Since 2001, Susan Eder and Craig Dennis have collaborated in photographing  unusual aspects of common subjects.  “Strata”, the artists’ third solo exhibition at the Marsha Mateyka Gallery, continues this emphasis using photographs of clouds.  Over the past thirty-two years, the artists have photographed thousands of images of water vapor illuminated by sunlight that fleetingly resembles other things.

In this exhibition, cloud images are selected and combined to highlight the universal tendency to tease meaning from abstraction.  Some works reveal the human impulse to anthropomorphize nature.  Others reflect an interest in the overlap between text and image.   The artists' intent is to provoke  consideration of intrinsic perceptual biases (cultural, personal, physiological) that enable the viewer to read water vapor as familiar, symbolic imagery and to reveal nature as a vast theater of interpretation.

Susan Eder and Craig Dennis emphasize that they “do not fabricate the actual subject matter”.  They describe their process as using traditional film-based cameras combined with digital output.  The final artwork files are produced in small editions as LightJet prints.  This process uses laser light to project high-resolution images on photo-sensitive paper, preserving maximum detail and luminosity.

On view in "Strata"  are two very large composite cloud images, "Crowd" and "Image Bank" , which are each 48 x 72 inches.  Also included in the exhibition are seven "portraits" from the "Overcast" series, as well as individual works such as "H20", "Skylight" and the Magritte inspired "Ceci n'est pas". Each image is in an edition of 5.

Several of Susan Eder and Craig Dennis' "Popcorn" portraits, from the larger series of popcorns, are also on view in the gallery's rear office.  "Popcorn #11" appeared on the cover of the fall 2008 issue of the magazine, "Gastronomica, The Journal of Food and Culture".

For further information contact the gallery at 202 328-0088.