Focus on Sculpture 2011

Focus on Sculpture 2011 is a juried exhibition of amateur photography. This exhibition supports the mission of Grounds For Sculpture, which is to foster a greater understanding and appreciation of contemporary sculpture through exhibitions, events, and educational programming. Focus on Sculpture promotes sculpture in a unique way - sculpture through photography. Entries are not limited to a narrow definition of sculpture, and photographers are encouraged to point their cameras towards the sculptural elements they see in their everyday lives.

Each year a different professional in the field of photography is invited to choose works from among those submitted for exhibition. This year, the selections were made by artist Stephen Perloff, a photographer, independent curator, well-repected critic and editor of The Photo Review.

Participation in this juried exhibition was limited to amateur photographers 18 years of age and older. Twenty-one photographs were selected from 198 entries. Selected works are on display in the Education Gallery in the Visitor's Center from January 22 through March 20, 2011.

Juror's Statement

While there were many images of sculpture, architecture, natural forms, and other three-dimensional objects submitted for this exhibition, I was most drawn to those images that were not just records of their subjects, but worked as photographs, that is, as a flat image on a two-dimensional plane. And I was especially drawn to those that either presented the subject in a new, interesting, or dramatic way, through lighting, cropping, and balance within the frame, and that allowed the personality of the subject to flourish. Whether it is the pointillist play of color on a rusted chain, the drama of the searchlights that stood in for New York's fallen Twin Towers, the ghostly presence of an almost pre-industrial looking irrigation behemoth, or the Modernist play of shadows from a line of elegant folks, the best of these images engage us with the still image at the same time they challenge our traditional notions of what scultpure can be.

- Stephen Perloff
Editor, The Photo Review