Sandra GottliebPhotography

October Waves, No. 1

October Waves 2013Archival Digital C-Prints

Limited editions, signed and numbered versoSizes: 20”x24”, 30”x40”

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Ephemerality’s Power : Sandra Gottlieb’s “October Waves”

By Dominique Nahas, © 2014

Beginning in 1996, Gottlieb has been compelled to make grippingly sensual ocean images in her pursuit to shape perception of time and place. Her images, resonant, with the temporal quality of light and reflections achieved while photographing only during specific times nearing the setting of the sun, has in the past poetically emitted a sense of the genius loci of that beach she is so attached to. A remarkably inventive and prolific artist, Sandra Gottlieb’s October Waves series of 2013 is her sixth series of seascapes photographed at Rockaway Beach, in Queens, New York. Gottlieb, a meticulous observer who captures and selects her images with mindfulness and control, used a 300-mm. fixed lens for this series, eschewing zoom lenses entirely and does not crop what has been caught in the frame.

Gottlieb’s elemental water imagery has up to now incorporated a nautical sense of place and a keen sense of the oceanic deep as foregrounds including horizon lines and snippets of sand at the edge of the shore helped contextualize the churning, roiling and bustling waves as locally situated. With her color series October Waves, however, Gottlieb’s artistic intentionality had shifted, her aesthetic agenda modified and complexified. Her intention was to capture exclusively what she calls in her notes “…the essence of each wave…” that she records while she herself moves to engage and confront the configurations that cascade before her. Thus a double physical engagement is incorporated within the activity of visual recording through the camera : the somatic activity of the photographer (a former dancer) integrated as part of her localizing and observational process and the energetic activity of orbital forces within the water, the dance, so to speak involving the crest of the wave and the hollow section, the trough between two crests. All of the moving parts of each living and dying wave are reflected or refracted within a time span of a few seconds. Gottlieb attempts to capture the very definition of ephemerality.

In arresting her waves photographically in this way Gottlieb’s sensual imagery embodies an extra dimension of presentness that is in keeping with the camera’s indexical capacity to allow an instantaneous moment to linger thus stabilizing the referent of the wave. Yet in October Waves Gottlieb’s intentions and process also reinscribes within photography the subjective vision normally entailed by the act of painting evoking the romance of manual style. Indeed, in an unlikely yet successful passionate embrace of performative conceptualism and romanticism Gottlieb has photographed, mounted and framed her images in such a way so as to induce the sensuality aroused by the expressivity of gestural painting. The artist immerses herself and us as viewers into what might be called the dramaturgy of the Wave, its sturm und drang. October Waves gives us not only the local color so to speak of Rockaway Beach, it also offers the viewer what appears to be thirty different character studies or individual portraits of waves. Gottlieb sees and interprets formations of rolling and cresting water formations as personifications of life-forces that appear and disappear forever into the body of the ocean. October Waves is a unique departure from Gottlieb’s previous work. Gottlieb with her camera seems intent on channeling the primordial energetic forces as never before as she is invoking the salutary painterly energies of two artists she has long admired. She is drawn to Mark Rothko’s ineffable mark making and a mindset that leads to a nuanced perception of the flowing, suspension, and ebbing of the moment when self-consciousness and the ego dissolves. Gottlieb also invokes and draws inspiration from the elemental vitality of Rothko’s mentor Milton Avery’s depiction of the marine environment in his 1967 paintings Black Sea, Double Wave, and White Wave.

These paintings with their reductivist contours and unequivocal paint handling have none of the wispy Matissean lyricism that we associate with his mature style. These wave paintings remain indelible in the mind anchored as they are by Avery’s unusual conflation of sensations of transience and groundedness. Rothko’s assessment of Avery in that he had achieved, “… far from the casual and transitory implications of [his] subjects…a gripping lyricism, and often achieved the permanence and monumentality of Egypt…” I think is equally true of Sandra Gottlieb’s photographs that capture a timeless equivocality of ancient art with an effervescent timeliness that bespeaks of the present moment.

Sandra Gottlieb’s powerfully suggestive October Waves series pertains to many things. Among them is her inner journey of connectedness with the discourse of the Deep, parsing out the language of water to arrive at something close to revelation. She knows and reacts to waves. Sandra Gottlieb knows and responds to them (their individuated involutions, their spiritual core, their atomistic makings, their doings, their breakings) almost shamanistically, connecting to them as a photographer-painter would: through the body as well as the mind’s eye.

Dominique Nahas is an independent curator and critic based in Manhattan.

Sandra Gottlieb

Biography

Sandra Gottlieb has created a striking series of photographs of the skies and waters of the Atlantic Ocean. With a keen eye for the fleeting phenomena of clouds and light, she has created beautiful large-scale images that range from the abstract, to the painterly, to the highly dramatic. Her poetic work conveys the sense of impermanence in both nature and in human existence. Sandra Gottlieb was born in Brooklyn, NY, and from an early age was devoted to the study of ballet and the arts. She studied Fine Arts at Brooklyn College, and later photography at the International Center of Photography in New York City and interior design at the New York School of Interior Design. Continuing her dance training as well, she performed professionally with a number of ballet and modern dance companies in the city. She has noted that dance gave her both a feeling for movement, and an awareness of change from moment to moment, both of which have contributed to her photographic vision. In the 1980s, Gottlieb’s artistic impulse brought her to acting, and she appeared in Off-Broadway plays in New York, and on daytime television. She recognizes in her theater work the importance of “yourself in the moment”, in touch with one’s inner being. Gottlieb sees this quality of being present to what is happening right now, as an important preparation for taking pictures of nature that may change in an instant.

In 1991, Gottlieb received a camera for her birthday, and found herself taking pictures that were immediately satisfying. In 1996, she began studying at the International Center Of Photography with the photographer and master printer Jerry Vezzuso, who strongly encouraged her in her work. Gottlieb began taking the first pictures of the Rockaway Beach Series, which would later be expanded into Seascapes 1996 thru 2006. She took these photographs from the third floor of a beach house overlooking the Atlantic Ocean in Rockaway Beach, Queens, NY. These first pictures were exhibited as a solo show at New Century Artists Gallery in New York in 1998. With her work in photography, Gottlieb has discovered an affinity with a range of American abstract painters. She found in Rothko a strong sense of structure wedded to color. In Milton Avery she recognized his very personal interpretation of reality, focused on the edge of the sea. Morris Louis was a model for his veils of diaphanous color. While she was creating Seascapes 1996 Thru 2006, Gottlieb also produced other series including Floral Impressions, close-up soft focus views of flowers, Nocturne, details of the breaking surf at twilight, and Sea Grass, whose curving lines suggest abstract painterly gestures. Gottlieb has continued her conceptual view of flowers with City Tulips, 2008 and her seascapes series with Winter and Summer, 2009, Waves in Black and White, 2011, and her most recent series, October Waves, 2013. Solo shows include the Alden B. Dow Museum of Science and Art, Midland, MI; the Fernbank Museum of Science and Art, Atlanta, GA; Georgia Tech Ferst Galleries; Danville Museum, Dan-ville, VA; Gadsden College, Gadsden, AL; Louisburg College,Louisburg, NC; Ormond Memorial Art Museum, Ormond Beach, FL.,Krasl Art Center, St. Joseph, MI; Cedarhurst Center for the Arts, Mt. Vernon, IL; Ashtabula Art Center, Ashtabula, OH; New York Hall of Science, Queens, NYC. Upcoming solo exhibitions include the Florida Museum of Photographic Arts, Tampa, FL., and Kean University Galleries, Union, NJ.

Sandra Gottlieb

Artist Statement

October Waves – 2013 October Waves is my sixth series of seascapes photographed at the shore of the Atlantic Ocean in Rockaway Beach, Queens, New York beginning in 1996. My images are conceptual interpretations of the sea during all seasons and all times of day. All series share a minimalist aesthetic, exploring the most basic elements of composition, contrasting light, texture, and form. Several series include the sand at the edge of the shore and the sky…but October Waves is about the essence of the waves only. Inspired by the Modernist painter Milton Avery’s personal interpretation of reality focused on the edge of the sea, I visited the seashore each day at sunset during the October 2013 hurricane season. The waves were immense and more powerful than usual. A 300mm fixed lens was used to simulate the texture, light and shapes within the water, and moving in and out with my camera to capture the crest of the wave and the hollow section, the trough between two crests; 30 different individual portraits of 30 waves.

Shooting at sunset, when the light and atmosphere are most intense, allows the light to reflect off the water, creating colors and textures within the waves which are not readily visible to the casual beachgoer; catching the moment the wave reaches its peak, and then including the waves still to come…creating a feeling of the passage of time.

All series reflect the central theme of changing light and shifting tides, and invite viewers to connect to their own memories of the timeless quality of the experience at the edge of the sea. Sandra Gottlieb

Sandra Gottlieb

SOLO EXHIBITIONS2016 Florida Museum of Photographic Arts, Tampa, FL Kean University Galleries, Union, NJ2015 New York Hall of Science, Queens, NYC2014 Cedarhurst Center for the Arts, Mount Vernon, IL Krasl Art Center, Saint Joseph, MI Ashtabula Arts Center, Ashtabula, OH2013 Ormond Memorial Art Museum, Ormond Beach FL Berkeley College Art Gallery, NYC2012 Kathleen Cullen Fine Arts, New York City Ezair Gallery, New York City2011 Fernbank Museum of Natural History – Atlanta, GA Georgia Tech-Ferst Center for the Arts – Atlanta, GA Louisburg College – NC Danville Museum – Danville, VA2010 Alden B. Dow Museum of Science and Art – Midland, MI2009 Room Gallery – Tribeca, NYC 2004 World Fine Art Gallery – Chelsea, NYC.2001 World Fine Art Gallery – Chelsea, NYC.2000 Gallery Alexie – Chelsea, NYC

2-3 PERSON EXHIBITIONS2015 George A. Spiva Center for the Arts, Joplin, MO Wichita Falls Museum of Art, Wichita Falls, TX2014 Hartwick College, Foreman Gallery, Oneonta, NY BCB ART Gallery, Hudson, NY Charles Goddard Center for Visual and Performing Arts, Ardmore OK Utica College of Syracuse University, Barrett Fine Art Gallery, NY2013 Rosemont College, Lawrence Gallery, Rosemont, PA

SELECTED GROUP EXHIBITIONS2016 Michelson Museum of Art, Marshall, TX2015 Las Laguna Gallery, Laguna Beach, CA Elga Wimmer Gallery, New York City Armory Art Center, West Palm Beach, FL2014 Tenri Cultural Institute of New YorkThe Photo Review – Web Gallery Caelum Gallery, New York City2013 Wee Gallery of Fine Art, Scottsdale, AR Southampton Cultural Center, Southampton, NY Boca Raton Museum, Boca Raton, FL2012 Monmouth Museum, Lincroft, New Jersey Brenda Taylor Gallery, New York City Michelle O’Connor Gallery, San Francisco, CA2011 Embraer Private Jet Corporation Art Gallery, Melbourne, FL Northwood University, Florida Campus2010 Marin Museum of Contemporary Art, Novato, CA Glave Kocen Gallery, Richmond, VA2009 Katharine Butler Gallery – Sarasota, FL The Noyes Museum of Art – Oceanville, NJ Elk River Area Arts Alliance – Elk River, MN

PUBLICATIONSAmerican Archives of World Art, 1998 (textbook reproductions for Art History Studies)Art Calendar Magazine, July 2000. (reproduction)Hrbacek, Mary. M The New York Art World, review, August 2009, pgs 26-29. (reproductions)International Library of Photography, March 1998, “Dreams to Remember”. (reproduction)New Mexico Photographer Magazine, June 2002, (reproduc-tion) Award: National Art Exhibition Best of Show, critic: Mic Muhlbauer.New Momentum For Human Unity Productions, ONE. The Mind Aware, 2010 (reproductions)Pagano, Marie R. Gallery & Studio, review, April/May 2006, pg. 33. (reproduction)Phillips, Renee. Manhattan Arts International, July 1998. (repro-duction)Photographer’s Forum Annual 2000, August 2000, pg. 80. (re-production)Sedley, Jeremy. New Art International, 2006, pgs. 62-63. (repro-ductions)The Photo Review, Summer 2000, pg. 63. (reproduction)International Masters of Photography Volume 2, 2014, Pgs. 8-9. (reproductions)

SELECTED COLLECTIONSAlden B. Dow Museum of Science and Art, Midland, MICenter for Fine Art Photography, Ft. Collins, CONY State Senator Charles Schumer, Washington, DCThe Devereux Foundation, Villanova, PACabrini Medical Center, New York CityMemorial Medical Center, Modesto, CARoney Plaza Hotel, Miami Beach, FLBertoia Sculpture Gallery, Bally, PAEllen and Richard Sandor Collection, Chicago, IL

AWARDS AND HONORS2013 Scottsdale Biennale – Award for Exceptional Merit Kontinent Awards – Fine Art, Single Image2010 PX3 Prix de la Photographie, Paris, France, 2010 (First Place in Professional Nature/Water)

MEMBERSHIPS National Association of Women Artists International Center of Photography, NYCProfessional Women Photographers, NYC New York School of Interior DesignPen and Brush – Artist Member

EDUCATIONInternational Center of Photography, New York CityNew York School of Interior DesignBrooklyn College, Brooklyn, New York, BFA

Sandra GottliebResumé (Selected)

October Waves

“October Waves” is an exhibition of color photographs from a series of 30 images; Archival Digi-tal C-prints, in limited editions, signed and numbered verso. Printed in large sizes, they are face-mounted onto matte plexiglass, back-mounted onto sintra, and framed in black maple.Photographed at sunset during the October 2013 hurricane season in Rockaway Beach, Queens, New York City, a 300mm fixed lens was used to simulate the texture, colors, and shapes within the water; 30 different individual portraits of 30 waves, each sharing a minimalist aesthetic.“October Waves” is the sixth series of Seascapes photographed at the shore of the Atlantic Ocean in Rockaway Beach by photographer Sandra Gottlieb beginning in 1996.

NUMBER OF OBJECTS: Up to 30 photographs; images provided on CD Wallet’s and/or pdf presentation.

SPACE REQUIREMENTS: Dependent upon the size and amount of photographs chosen, from 125 up to 200 running feet. PARTICIPATION FEE: Round-trip shipping, wall-to-wall insurance (50% of retail value), and color exhibition announcement card (with a $200 production allowance from Katharine T. Carter & Associates.) INSTALLATION: Wood brace with cleat on back. Hangs flat to wall.

TRANSPORTATION: The exhibiting institution will provide all transportation for the exhibition and cover all related costs. This will include full responsibility for delivery at the conclusion of the exhibition. Work must be fully insured during transport.

ANNOUNCEMENT CARDS: Katharine T. Carter & Associates will provide a $200 production allowance towards the production of a color announcement card pending the terms from the sample letter of confirmation.

PRESS KIT: All pre-written press materials, to include biographical summary, artist statement, petite essay, press releases, media releases, pitch letters and e-release/radio/television spots, to be provided by Katharine T. Carter & Associates. All publicity releases, invitations/ announcements, catalog, exhibition brochure, and other printed materials concerning the exhibition shall carry the following infor- mation: “The exhibition was organized through Katharine T. Carter & Associates.” Copies of any printed matter relating to the exhibition shall be sent to Katharine T. Carter & Associates at the close of the exhibition. The critics’ essay may be quoted provided there is attribution.

Exhibition Fact SheetSandra Gottlieb

CONDITIONS:

CANCELLATION:

1. Exhibiting institution must provide object insurance to cover replacement costs should items be damaged or stolen while on premises. Minimum insurance required: 50% retail value. Should loss, damage or deterioration be noted at the time of delivery of the exhibition, the artist shall be notified imediately. If any damage appears to have taken place during the exhibi-tion, the artist shall be informed immediately.2. Security: Objects must be maintained in a fireproof building under 24-hour security.3. All packing and unpacking instructions sent by (artist) shall be followed explicitly by competent packers. Each object shall be handled with special care at all times to ensure against damage or deterioration. 4. As stated above (see space requirements), the number of works to be exhibited can be dictated by the space and needs of the exhibiting institution. 5. Exhibitors may permit photographs of the exhibition and its contents for routine publicity and educational purposes only.Exceptions may be made pending discussion with the artist.

Any cancellation of this exhibition by the hosting institution, not caused by the actions of the artist, shall entitle Katharine T. Carter and Associates to an award of liquidated damages of $3750.00. The hosting institution further agrees that any suit brought to recover said damages may only be brought in Columbia County, New York.

Contact and additional information:

Katharine T. CarterKatharine T. Carter & Associates518-758-8130 fax 518-758-8133ktc@ktcassoc.com

P. O. Box 609Kinderhook, NY 12106-0609

Exhibition Fact SheetSandra Gottlieb

Contact Information for Katharine T. Carter & Associates Email: ktc@ktcassoc.com

Phone: 518-758-8130

Fax: 518-758-8133

Mailing Address:

Post Office Box 609Kinderhook, NY 12106-0609

Website: http://www.ktcassoc.com