Michael Kenna

October 26 - November 12

Book Signing with Artist on November 2nd, 5pm - 7pm

Kenna’s photographic work focuses on landscape. He is considered a master in the art of contemporary photography. His approach to everyday scenery is enigmatic, leaving the viewer seduced. The mysterious aura of his photographs is created by long exposures that allow time and movement to be a part of the landscape, something the human eye so easily ignores in a glance.

Most of Michael Kenna’s photography is taken at dawn or at night, and he has commented that “you can’t always see what’s otherwise noticeable during the day … with long exposures you can photograph what the human eye is incapable of seeing.

Since about 1986 he has mainly used Hasselblad medium format and Holga cameras and this accounts for the square format of most of his photographs. The main exception was for the photographs in Monique’s Kindergarten for which a 4×5 large format camera was employed.  His photography is sepia toned silver gelatin.  A gelatin silver print is composed of four layers: paper base, baryta, gelatin binder, and a protective gelatin layer or overcoat. The multi-layer structure of the gelatin silver print and the sensitivity of the silver imaging salts require specialized coating equipment and fastidious technique to produce a consistency that is free of impurities harmful to the image.

Book Signing with Artist in Attendance: November 2nd, 5pm – 7pm