ArtsExchange presents "Person to Person: Photographic Portraits"

Written by Dove Cooperman Sunday, 28 March 2010 20:45

White Plains, NY - It would take a magician or shaman to get actress Ruby Dee, folk singer Pete Seeger, Cuban leader Fidel Castro and Muhammad Ali in one room. But somehow, Ken Marsolais has managed to do just that.Marsolais, a theater producer and collector, is the co-curator of an upcoming exhibit at the ArtsExchange in White Plains called, "Person to Person: Photographic Portraits." The show of 170 portraits presents a rollicking survey of portrait photography over the past 70 years, with contributers ranging from an ordinary mother — her family snapshot of her Marine Corps son is in the show — to those of legendary photographers like Fred Stein. Opening Reception: Thursday April 1, 6:30pm. On view 1 April through 7 May, 2010.

"It's a wonderful collection," Marsolais said. "Works by famous photographers such as Fred Stein, Peter Bellamy, Guy Gilette and Jason Shearer are placed alongside works by young photographers just starting out, as well as many established … but lesser known portrait photographers who live and work in Westchester today."

"Person to Person" was co-curated by Marc Weinstein, an artist and president of Color Group, a full-service imaging company in Hawthorne, along with photographer John O'Donnell. When the curators put out a "call to photographers" to participate in the show earlier in the year, they were amazed by the response.

"More than 700 high-quality portraits were submitted," says Marsolais. "And from that, we chose 170 portraits to be in the show."

The subjects also include everyone from famous personalities, such as Dee, Seeger, Ali, Salvador Dali and Albert Einstein, to everyday people. "We didn't limit ourselves in terms of the scope of the work and it runs a gamut," says Weinstein, "but we decided to keep it to a statement of the connection between the subject and the photographer."

You can see, for example, the exuberance in the relationship between Dee and photographer Robin Fee; Dee nearly leaps off the page. In "Mermaid," by Philip Habib, vibrant reds and golds frame an image of a woman on Coney Island's iconic boardwalk that nearly shouts "summer."

"One interesting aspect of this show is that viewers with a careful eye will see that in some photographs the subject has a stronger presence, while in other photographs the photographer seems to dominate … and there is always an interplay and tension between the two," says Weinstein. Maybe it's magic, after all.

Visit the ArtsExchange in White Plains, NY at : http://www.artswestchester.org/