PHOTOGRAPHYStephen PaterniteCLICK ON CATEGORY TO VIEW IMAGES |
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| Stephen Paternite is one of the most original and powerful artists working today. A man who commands the sensitivity and imagination which informs the character of major artists. The absolute authority and originality of his imagery are the qualities which establish his photographs as works of art, serving to enrich our apprehension of life. A sense of the marvelous, enhancement of the commonplace, completely captured and haunting landscapes, burst upon the mind, while the mastery of design and technique become a supporting revelation. The luminescence in these photographs is a dominating factor in their power to hold our fascination. The quality of light is intensified and the rendering of the specific and the familiar is transformed by a combination of mind, material and moment. The changes in the approach to a state of pictorial order are conceived with a deep grasp of the fantastic and spiritual. Content, form, time are subject to the control of the all-encompassing light. But the search for light and the command of technique do not replace perception. The great teacher and connoisseur of prints and drawings, Paul J. Sachs, wrote: "The eye is best trained through an intimate knowledge of the best." It is our good fortune that Stephen Paternite has produced this portfolio of photographs, for through these images, our knowledge of the medium and the world is enlarged and enhanced. We are taken to a newly found world that is encountered with astonishment and joy. Robert M. Doty Director, The Currier Gallery of Art Manchester, New Hampshire 1980 " One is expected to make quantum leaps, sharp changes in perception, sensitivity and comprehension when viewing the photographs of Stephen Paternite. And, each leap - from "eyeball-popping" self-portraits to disturbing "road-kills" to the vegetatively lush infrared greenhouse series - is a rich, artistic excursion. " |
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