Caroline Savage, “Trees are Dancing, Martha Graham.”

The Maine Museum of Photographic Arts will host artist talks from 5 to 8 p.m June 27 with Caroline E. Savage, Deb Dawson and Tara Sellios

More talks will follow on July 18.

“The New Abstraction” is currently on view through July 26.

“Our tendency is to make something of the photograph, to try to say immediately what it means and how it works and why it is made. But these images are more disjunctive than that, and often frustrate our impulses. Though approaches to photographic abstraction are varied, the end results all deny the viewer a discernible reference to reality, defying the most conventional norm in photography. There is a tendency among photographers to rebel against the photographic norm and revel in the basic appeal of the unpredictable impact of abstract processes.”  — Lyle Rexer, an author, curator, critic and columnist who lives in Brooklyn, New York, and has taught at RISD and the School of Visual Arts in NYC

 

MMPA Sellios
Tara Sellios, “Infestatio.”

“Moving from the precision of photographers Ansel Adams, Aaron Siskind and Minor White, the romance of Imogen Cunningham to the experimentation of filmmakers Marie Menken, Hollis Frampton and Malcolm Le Grice,I honed my craft at the San Francisco Art Institute, immersed in possibilities of painting with light, time and motion. Musicians John Cage and Steve Reich introduced me to chance, strategy and synchronicity to discover and reveal the harmonic sound patterns in nature. I make landscapes that are based on formal associations of interconnected moving light, line, and color which open a unique poetic vein. Multilayered images arise in which the fragility and instability of our seemingly certain reality is questioned. By applying abstraction allowing the camera to record light and movement, I investigate the dynamics of landscape. Rather than presenting a factual reality, I create sequences which reveal an inseparable relationship between motion, light and space. By questioning the visual concept of movement, I formalize the coincidental and emphasize the aleatory process of color and light composition.” — Caroline Savage

The Maine Museum of Photographic Arts is at 15 Middle St., A3, Portland. Hours are 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. Tuesday, Thursday, Friday and Saturday. See www.mainemuseumofphotographicarts.org for more information.