Balancing Act

Photography by Fred Graham & Ross Heiss • Exhibit runs from October 8th to November 19th 2022

ARTIST STATEMENT:

Fred Graham: In my photographic images, beyond my ongoing interest in capturing natural scenes illuminated
by sweet light, I look for quirky, unexpected, or incongruous combinations of human-created or
natural subject matter. I enjoy depicting humor and irony in my images and titles. I am drawn
to patterns, to bursts of color, and to elements that form or inspire stories. While much of my
work is done in color, currently I am exploring the depth and contrast found in black and white
images.

Rod Heiss: Picasso said that when you see what you express through photography, you realize all the things that can no longer be the objectives of painting. Why should an artist persist in treating subjects that can be established so clearly with the lens of a camera?…So shouldn’t painters profit from their newly acquired liberty, and make use of it to do other things?

This has stuck with me for 30 years of exploring painting. There was not a time I wanted to pick up a camera and see what would come of it. Now for the past 2 years I see so much possibility that photography has. I look through the lens as an abstract painter and sculptor. This is what I see.

ARTIST BIO:

Fred Graham: I was born and raised in Southern California and have lived and worked in Salt Lake City since 1979. In 2009 I began making art again, picking up what I had started in my high school and college years but set aside for a long season. In 2017 I retired from my work career and have focused more seriously on creating art. During the past few years I have studied oil painting with Anne Albaugh and Brad Teare, and watercolor painting in person with Linda Moffitt and online with Steve Griggs. I have shown my work in a variety of local exhibits. I have long been an amateur photographer and enjoy making photographic images. This show at the Sprague Branch Library is my first experience exhibiting some of my photographic work.