SUBTLE ELEGANCE

April 28 - May 28, 2002

Mel Blowers Gallery • UNCA Ramsey Library

Michael Morrison
Photography

Curry Schiavone
Cast Sculpture

As I move through life, with all of the images and experiences it has to offer, I sometimes forget the beauty in all things.  Our society constructs us to make differentiations between the nature of beauty and non-beauty.  I feel we have been led astray.  With so many thoughts and images going through our minds each day, we forget to stop and really look at something, to fully experience the moment, to perceive the beauty and uniqueness which is trying to be represented to us.  Through the medium of photography,  one is allowed to document life, in all of its forms and shapes, into a singular, true representation of what life actually entails and reveals to us.  I have documented landscapes, both urban and rural, for the past four years, and find them remarkably revealing and beautiful for many reasons.  I began to notice the subtleties of light and form, which created instant splendor in my consciousness, giving me a  sense of awe and of fascination, suggesting there was more.  In my practice of photography, I see things the way I feel they are being represented.  I believe that each detail within a photograph works with other details to create relationships amongst things, ultimately creating a still image; one which reveals underlying beauty.  Within these photographs, each aspect is no less important than any other. All of the images I experience are simply just there, posing with the whole of life, singing their songs, and allowing me to carefully portray them in a way which represents them best.  Form must conform to consciousness.  Sometimes I feel there is more to life than what we can see.  Sometimes it's what we don't see and sometimes it's what we can't see.  I hope that through my images, I can represent truth in life, or at least truth in my own.

Michael Morrison

For information:
MMorrison88@hotmail.com

    Throughout my life I have watched and contemplated the state of the world and the society that seemingly dominates it.  I have tried my best to understand, without judgment, why it moves, functions, and "grows" the way it does.
     Humans consume.  It seems quantity, not quality, is often at the core of our developmental drive.  Our ideals dictate that we spread and populate, with reckless disregard for what stood before.  We try to project our ego onto everything we see.  We have convinced ourselves that we are all so special that we each deserve our own "slice of the pie," and that it should be the flavor of our preference.  We all want designer clothes, shiny sports utility vehicles, and fancy houses up on a hill.  We scream for attention and popularity as if acceptance determines worth.  Perhaps it is this hollow shallowness that gives root to feelings of dissatisfaction and the unquenchable thirst, which in turn spurs these expansive, destructive, and highly unsustainable ideals.
     We are no better than each other in any way, regardless of bank statements, education, or popularity.  In fact, it can be realized that, in a grander scheme, we have no more "soul" worth than the smallest gnat in the air or crustacean in the sea.  It is only by moving without causing ripples that we can truly see the unadulterated beauty around us.  It is by accepting the world, as it is, that this beauty shines in us.  We have to let be in order to be ourselves.
    These are the sentiments that have led to the evolution of my work.  Its creation has proved to be a highly introspective experience.  I have found that through unpretentious eyes, things that once seemed simple are often profound.  That which was raw tends, in fact, towards natural beauty.  That which appears childish is inevitably pure.
    I pose no questions with my work.  I make no conclusions.  We should not expect knowledge to be either a quest or a destination.  I have simply let it be and learned through it.  Beyond that, what you take from it is your own.  Accept it and its beauty and reasons may make themselves known, as they have for me.

Curry Schiavone

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