larry – New Landscape Photography

One of my favorite texts, as an architect, is Martin Heidegger’s Building Dwelling Thinking. It asserts that without buildings we can’t really experience the world. The pause and refuge buildings provide give us orientation in a landscape, allowing us to “dwell” there. Buildings make landscapes meaningful to us.

Many old structures at Ghost Ranch, New Mexico — where Georgia O’Keeffe lived, painted and immortalized the incredible landscape — clearly demonstrate Heidegger’s poetic thesis. On the other hand, a group of mid-century bunkhouses I came across during a recent visit to Ghost Ranch are buildings few would accuse of adding any meaning to the landscape. What are in one sense jarringly banal structures also happen to be thoughtful designs in the best traditions of modernism: climate-attuned, economical, cleverly winking toward both old west grit and Palm Springs modern. Their peculiar relationship to the landscape only makes them more interesting to me.

— Larry Sykes, Denver, Colorado

October 4, 2018September 19, 2018

Larry Torno

LarryTorno.com

This is a selection of photographs from my ongoing series, Life in the Midwest.

It’s interesting to note that although it’s called Life in the Midwest, there is an obvious absence of humankind in these images. That’s because the “life” I am referring to is not humanity, but rather my observations made as I absorb my surroundings.

The locations recorded are important to me as a personal history of where I live, the roads I travel, and the memories I draw from my experiences. Familiarity is a common theme in my life, however unfamiliarity is the catalyst that leads to unexpected images.

The camera is my tool by which I reinterpret these newly found landscapes. It helps me see things more as I imagined them rather than as they actually appear. I recall the ambient sights, sounds, and temperature of each setting and work hard to translate my senses into visual memories.

Life in the Midwest is an ongoing exploration that helps define who I am.

— Larry Torno, University City, Missouri, USA

April 12, 2018March 8, 2018

Larry Sykes

LarrySykes.com

The photographer Robert Adams mercilessly documented a rapidly-urbanizing 1970s Colorado — my home state — in the masterpieces What We Bought, The New West, and Denver. The urban landscapes of that era, often disturbingly indifferent to ecology yet appealingly unselfconscious in today’s context, are disappearing under a wave of redevelopment. These are a few fragments of the old spirit from Denver, Boulder and beyond.

— Larry Sykes, Denver, Colorado, USA

September 19, 2013September 4, 2013

Larry Torno

www.LarryTornoPhoto.com

Letterbox is a collection of panoramic photos reminiscent of the cinematic formatting of large screen imagery. By purposefully placing black bars at the top and bottom of each photograph, I’m making the statement that this is the original intention of the composition.

The Letterbox images take on the look and feel of Hollywood movie sets, often void of any characters, but left wide open for interpretation and the viewer’s imagination. We surmise that these photos have been taken prior to or just after an event. The blank scenes invite audience participation and encourage scrutiny of details in search of a plot or sequence of action.

Getting an audience to stop, examine and interact with  my photographs has always been a priority in presenting my art. I recall a college professor from many years ago who would project a photographic portrait of someone we’ve never seen before and say “Tell me everything we know about this person.” It was an excellent experiment to teach us to look for clues, hints, details, backgrounds, moods or emotions in a photo and translate those observations into words.

— Larry Torno, University City, Missouri, USA