June 23, 2007, featured a collection of abstract landscape photography entitled "Water Works, Water and Sky"
by Janis Ekman. Included here in our three online galleries, these photographs "unveil the bountiful
secrets of nature exactly as they are before the march of time mars their perfect beauty"
(Provincetown Banner, August 30, 2007. See Article in "About the Artist")
These photographs are inspired by the natural light, unique to this Cape Cod, Massachusetts landscape,
which has attracted impressionists and photographers alike for many years. Ekman walks the beaches
of Wellfleet daily with her dogs, camera in hand. As she became more and more familiar with her subject,
patterns and shapes emerged, and the light on the waves became its own subject.
The "secrets (her photos)...reveal are startling." There are hieroglyphs and fossil remains in the sand,
clouds in the shape of prehistoric fish, light dancing on the waves in what appears to be more of a Gucci scarf
than the waters of the bay at sunset, to name a few. Her seascapes invite the viewer in, the light on the water calms
and soothes. Every photograph in this collection is taken in Wellfleet, Massachusetts. While Ekman's photographs can be
dubbed abstract landscape photography, it is not unusual for visitors to the gallery to think they are gazing at paintings.
Ekman's seascapes and skyscapes are often large, most measuring 20X30 inches in size, while many of the other subjects
are tiny photos, only slightly larger than postage stamps. These "you have to nose up to...to find the many secrets of her walks."
Because of the free and open nature of her subject, Ekman has chosen to mount the larger pictures without frames.
They are printed on archival paper, pressure mounted and laminated onto a 6 mm PVC board. This process insures the
archival nature of these photos. Prints are also available loose. The miniatures are matted and framed in a brushed silver
and black wooden frame. These are available in two sizes, 2X2 3/4" and 3 1/2"X5."
Ekman owes inspiration to two of her favorite artists, Henri Matisse and the photorealist painter Richard Estes.
Having sought out an exhibit of Matisse at the Metropolitan Museum in New York, she found herself standing before
a room-sized silk screen of
a lagoon. It was in the quotation which accompanied the work, in Matisse's own words,
that Ekman found a kindred spirit and one who could express so beautifully how she too felt, albeit about a very different
locale. Matisse wrote, "I would
plunge my head into the water, transparent above the absinthe bottom of the lagoon,
my eyes wide open...and then suddenly I would lift my head above water and gaze at the luminous whole."
Without knowing it, it was this "luminous whole" that
Ekman had been trying to embody in her photographs.
On another occasion, Ekman came across an interview with Richard Estes, a photorealist. Although a painter,
Mr. Estes would take perhaps as many as one hundred photos of his subject before painting it. He said, "The abstract quality
of reality is
far more exciting than most of the abstract art I see." Ekman felt the same about the abstract quality of
what the Wellfleet natural landscape had to offer.
Please visit our on line galleries.
Gallery 1 and 2 are devoted to the larger photographs of the water and the sky. Gallery 3 is the miniature collection.
 WATER WORKS |
 SKY |
 SMALL WORKS |
If you have any questions please do not hesitate to contact us at 508-349-3945 or janekman@mac.com.
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