In the midst of the afternoon sun-soaked gallery, an artwork entitled "Veronica's Desire" depicts an undeniably phallic-shaped purple flower that fills the frame of the image, curving at a sensuous angle and urging viewers to make a scintillating connection with the title. On the facing wall, a piece called "Red Passion Flower" features a close-up shot of an exotic, vibrant red flower that stretches across the black background while its two-dimensional tendrils seem to palpably spiral into the viewer's space.
Both works are samples from Kismet, artist Charity Jules Valentine's digital photography exhibit on display now through March 16 in the Durham Art Council's Allenton Gallery. The two photographic prints, with their vivid color and nearly tangible, larger-than-life depictions of plant species, are characteristic of the aesthetic that dominates Valentines' art. While the works are certainly visually pleasing, their catchy titles and initially arresting appearances ultimately conceal a disappointing conceptual vacuity.
The prints are not photographs in the typical sense, but are called scan-o-grams, the result of a process in which the artist creates an image by putting the subject of the photograph directly on the screen of the scanner.
"You use the scanner as a camera," Valentine said.
The unique method of production results in the uncommonly bright images that stand out impressively against the walls of the exhibit.
"The color isn't competing with anything else but the black background," the artist said. "So they just appear to be more vivid."
The exhibit is Valentine's attempt to preserve what her artist statement refers to as "moments of indescribable beauty" she encounters in nature. Kismet features a series of close-up scans of plant and insect specimens, ranging from the artfully arranged and starkly lit twigs that overlap with a blue butterfly in "The 2nd Gift" to the immense white, glowing petals of "Saucer Magnolia."
The process of physically arranging the plants on the scanner surface is evidenced by the sometimes unnatural positioning of the plants' petals, something that is best exemplified in "Lifted." The print displays a white flower with the petals visibly and somewhat uncomfortably pulled open to expose the specimen's soft pink interior. The petal edges are wilted and torn, creating an interesting commentary on the ephemeral quality of naturally-occurring beauty, specifically when one attempts to preserve it in photographic form. Unfortunately, Valentine does not directly address this thought-provoking discrepancy that lies at the root of her work. Instead, she focuses on capturing the physical nuances of the flowers and the development of the prints.
"One of the problems I have is that you have to actually pick the flowers in order to do this, and there's so many things in the North Carolina environment that you can't pick," Valentine said. "So I wrote a grant to get a mobile scanner, where I can actually go and document things in their own habitat."
According to the artist, the title of the exhibition refers to a gift associated with fate. She chose the title because she began working with this specific method of digital photography shortly after the death of her grandmother, with whom she was very close.
"In our written correspondences I would tell her the flowers I found, and our conversations would revolve around the flora and fauna," Valentine said. "Once she passed, there were so many things that I couldn't show her, so this process sort of helped me work through the grief. This has really been a gift for me."
Indeed, the works have continued to give to Valentine-her collection of photographic prints was one of only twelve submissions chosen by the Durham Arts Council out of an original pool of around 120.
"Her body of work just scored very high above some of the other photography," said Dara Silver, the Artists Service Coordinator at the Durham Arts Council. "It's hard to say exactly what specifically it was, but if you come in and see it, it's gorgeous. The quality of the work sort of speaks for itself."
Although the organisms featured in the images are undoubtedly aesthetically rewarding, they fail to truly stand apart from the variety of nature photography easily accessible at your nearest computer screen.
"I mean, to be honest, I wouldn't make the trip all the way out there to look at them again, only because they were nothing that spectacular," freshman Nina Wu said. "They just look like something that would come up on a Google image search, but I mean, they're very pretty."
Overall, Valentine's prints are certainly worth seeing if you feel like consuming the visual equivalent of cotton candy. However, if you crave something more substantial, you may be better off just taking the trip down the street to the Nasher.
The Allenton Gallery is located on the first floor of the Durham Arts Council building, which is situated on 120 Morris St. in Durham.
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