Havana Opening Night

Sunday was the opening at the Havana Art Gallery. It was a great turnout and we packed the room. Many, many thanks to everyone who came out.

Many more thanks to Charllotte who took photos while the action was on.

Hanging in Havana

Thursday morning was the day to hang the show. The Havana Art Gallery is part of a Theatre/Restaurant/Gallery concern on Commercial Drive in Vancouver. We needed to hang the show before the restaurant portion started cooking up the heuvos rancheros.

Early mornings are not a problem. Early mornings are, in fact, the best time to measure - before the events of the day make everything fuzzy.

This show went up a little faster than the Melriches show, in part because it was possible to use brackets to hang the pictures. These photographs are c-prints mounted on sheet aluminum. It was also a little quicker because the room was empty. At Melriches I was working around the customers - always a little worried that I'd injure a patron with the sharp aluminum edges. Oh dear.

There is nothing quite like the feeling of putting the first image on an empty wall. It is immensely satisfying. After the first image, the portraits begin to interact with each other. They talk to each other. Sometimes they are happy to be where they are - sometimes they ask to be moved.

This show is a joint show between myself and Sophena Kwon. Sophena is inspired by everything about the polaroid process - the immediacy, the objects, and the wonder of the developing image. For this show she has also come up with an ingenious way to recreate the images in a larger format.

There is an opening reception this Sunday. Official times 4-7pm. but likely it will go until about 9pm. Please drop by for a glass of wine.


Here is an index of portraits.

Show at the Havana Art Gallery

There will be a reception on Sunday November 25th. Official times are 4 - 7pm, but we will likely be there late. Please drop by and enjoy a glass of wine with us.

Robert Studer

Robert Studer, sculptor and installation artist. Taken June 18th, 2012.

These portraits might be an attempt to make people into theatre. To this end they are not portraits of individuals at all, but rather depictions of characters. As if each person was an actor playing themselves in the movie version of his or her life. And so the meaning of the photo is not - Who is this individual, have I captured the essence of this person? But rather a larger question, who is this character? What is the nature of this story? ... and what is the meaning of theatre? or narrative? or even life itself.

Robert is the maker of a fantastic body of work. Some idea of his energy and the scale of his thinking can be found at THIS IS IT.


Here is an index of portraits.