DESCRIPTION
Surprise Inside
My photographic collages serve as a metaphor for anticipation, those moments when the unknown is being revealed. Pivotal moments when life turns a corner into new and exciting phases, a heightening of our awareness that brings us fully into the moment of discovering what's next.
The implied act of opening the boxes, releases the energy of the occupants, allowing them to take flight. The people and objects confined within, through the simple act of unfolding, are exposed revealing what was previously hidden.
Acrobats, circus performers, and divers come flying out of the opened boxes, all performing daring acts that most people would be hesitant to perform, but we find them exhilarating to observe. I try to convey excitement, and energy in images that are playful, expressive, and nostalgically bring the viewer back to the joyful moments of anticipation felt in childhood.
The sense of nostalgia evoked in the graphic synthesis of these images is augmented through the use of a wash of warm sepia tones that permeate the images. There is also a visual correlation between inhabitants of the boxes and the boxes themselves. The folds of the boxes having a quality not unlike origami, is reflected in the contortionist-like bending of the human forms within.
The unusual and dissimilar combination of people and cardboard boxes is visually unified through the repetition of angles. Despite pairing such disparate elements, I bring them together harmoniously to form images with visual impact, and are frankly, just fun to look at.
Walter Plotnick
AUTHOR
Walter Plotnick is a USA photo-based artist who lives and works in the Philadelphia area. He received his MFA from University of the Arts and BFA from Tyler School of Art. Mr. Plotnick is an instructor in the Fine Arts Department at Penn State Abington
Solo Exhibitions
Leap of Faith Temple Judea Museum, PA
Museum of Photography, Poland
Galerie Talent Voor Kunst, Belgium
ArtsQuest, InVision, Bethlehem, PA
Kol Ami Gallery, Philadelphia, PA
Saint Joseph’s University Gallery, Philadelphia, PA
Shadows and Shapes, Multiple Choice Gallery, Blue Bell, PA
Group Exhibitions
2019 PX3 Le Prix de la Photographie Paris Bronze Medal
2019 Aperture Gallery New York 2nd place / LensCulture
2019 Gold Medal San Francisco Bay International Photography Competition
2012 F1rst Choice Exhibition, Netherlands
2011 Symbiose Art Exhibition Breda Netherlands
2010 Texas Photographic Society, #19 International Photography Exhibition, San Antonio, TX
2010 PhotoPlace Gallery, Open, International Photography Exhibition, Middlebury, VT
2010 Fraser Gallery, 9th International Photography Exhibition Bethesda, MD
2009 United Creators, New York, Germany, Turkey
2009 Radius 250, Artspace Gallery, Richmond, VA
2009 Sky’s the Limit, Creative Arts Workshop New Haven, CT
2008 Griffin Museum of Photography, 14 th Annual Exhibition, Winchester, MA
2008 Abington Art Center, Annual Juried Exhibition, Abington, PA
2007 Fleisher Wind Challenge, Samuel Fleisher Art Memorial, Philadelphia, PA
2007 PHOTO-IMAGE 07, Nexus Foundation Gallery, Philadelphia, PA
2006 67 th Juried Exhibition, Woodmere Art Museum, Philadelphia, PA
2006 Highwire Gallery, Philadelphia, PA
2006 The University of the Arts, Philadelphia, PA
2006 Charles Addams Gallery, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA
2006 Woodland Gallery, Penn State, Abington, PA
2005 Anderson Gallery, University of the Arts, Philadelphia, PA
2004 Hamilton Gallery, University of the Arts, Philadelphia, PA
2002-2004 Multiple Choice Gallery, Blue Bell, PA
