Aaron Bourque has a point of view. What that view is, exactly, is up in the air.
Bourque's exhibition, “Fragments Rearranged,” consists of about 40 black-and-white photographs taken over the past two years. Spanning across the first floor of the Jill Coldron Wilson Gallery at The Kimball-Jenkins Estate, the exhibition is broken up into four parts: “Portraits, Variations on a Theme,” “The Three-legged Chair,” “The Blueberry Rorschach Experiments: A Murder Mystery, Chapters 1 through 9,” and “Abstractions: Against the Semionics in Photography.”
The titles say it all: This isn't your grandfather's black-and-white photography exhibit.
The focus ranges from project to project. In “Portraits,” Bourque explores identity as portrayed by the camera, he explained while showing us around the exhibit last week. Some shots are more traditional portraits, while others offer a unique point of view. One photograph shows not much more than the subjects' feet. Another is just shadows of group of people.
“I don't necessarily subscribe to a specific approach,” he said.
Move over to the next room and Bourque's muse changes from people to commonplace objects in “The Three-legged Chair.” All of the objects were taken inside his apartment at Kimball-Jenkins, where Bourque is an artist in residence.
The items, however, could be found in anyone's apartment, anywhere. According to Bourque, the photos were cropped by the camera to encourage viewers to fill in the blanks.
Bourque's three-legged chair photo, for example, doesn't actually depict a chair sans one leg. It's just that you can't see the fourth leg because of the cropping. The mind knows, though, the fourth leg is there despite not being able to see it.
Exercising people's brains is what Bourque is all about. “I'm trying to get people to think for themselves as opposed to giving them something pretty to look at,” Bourque said. “I rather have someone gain insight from my work than write me a check.”
This becomes even more apparent in “The Blueberry Rorschach Experiment: A Murder Mystery, Chapters 1 through 9.” Nine shots make up the series, and all include the same subject – a paper plate with blueberry stains on it. But there's more than meets the eye.
In this project, Bourque pays homage to a classic psychological game, the Rorschach test (or the inkblot test). In lieu of inkblots, Bourque relies on microwaved frozen blueberries to make his ambiguous designs. While Bourque sees his own images from the berries, he wants people to draw their own conclusions.
Your mind won't rest until you've finished viewing “Abstractions: Against the Semionics in Photography,” the exhibition's final display.
In the first room, Bourque explores textures and patterns. The second room, Bourque explained, showcases how the camera records black and white and all the space in between.
There's nothing extraordinary about the subject matter, Bourque said. In some cases, it's nearly impossible to make out what's in the photo – but that's what makes the work intriguing. “I can tell you what (the subjects) are, but that's not as important,” he said. “It's about what the camera abstracts from real life.”
“Fragments Rearranged” opens Friday and is on display through Aug. 27. We recommend you give yourself plenty of time to wander through the exhibit. And bring some friends. You'll be curious if your pals saw the same old lady shaking her fist in the “Blueberry Rorschach Experiment.”
Music to go with your art
The opening reception for “Fragments Rearranged” is happening on Friday, July 30 in the Jill Coldron Wilson Gallery at the Kimball Jenkins Estate, located at 266 N. Main St.
The photo opening will begin at 5 p.m. and includes refreshments, but be sure to stick around for live music from 7 to 11:30 p.m.
The lineup includes Tan Vampires, Graph and MMOSS. The show is free, but a $5 donation is suggested to rock out with the bands.
For more information about “Fragments Rearranged,” you can check out tinyurl.com/frgmnts or call 315-7013.
