The exhibition comprises a selection of large format colour photographs, alongside two new grande scale, 1.2m x 4.1m, panoramic scenes; horizontal successions of ten to twenty frames assembled in one image representing the feeling of vast space and emptiness. "Regardless of their digital origins, these images are produced to have the integrity of a traditional analogue photograph. The move to digital was not to enable manipulation, rather it was to overcome the view limitation of a traditional film camera." Fredericks' documentary film, which recently won best documentary prize at The Atlanta Film Festival, will also be on view at the gallery. A preview can be seen at www.saltdoco.com.
"The project arose out of a desire to work in the most barren landscape that I could find. Lake Eyre was chosen as an appropriate location since its perfectly flat surface and razor sharp horizon provide a landscape devoid of features, which extends, once out on the Lake, in every direction." - Fredericks.
The lake spreads over a vast 9,700 square kilometers, much of it is dry and covered in salt a meter and a half thick in places. Travelling with only a bicycle and trailer to carry his cameras, supplies, water and tent, Fredericks is forced to contend with extreme conditions which take both a physical and mental toll. "It is the harshest enviroment I have ever seen. Windswept and devoid of fresh water, temperatures range from freezing to the high forties. While some rare species of animals live there, generally it is not an environment that is conducive to life." - Fredericks
Each pigment print in the object, which commenced in 2003, is related by the placement of the horizon running across the lower third of the image. Often this is the only referential form providing the viewer with an element that paradoxically defines space and denies total abstraction.
Murray Fredericks - Hamiltons Gallery
Salt II
Hamiltons Gallery
13 Carlos Place
London, UK
25 June - 11 September 2009
Murray Fredericks
Hamiltons Gallery
(c) Murray Fredericks - Salt 187 - 120 x 150 cm - Pigment on Cotton Rag
