Monika Sosnowski and Carlos Loret de Mola to Exhibit Photography at Teaching Gallery
January 26, 2016
The Teaching Gallery at Hudson Valley Community College announces In This Place, an exhibition of photographs by Brooklyn artist Monika Sosnowski and Hudson artist Carlos Loret de Mola on view Feb. 11 through March 19, 2016.
Sosnowski will discuss her work on Thursday, Feb. 11 from 3 to 4 p.m. in the Bulmer Telecommunications Center Auditorium, followed by a reception from 4 to 6 p.m. in the Teaching Gallery. Loret de Mola will discuss his work on Tuesday, March 15 from 3 to 4 p.m. in the Bulmer Telecommunications Center Auditorium. All events are free and open to the public.
In This Place: Photographs by Monika Sosnowski and Carlos Loret de Mola features work by two artists who explore the intricacies of the quotidian. From minute details that capture intimate glimpses of events and locations to larger 'views' that more generously share their narratives, both artists bring a sense that they are observing from the outside.
In Sosnowski's project for this exhibition, Field Guide to Ars Oblivionalis (Part One: Hidden Totems), the segmented timeline of her childhood (born in Detroit, she moved with her family to Poland for several years and then back to the East Coast of the United States) seeps into and greatly influences the work. Her collaged installation presents fragments of the real, the imagined, the old and the new as a story, possibly forgotten, waiting to be found and unfolding as it is being told.
Like broken bits of history, Sosnowski's work does not tell a straight or complete narrative. Rather, it sets up a series of ever-shifting glimpses and moments that may or may not have ever happened. She states, "the concept of 'ars oblivionalis' (aka 'the art of forgetting') was essentially invented by Umberto Eco as a prank discipline in a non-existent university department. But the joke was on him as Eco considered in earnest if in fact techniques for immediate forgetting were possible using mnemonic arts. In her current work, Monika Sosnowski poetically uses the idea of ars oblivionalis as means of exploring memory, perception and identity in search for personal meaning. Wistful with hints of playfulness and at times absurdity, this field guide in keeping with its subject matter remains elusive offering clues and evoking experiences which feel strangely familiar yet still to be named."
"Other moments" form the basis of Loret de Mola's work. His work for this exhibition, *Fugitive Mix* (v.TG) is, unlike Sosnowski's densely collaged installation, spare and straightforward – it is installed "in such a way that the relationships between the images are as coded as the images themselves. There are allusions to reverie, to impermanence, redaction, narrative, disintegration and to the ambiguity of observation."
These pictures are unflinchingly clear-eyed. From images of a fly trapped on flypaper to an intriguingly awkward painted image of his daughter, to the sheer size of the prints themselves, it is clear that Loret De Mola does not flinch before the less traditionally photogenic moments of life. These images possess a refreshing honesty and directness that actively challenge the viewer to keep going, to look at one more, to do the math and attempt to summarize all the visual information presented. That each viewer's summary will differ is, no doubt, part of the plan for this work.
As Loret de Mola states "Photography is a powerful means to preserve, select, manipulate, exploit and dilute memory. It can function as a container and processor of impressions.
Our often capricious relationship with memory is reflected in my approach to this project that I am calling a mix. I want it to be a distinct experience in response to its container, be it a room, a box, a book, a website or whatever. One of my primary influences in this regard is Nan Golden's The Ballad of Sexual Dependency, her landmark slideshow/book/exhibition project that continued to evolve and was different in one way or another every time it was presented. I am very attracted to the role improvisation plays in performance and I would like to inject that mutability into my presented work and not just to my practice. It is not unlike a DJ preparing an ever-growing and ever-changing mix that takes on its own individual character each time it is presented in a venue or a recording."
Born in Detroit, Sosnowski grew up in Poland and the United States. Her work has been exhibited nationally and internationally, including galleries in Pittsfield, MA; North Hampton, MA; Bratislava, Slovakia; and multiple venues in New York City. She is a teaching assistant at the International Center for Photography in NYC and an instructor at IS 183 Art School of the Berkshires in Stockbridge, MA.
Sosnowski received both her BFA and MFA in photography from Hunter College, NYC. She lives and works in Brooklyn and the Berkshires.
Loret de Mola was born in Havana, Cuba, lived and worked in New York City for a decade and currently makes his home and his work in Hudson.
Loret de Mola's work has been exhibited in group and solo exhibitions in Atlanta, GA; Houston, TX; New Paltz, NY; San Francisco, CA; Woodstock, NY; and Albany, NY. He is a co-host of the monthly Photographers' Salon at the Center for Photography at Woodstock and regularly publishes photozines as part of his work.
Teaching Gallery exhibitions are supported by the Department of Fine Arts, Theatre Arts and Broadcast Communications with assistance from the Office of Cultural Affairs. All exhibitions are installed and assisted by students in Gallery Management classes. The Teaching Gallery is located on the ground floor of the award-winning Administration Building.
Teaching Gallery Hours
The Teaching Gallery is open Tuesday, Thursday and Friday, 10 a.m. - 4 p.m.; Wednesday, 1-7 p.m.; Saturday, 12 - 4 p.m.; closed Sunday and Monday. For directions and more information, go to www.hvcc.edu/teachinggallery.
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Founded in 1953, Hudson Valley Community College offers more than 80 associate degree and certificate programs in four schools: Business; Engineering and Industrial Technologies; Health Sciences; and Liberal Arts and Sciences; and an Educational Opportunity Center for academic and career training. One of 30 community colleges in the State University of New York system, it has an enrollment of nearly 12,000 students, and is known as a leader in distance learning initiatives and workforce training. Hudson Valley has more than 75,000 alumni.