August/September at Bandon Library Art Gallery, “The Unaltered Image”

Photographer Thomas Glassman has an eye for seeing the extraordinary in the ordinary. Eschewing Photoshop or other digital editing software, he creates his images entirely in the camera, creating minimalist, often surreal images that draw one in close. The question,“What am I looking at?!” is inevitable as these are unaltered, yet not necessarily straightforward photographs. 

With the piece Oil Tanks, Glassman shot his image on B&W film immediately after the tanks had been painted grey. Using a red filter, he exposed and printed to push the negative’s contrast just enough to create a disorienting image of floating staircases in empty space. Yet what you see is what was really there, just slightly tweaked to create a puzzle that you have to decipher. Come peer through a knothole at what lies beyond, or notice that a seemingly B&W photograph is actually in color. The world is full of mysteries, but it can take an artist who sees from an unusual angle to show it to you. Thomas Glassman is such an artist, and we are pleased to welcome him to Bandon Library Art Gallery.

“The Unaltered Image” will be at Bandon Library Art Gallery until September 30^th 2022.

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The gallery is open during regular library hours, 1204 11th St. SW, in Bandon City Park. For more information about the gallery, visit the Bandon Library Friends and Foundation website, bandonlff.org.

Article courtesy of Tracy Hodson. Art images by Thomas Glassman: “Reflections on the Hudson,” “Oil Tanks”