ROGER SAYRE: SOUND AND VISION

SILVERMAN AND HAMILTON SQUARE CONDOMINIUM ASSOCIATION present
Roger Sayre: Sound and Vision

Opening Reception: Wednesday, May 11, 6 p.m. to 8 p.m.  

Hamilton Square
232 Pavonia Avenue, Jersey City, NJ 07302
201.434.8000

Exhibition Run: Wednesday, May 11 to August 31, 2016 

Vinyl Color Theory #4 (Detail), 2014, Unique Chromogenic Print, 20 x 24 inches. Courtesy of the artist, rogersayre.com

SILVERMAN and Hamilton Square Condominium Association present  “Roger Sayre: Sound and Vision,” curated by Brendan Carroll. Sayre is an artist driven by ideas who often uses unconventional materials to create his work—LP record album covers, fog juice, step ladders, vinyl folding chairs. What unifies his varied body of work is the sense of playfulness in which the pieces were considered and then realized.

For “Sound and Vision,” Sayre will present roughly two-dozen image-based works that include a new series of lens-less photographs, as well as collages made up of illustrations clipped from dictionaries, cassette tapes, and found photographs. Despite the variety of techniques, materials, and approaches to image making, the work on view in this exhibition is inspired by music in some form. The title of the show, “Sound and Vision,” refers to the song of the same name from David Bowie’s 1977 album Low.

The Halo series is a continuation of Sayre’s two-decade exploration of handmade lens-less photography. Each image is unique, more like a painting than a photograph. There are no negatives, no editions. This work has the immediacy of abstract drawings. They look like no other photographs. At times, the colors, forms, and textures suggest religious auras, radioactive nimbuses, solar and lunar eclipses, and black holes. At other times, they resemble bodily orifices, eyeballs, and entry and exit wounds.

Historically, the process he uses is similar to the one originated by Henry Fox Talbot, one of the early pioneers of photography. Sayre comments:

“Although we live in a world of digital photography, my work has always been informed and inspired by the basic tenets of the process. The kernel of all photography is light striking a light-sensitive surface. The procedure behind The Halo Series stops there. The pieces are made by illuminating photosensitive paper with filtered colored light in a dark room, forgoing both the camera and the film negative.”

Sayre’s hands-on experience in the darkroom is one of invention and discovery. Each photograph receives a minimum of seventy-two exposures that vary in time and color filtration. One piece often informs the creation of another.

The Halo Series is a result trial and error, as much as cause and effect. “When a piece works, it is like hitting a vein of ore after digging for weeks,” notes Sayre. “A success is a rarity, but very satisfying and a result of all the previous work.”

For his collages, Sayre uses the same spirit of improvisation and discovery to create his idiosyncratic orchestras. He combs through old dictionaries to find illustrated depictions of musicians, which he arranges into one-of-a-kind ragtag ensembles of instrumentalists. Sayre does not approach a collage with a preconceived outcome. He has an open mind and lets the process of trial-and-error guide his decision-making.

Roger Sayre (b. 1963) received his B.F.A. from Bowling Green State University in 1985. He received his M.F.A. from Pratt Institute in 1992. Sayre has collaborated with artist Charlotte Becket on a series of public projects that explore and reframe environmental materials and contexts. Last year, they won Socrates Sculpture Park’s 2015 Emerging Artist Fellowship. Sayre cofounded (re)mixed media, an ongoing collaboration with artist David Poppie. Sayre’s works have been featured in Bronx Museum of the Arts, Jersey City Museum, Shore Institute of Contemporary Art, A.M. Richard Fine Art, Allen Priebe Gallery (University of Wisconsin), Regina Gouger Miller Gallery (Carnegie Mellon University), among others. His works have been reviewed in The New York Times, The Pinhole Journal, Flash News, and Pittsburgh Tribune. He has won numerous awards, including the 2015 Artist Fellowship Award from the New Jersey State Council on the Arts. He lives and works in Jersey City, NJ.

The exhibition will be on view atHamilton Square Condominium Association through August 31, 2016. For further information, please visit us at SILVERMAN or call number (201) 435-8000. Hamilton Square is located at 232 Pavonia Avenue in Jersey City, NJ.

“Roger Sayre: Sound and Vision” is the thirty-first exhibition that Brendan Carroll will organize for SILVERMAN. For additional information on the artist, go here: rogersayre.com.

SILVERMAN has presented the works of Elizabeth Gilfilen, Robert Hendrickson, Sarah Becktle, Kati Vilim, Mark Dagley, Candy Le Sueur, Ed Fausty, Anna Mogilevsky, Ali Harrington, Sara Wolfe, Anne Percoco, Shauna Finn, Melanie Vote, Paul Lempa, Fanny Allié, Michael Meadors, John A. Patterson, Charlotte Becket, Roger Sayre, Karina Aguilera Skvirsky, Tom McGlynn, Margaret Murphy, Valeri Larko, Tenesh Webber, Glenn Garver, Jennifer Krause Chapeau, Michelle Doll, Tim Heins, Megan Maloy, Laurie Riccadonna, Thomas John Carlson, Tim Daly, Ann Flaherty, Scott Taylor, Jason Seder, Sara Wolfe, Beth Gilfilen, Andrzej Lech, Hiroshi Kumagai, Victoria Calabro, Asha Ganpat, Darren Jones, Ryan Roa,Laura Napier, Risa Puno, Nyugen E. Smith, Amanda Thackray, and Kai Vierstra.

Transportation directions from Lower Manhattan to Hamilton Square Condominium Association.