NELSON HANCOCK GALLERY

Nelson Hancock Gallery is pleased to present Interiorismo Popular, an exhibition of photographs by Seattle based photographer Seth Thompson. Beginning in 1994, Thompson has made numerous visits to a handful of villages nestled in the central Mexican highlands. His initial focus on the surrounding landscape and the ruins of a once-prosperous mining industry gradually shifted towards the area’s current inhabitants and he began photographing the interiors of churches, stores, bars and private homes. The richly colored images presented in this exhibition reveal intimate views of these private interiors.

The term “Interiorismo Popular” refers to a style of vernacular design that juxtaposes mundane household items with devotional elements and often employs exuberant colors and densely arranged altars. Interiorismo suggests both interior design and an inward direction, or looking within, and this work similarly combines a deliberate, formally rigorous photographic style with an exploration of the intimacies of private domestic spaces. These images were created using very long exposures in dim available light, and the resulting prints capture subtle plays of light and reflected color, and reveal rich tones and detail in even the most obscure shadows.

PRESS::
"Dumbo Art Reviewed" by Leo Kelbs (March 2006)

"Colorful, spiritual and very much alive, Seth Thompson's show at Nelson Hancock Gallery features interior shots of private, modest homes located in the Mexican highlands. "Interiorismo Popular," the show's title, refers to the area where religious icons and items blend with a standard sense of style that offers comfort, practicality and homely, spiritual beauty.
The slow exposures reveal a great deal of depth in the complimentary colors of the spaces, conjuring a sense of the spiritual in the everyday. The viewer is constantly aware of the people who inhabit these spaces. Though they are not shown in the photographs, the owners of these homes are powerfully present in the traces of daily life on display everywhere. For example, in "Cave Kitchen," a shot of just that - a cave that looks like it has been inhabited and used for hundreds of years - the stone surfaces are well-worn and soft-looking and the interior of the kitchen is incredibly clean and well-organized. Many New Yorkers would kill for a well-kept, cool space like this. The walls are robin's egg blue and match the cookware that sits on the hand-made stove with its fire glowing savagely ou the stove's side.

January 28 - March 19, 2006

Reception for the Artist
Saturday, January 28, 2006
6-8pm