Photograph: Riverside Lounge, Birney Imes
WORDS Caroline Taylor
Commonplace brings together the work of four Southern photographers who represent a major turning point in contemporary photography – the use of color. William Christenberry, William Eggleston, William Greiner and Birney Imes each photograph common images, or their own surroundings. However, the images conquer the limitations of their subject and speak to a narrative of mystery, and a new sensuality through color. The photographs hold a tension of a disconcerting life of their own that may point to the verge of disaster, or perhaps a tremendous feat or glory.
After becoming immediate friends in Memphis, Tennessee, in 1962, William Eggleston came across William Christenberry’s reference photographs taken with his Kodak Brownie camera. Eggleston was at the time shooting in black and white, but by the mid 1960’s had taken to color photography “snapshots.” The inherent imperfections and notions of chance came as an intoxicating change to the rigid and composed photographs of the reigning art photography of the time. Color pouring across his subjects grants a sympathy that stages a narrative – most notably the landscape of the American Dream. Eggleston became a noted pioneer of color photography as an art form, confirmed by his 1976 exhibition at the Museum of Modern Art, New York. Both artists are celebrated as grandfathers of color photography.
Eggleston and Christenberry became major influences on a younger generation of photographers. A turning point for then college student William Greiner was an introduction to Eggleston on a spring break trip to Memphis. Greiner’s photographs included in Commonplace serve as a view of pre-Katrina New Orleans. Regarding this series, Fallen Paradise, Greiner states “The photographs comprising this series were made in or around New Orleans, between 1995 and 2005. The patina which veiled New Orleans prior to Hurricane Katrina, but lifted by this event, revealed a paradise which had already fallen. These photographs are a testament to that notion.”
Speaking in a visual language consistent with Christenberry, Eggleston and Greiner, Birney Imes works are the result of nearly twenty years of exploration of his native Mississippi, photographing people and places that otherwise exist only in Southern memory. The works included in Commonplace are part of his Juke Joint series – photographs that capture the nearly forgotten (and disappearing) juke joints of the Mississippi Delta. In these ordinary scenes, Imes’ images are rich with vibrancy and culture, yet simultaneously surreptitious and often strange.
Featuring these renowned photographers and their important work, Commonplace is a landmark collection of American cultural and artistic significance. The fact that this work is brought together and unveiled in Montgomery, Alabama makes it all the more uniques.
Commonplace opens October 8 and runs through October 31, 2014 at Triumph & Disaster Gallery. For information, visit www.triumphdisastergallery.com or the gallery located at 505 Cloverdale Road, Unit 102 at The A&P in Old Cloverdale.