All are welcome to attend this FREE evening artist talk.
Clarissa Bonet will discuss her current exhibition City Space + Stray Light, on view at Catherine Edelman Gallery September 9 through October 29, 2016
The concept of place, and our relationship to it, is at the heart of Clarissa Bonet’s work, who was born and raised in Tampa, Florida – a coastal port city that was once a quiet place dominated by the warm gulf water. In 2010, Bonet moved to Chicago to attend graduate school at Columbia College Chicago. She immediately noticed the density of the city, its people, and its traffic. As she wandered the city, she was stunned by the isolation she felt among the throngs of people rushing along the sidewalks.
It was this feeling that led her to City Space, an ongoing body of work about individuality in a large city. The resulting photographs are carefully staged memories that appear to be snapshots of everyday city life. As she states: “The urban space is striking. Its tall and mysterious buildings, crowds of anonymous people, and endless sea of concrete constantly intrigue me. The images I create provide a personal interpretation of the urban landscape.”
In 2014, Bonet embarked on a second ongoing project,Stray Light, which looks at the anonymity of people in their homes at night. Bonet photographs once the sun sets, capturing the colorful glows from hotel and apartment windows. Back in her studio, she carefully constructs each image from multiple photographs, transforming the urban cityscape into a constellation, as the mind tries to organize the information presented.
Clarissa Bonet has exhibited in numerous group shows throughout the United States. Her work can be found in the collections of the Southeast Museum of Photography, Daytona Beach, FL; The Haggerty Museum, Milwaukee, WI; and the JP Morgan Art Collection, New York, NY; as well as many private collections. Recent press includes articles in The Wall Street Journal, The Week, and PDN, among others.