While visiting Paris Photo this past November, we were thrilled to be able to meet with Coco and gather some new inventory for our gallery! We won't be holding a formal reception for this exhibition so please visit us anytime during gallery hours 11-5pm Tuesday - Saturday to view the exhibition! Today, March 14, we are open 11-4pm!

French artist Coco Fronsac paints non-European masks onto Western vernacular photographs from the early 20^th Century. A dichotomy is developed between the early forms from the continents of Africa, Oceania, America, and Asia, and the standardized nature of photographic portraits as they occurred a century ago. These surreal images plunge us into a dreamlike, comical world, contrasting ritual and tradition, to  exploit the unexpected juxtapositions with startling effect.  For the artist, the portraits seek to bring a commonality to the human experience by representing the family relationship and different stages of development for a Western person like herself (moving from birth, to communion, military service, marriage, etc.) in context with non-Western rituals she respects.'

Coco Fronsac plays with the viewers’ vision of time, to better project themselves into a new, fluctuating, living, subjective reality. The vernacular photographs on which Fronsac works themselves go back in time.  The paintings she mixes over the photographs typically go back to indigenous cultures she admires.  With the combination, she imbues a contemporary approach to both subjects, bringing a new portrayal of humanity’s present position.

 

VIEW ALL OF COCO FRONSAC'S WORK HERE.

DOWNLOAD THE FULL PRESS RELEASE HERE.

Obscura Gallery presents IAN MARKUS: Fragments of the Frontier, a photographic exploration of the fading culture of ranching in Montana. With imagery created from a 4 x 5†film camera, Ian composites two or more negatives in the darkroom to create ethereal, large-format gelatin silver prints. The resulting ghostly images give a visceral interpretation of the fading cowboy culture that Ian has encountered in the contemporary ranches of Montana.

Santa Fean Ian Markus is the son of the late Obscura Gallery photographer Kurt Markus, who had a long storied career including photographing cowboy culture, and publishing three cowboy monographs since the 1980s. Ian has witnessed this subject matter since he was a young boy accompanying his father on photographic expeditions in the West and assisting Kurt for many long hours in the darkroom. This work provides an insightful perspective into the current state of ranching, showing the juxtaposition of a practice that is facing numerous challenges in our contemporary climate.

VIEW ALL THE WORKS IN THE EXHIBITION HERE.

DOWNLOAD THE FULL PRESS RELEASE HERE.

 

Obscura Gallery presents our 2024 Holiday exhibition of small, photo-based works by gallery and guest artists including

Angie Brockey, Tulsa, OK
Brigitte Carnochan,Palo Alto, CA
Sam Elkind, Santa Fe, NM
Nicola Hackl-Haslinger,Austria
Max Kellenberger,San Francisco, CA
Louviere+Vanessa, New Orleans, LA
Jennifer Schlesinger, Santa Fe, NM
Caitlyn Soldan, Santa Fe, NM
Eddie Soloway,Santa Fe, NM
and more!

We will host a Holiday open house reception on Saturday, November 30, 2024 from 1-5pm with many of the artists present.

VIEW ALL THE WORKS IN THE EXHIBITION HERE.

DOWNLOAD THE FULL PRESS RELEASE HERE.

Obscura Gallery presents Norman Mauskopf: Descendants, a photographic exhibition of rare and vintage, black and white gelatin silver prints that were made by the photographer for the publication by the same name, published by Twin Palms in 2010. The prints in the exhibition include both published and unpublished images made for the book, which focuses on the Hispanic peoples and cultures of Northern New Mexico. Many of the prints were included in the application for the very first W. Eugene Smith Fellowship, which Mauskopf was then awarded in 2002. The book is out of print and Norman will be signing and selling his remaining copies at 4pm on Friday September 13; followed by the reception with the artist from 5-7pm.

CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD THE FULL PRESS RELEASE.

CLICK HERE TO VIEW ALL THE WORKS IN THE EXHIBITION.