Freeze and Thaw

First Friday Opening: July 7 from 5-8pm

Large format photographs by John Lofaso Artist Statement-Freeze and Thaw The use of portraiture as testimony to the existence of a creature, a descriptor of its likeness, and an offer of something of its interiority, its natural psychological essence, is one of the most recognizable genres of photography. The Freeze and Thaw series travels this road found in the landscape of the history of photography. It can also be said that the portrait is a collaboration between the sitter and the artist. However, the pathos expressed in the Freeze and Thaw images cannot be said to operate in this way. This is because the collaboration is all one sided as all the subjects are deceased. The portraits function much in the same way as the postmortem portraits of children functioned during the early days of photography. In those early portraits the grieving parents sought to preserve the memory of the child taken from them by death. Even now, from so long ago, those mournful funerary portraits of 19th century children create a strong sense of empathy, both for the parents who grieved, and the young life taken early. The Freeze and Thaw series functions similarly, seeking to evoke a universal empathy for the maltreated, unlucky, and ignored among all of the creatures that share this world.

Monday-Friday, 12:00pm-5:00pm and Saturdays by appointment. Request an appointment here. All spaces are fully handicap accessible.