Gallery Hours
Monday-Wednesday
10:00 a.m. - 4:00 p.m.
Thursday 10:00 a.m. - 7:00 p.m
Friday 10:00 a.m. - 3:00 p.m.
Closed Saturday - Sunday
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Gallery Contact Information
Eddy Rawlinson
Main & Lamar
Dallas, TX 75202
214.860.2115
EBRawlinson@dcccd.edu
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H. Paxton Moore Fine Art Gallery, El Centro College Presents:
Constant Pressure, Photographs by Candice Chase
Curated by Eddy Rawlinson, Director H. Paxton Moore Fine Art Gallery
July 16 – August 11, 2007
Opening Reception: Friday, July 20, 6:00 p.m. – 8:00 p.m.
Gallery Talk - 7:00 p.m.
H. Paxton Moore Fine Art Gallery, El Centro College – Dallas, TX. is proud to present Constant Pressure, Photographs by Candice Chase, Curated by Eddy Rawlinson, Director H. Paxton Moore Fine Art Gallery, El Centro College, Dallas, Texas.
Constant Pressure, Photographs by Candice Chase, is the first of an annual series of exhibitions to feature individual artists, curators, or group shows that focus on individuals that for one reason or another have had little or no critical attention. Candice Chase has been a professional photographer for 20 years with origins in photojournalism and commercial television filmmaking. While scouting locations for a commercial featuring Laila Ali, she became intrigued with the training, process, and activity associated with boxing. Therefore for the last seven years she has been working on a series of images dealing with the training and mentoring of young boys and girls at a boxing gym, in Oak Cliff, Texas, Vivero Boxing Gym, owned by Gene Vivero. Mr. Vivero himself a professional boxer just recently retired from a local utility company and now, after the gym being open for twelve years, runs this small, unimposing gym full time. His gym became the location for the Laila Ali commercial and Ms. Chase would soon return to start this series of nontraditional photographic images. This exhibition is the culmination of that work.
The images were chosen not for their obvious narrative dealing with the subject of boxing but for the aesthetics of abstraction found in the body in motion. Muscles expanding and flexing as blows are delivered off the picture plane, partial silhouettes of young people doing conditioning exercises, and intense close-ups of competitors engaged not only in a match to defeat their opponent but to defeat the fears inside themselves. According to classical martial arts, the true enemy does not come to conquer from without but is found within.
The work follows in the tradition of Alfred Stieglitz, who begin to champion photography as more than a tool to document history but "...as a new medium of expression...". Edward Steichen and Edward Weston, among others, under Stieglitz’s influence and through his support would be just a few who would begin this new form of expression in this relative new medium. These artists would be at the leading edge of American Modernism in the abstraction of light, form and shape of the world around them.
At the same time Ms. Chase’s work reflects the stark realism and compassion of the great photojournalists of the twentieth century such as Dorothea Lange, Walker Evans, and Margaret Bourke-White. The later being one of the artist’s influences. Dorothy Lange would say about photography, "Its focus is man in his relation to mankind."
This moment in time for these young people finds them living in a world of violence, dangerous temptations, and an uncertain future. However, in the midst of this uncertainty there is an oasis in the form of a boxing gym that once was a garage for repairing cars. Now Mr. Vivero uses the space for passing on the tradition of discipline, training, and respect, respect not just others but for oneself, in the form of boxing.
A piece of coal only becomes a rare gem after eons of great pressure. The finest swords are heated, hammered, folded, and heated, hammered, and folded again and again. This constant pressure forges a final form that is sharp, strong, and resilient but also has a soul.
This is the second exhibition in the recently dedicated space as the H. Paxton Moore Fine Art Gallery at El Centro College. H. Paxton Moore received his master’s degree from TCU and was one of the first English faculty at El Centro College, 1966-1992. He served a variety of duties during his tenure at El Centro College which included his work as the chair of the Art Committee that began to purchase student and professional works of art for permanent display at El Centro College.
An Opening Reception will be on Friday, July 20, from 6:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m. with a Gallery Talk at 7:00 p.m. The H. Paxton Moore Fine Art Gallery, El Centro College is located on the first floor of the new Student Center and Technology building. The entrance is located at 801 Main Street.
Gallery hours are Monday – Wednesday, 10:00 a.m. – 4:00 p.m., Thursday, 10:00 a.m. – 7:00 p.m., and Friday, 10:00 a.m. – 3:00 p.m. Please contact Eddy Rawlinson, Gallery Coordinator, for more information and/or images at 214-860-2115 or ebrawlinson@dcccd.edu and at the El Centro College Campus webpage at www.ecc.dcccd.edu/Campusinfo/artgallery.
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