
In this
overview, the works bear out Pinderhughes’ patience in waiting for
the correct lighting and time of day and finding the proper position
for his camera to achieve the result he wants, as in the black and
white drama of sky, water, and rocks at Gay Head.
Pinderhughes’ panoramic landscapes, many with water, are surreally
evocative, as are the intriguing images of interiors, Untitled
From The Series Encounters, where the viewer experiences a
serene intimacy with mood and place.
Pinderhughes seeks places where natural light enhances and
intensifies the subjects his eye discovers. A photographer for
more than 45 years, whether his subjects are interior or exterior
shots, he has an evident appreciation for the variations in light
and tone, pattern and line that acutely allow his perceived
perceptions, where he says self-assuredly, “The light is right,” as
Untitled / Breadfruit On Beach.
"I'm
primarily a people photographer," says Pinderhughes, as evident in
his series on Africa, including Untitled Gorie Island Kids.
"My
work is quiet and understated," Pinderhughes says, "I don't like to
smack people between the eyes. I am not a street photographer
who puts a camera on his shoulder and rushes out to see what he can
find. I immerse myself in my subject. I sit and watch
and listen and speculate. I like to make people really look at
my work.”
Pinderhughes, a native of Washington, DC, lives and works in New
York City. He attended Howard University and the WNET (PBS)
Film and Television Training School. He became interested in
photography while working in Africa with Operation Crossroads
Africa.
His
work has been seen in numerous one-person and group exhibitions
throughout the United States and the Caribbean. He is
represented in many significant collections, including The Museum of
Modern Art, New York; The Studio Museum in Harlem, New York; The
Detroit Institute of Arts, Michigan; The Picker Art Gallery/Colgate
University, Hamilton, New York; Howard University, Washington, DC;
The DeMenil Foundation, Houston, Texas; and The Schomburg Center for
Research in Black Culture, New York.
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