ERIC CAHAN
SKY SERIES
Oct 30 - Dec 7, 2013

SKY SERIES

Opening Reception: October 30, 6-8pm

Bonni Benrubi is pleased to announce an exhibition of new works by Eric Cahan (American, b. 1970).  Sky Series is the artist’s first solo show with the gallery. The exhibition opens Wednesday, October 30 and runs through Saturday, December 7.

Cahan has made the work for his current series during his extensive travels. Taking the sky and ocean as his subjects and points of departure, Cahan makes photographs which are not so much images of landscapes as color-saturated images, equal in parts of flat color and limitless space. “I’ve become very interested in making a whole object,” the artist explains, “and providing a window into a memory of a time or a place.” A new series of paintings based on prints transferred to linen, Masonite or wood panel will also be on show. Each photograph, painting or sculpture in the exhibition is titled with the time and location of its conception. In this way, Cahan catalogs his visual journal.

Cahan makes his photographs during the magical golden hour, the first and last hours of sunlight during the day, when an ephemeral glow often occurs in the sky. Employing an elaborate process of filmmaker’s colored resin filters, which the artist has made himself, Cahan holds these up to the lens when taking the photograph. The resulting images, expanses of richly gradated hues, are a study in Color Theory and the science of how colors, tones and hues combine to create widely varied determinable results.

Although Cahan has been photographing nature for years, his most recent work has been informed by time spent at James Turrell’s infamous earthwork labyrinth with the Roden Crater, where the landscape itself filters the light with the undulation of the underground tunnels. In direct conversation, Cahan’s resin sculptures explore the nature of light through filters in much the same way. The opaque wedges are an investigation of depth by embodying the same color gradients and the effect of how the light is captured and manipulated through 3-dimensional form.

Eric Cahan was born and raised in Manhattan.  He studied at The University of Southern California and New York University, where he graduated from The Tisch School of the Arts’ Film Program. He currently resides in Brooklyn, New York.

Exhibition Dates: October 30 – December 7, 2013
Opening reception with the artist – Wednesday, October 30, 6 – 8 pm
Gallery Hours: Tuesday – Saturday, 10 – 6 pm

Eric Cahan’s photographs are defined by several focal points, among them: light, specifically the light generated by the sun at sunrise and sunset; science; nature; and the ephemeral quality of memories. These considerations are in play when Cahan heads out at a carefully chosen hour of the morning or evening to begin creating one of his ethereal works of art, which have been described by critics as “beguiling,” “expansive,” and “simultaneously surreal and hyper-real.”
 
Influenced by both the Impressionists’ depiction of natural light and its ever-changing qualities, as well as Color Theory, Cahan creates his minimalist yet vibrant images by holding colored resin filters in front of the camera. “A lot of people ask me if this is all done in Photoshop,” Cahan has said. “In fact, I will only tone photos to match the paper type and, in some cases, add a bit of color curves.”
 
Cahan made most of the work for his recent project, Sky Series, during his extensive travels. Each photograph and sculpture is titled with the time and location of its conception. In this way, Cahan catalogues his visual journal and his viewers see in his work his unique interpretation of a specific time and place. His polyester resin sculptures, made from the same surface material as surfboards and sailboards, can be considered three-dimensional interpretations of his photographs. Similarly meant to capture and manipulate light, they conjure the sensation of looking into the sky or the ocean. “My mission is to capture light,” Cahan has said. “Light is the true subject of this series: its constant mystery, the way it shifts and colors everything around it in nature.”

Artist C.V.

 
 

ERIC CAHAN
Oct 30 - Dec 7, 2013