Current Exhibition AT THE GALLERY AT STILL RIVER EDITIONS

The Saugatuck Cosmology
photographs by Bill gore

October 5 - December 20, 2024
Opening reception saturday october 5, 2 pm - 4 pm
Free and open to the public

The Saugatuck Cosmology is an exhibition of photographs by Bill Gore that incorporates works that span natural and human-made worlds. Gore and writer Ted Wade published a book of the same name around this series, and a digital version is viewable here.

There is a palpable sense of flow in Gore’s multi-layered compositions, influenced by the works of painters like Pat Steir, Robert Rauschenberg, Uta Barth and Gerhard Richter.

Gore explores dream-like spaces, and there is a feeling of passing in between aspects of reality. Each layer reveals something otherwise hidden in plain sight. We are simultaneously looking at and through the works, seeing different layers in conversation with each other.

ARTIST STATEMENT

The Connecticut landscape holds many stories from the age of glaciers to the post-industrial present. This exhibition brings together the natural environment along the Saugatuck River and the surrounding man-made scenic pastures, seaside walks, forgotten main streets, and abandoned factories.

The intent of my lens-based image making is not to represent buildings and trees but to rethink the possibilities for visual expression. I photograph the landscape and return to the studio where images are passed into virtual space, something like a digital bardo. New images are deconstructed and reconstructed in ways that amalgamate multiple realities that sometimes overlap, clash, interpenetrate, or even dissolve into one another. I use juxtapositions to express stories, memory, perception, history, the power of nature, and the effect of humans upon it.

I find that fitting pieces of multiple images together leads to endless interconnections and new pictures. I can see elements of the land retaining their own identity while harmonizing, clarifying, accentuating, and above all, validating other elements. In this way the image-making process might draw out latent connections and take us into a liminal world where shards of reality can join and come alive with their own voice.

ABOUT THE ARTIST

Bill Gore grew up in Louisiana and seemed always to have a special connection to the natural sciences, the environment, and photography. He studied chemistry in college, received a Ph.D. from Syracuse University, and from there went on to work as a researcher in pharmaceuticals, chemicals, and imaging science. For a time, he led a research laboratory at Polaroid and contributed to the development of new photographic media. Bill studied photography with Sandi Haber Fifield and now lives and works in Connecticut. His photographic arts are grounded in the American landscape and search for ways to rethink the possibilities for visual expression. He recently co-authored “The Saugatuck Cosmology” with writer Ted Wade, and this work will be featured in the 2024 Photobook Exhibition at the Griffin Museum. His works are widely exhibited across New England including The Rhode Island Center for Photographic Arts, The Rowayton Arts Center, The Ridgefield Guild of Artists, The Loft Artists Association, The Shoreline Artists Group, The Carriage Barn Arts Center, and Griffin Museum Lafayette Gallery.

IG: @billgorephoto

ABOUT THE GALLERY AT STILL RIVER EDITIONS

The Gallery at Still River Editions has hosted national and regional photographers and artists since 1989. In spring 2011, after a brief hiatus from exhibiting new work, the gallery returned to hosting up to four exhibitions a year. The Gallery's mission is to show traditional and digital prints of photographs and fine artwork, and to be a center of creativity and connection in the Danbury area. 

The Gallery at Still River Editions is open during normal business hours 8:30 am - 5 pm Monday through Friday, and during posted hours for special events. The Gallery does not accept unsolicited submissions at this time.