Ion Zupcu
February 20, 2009
2009

Name: February 20, 2009
Brand: Ion Zupcu
Price: 1197.71 CHF
Availability: InStock
Rating: 5 (32 reviews)

About the Item

Gelatin silver print mounted to archival board Signed and numbered, verso 15 x 15 inches (Edition of 15) 30 x 30 inches (Edition of 5) This artwork is offered by ClampArt, located in New York City. Please note that prices increase as editions sell. Ion Zupcu is playfully methodical when it comes to his art making practice. He sketches almost daily in his studio, mapping out ideas for three-dimensional experiments which are later recorded onto film. In his body of work, "Painted Cubes," the artist is responding to his drawings of the cube and intensely ruminating on the perception of scale and the illusion of depth. This series of images pushes the sculpted forms into varying and often layered arrangements. Deceivingly small, the actual cubes Zupcu photographs are over-painted with thick brushstrokes, bringing forth their sculptural qualities and heightening their depth – especially when they are introduced to soft, natural lighting. Ion Zupcu first explored his interest in photography by working in a studio in Romania when he was a young man. A few years later, after getting married and having his first child, Zupcu found himself spending long hours caring for his daughter. With a desire to continue pursuing his interest in photography, he began shooting still-life compositions at home with vases and flowers. It was during this time that he also began researching the work of early 20th-century Modernist photographers in depth, which ultimately influenced his aesthetic a great deal. In 1991 Zupcu moved to New York City to start a new life for himself. His first job was driving a yellow taxi, and it was one his customers, an owner of a black-and-white printing lab, that got him back into the world of photography. Zupcu was hired by the lab owner and quickly learned the tools of traditional darkroom printing. However, it was not until 1993, when he first visited the International Center for Photography in Manhattan and later discovered three Ansel Adams books (The Camera, The Negative, and The Print), that he seriously devoted himself to producing new work. It took seven long years for Zupcu to be reunited with his wife and daughter when, in 1998, they finally were permitted to enter the United States to live in New York City. Their arrival awakened in the artist a fresh sense of purpose and new-found motivation. Up to that point he had been producing primarily landscape photography. However, he now went back to his initial interest in still-life work, and began spending long hours shooting, studying, and mastering the subject matter. His first fully-realized series of photographs in this genre was in 1999 with a group of images simply titled, Flowers. Several other bodies of work soon followed, including photographs depicting bottles, fabric, and eggs, among other objects. To this day Zupcu insists on printing and toning all of his work himself. Since his first solo exhibition in 2000, Zupcu’s photographs have become part of numerous private collections throughout the world, and his work is already represented in such prestigious public collections as the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston; the Detroit Institute of Art, Michigan; and the University of Michigan Museum of Art, Ann Arbor; among others.

Creator:

Ion Zupcu (1960, Romanian)

Creation Year:

2009

Dimensions:

Height: 15 in (38.1 cm)Width: 15 in (38.1 cm)

Medium:

Silver Gelatin

Movement & Style:

Contemporary

Period:

2000-2009

Condition:

Gallery Location:

New York, NY

Reference Number:

Materials

Silver Gelatin

Andreas Feininger
Street Scene, Chicago, n.d.

Price Upon Request

Listing is for UNFRAMED print. Inquire within for framing. Edition of 25. If the exhibition piece is sold or the customer orders a different print size, the photograph is produced upon purchase. Please allow two weeks for production. Shipping time depends on method of shipping. Price is subject to availability. The Robin Rice Gallery reserves the right to adjust this price depending on the current edition of the photograph. Ted Adams’ first solo show at the Robin Rice Gallery juxtaposes surrealism with the documentary art form. What differentiates Mr. Adams’ work from traditional photojournalism is his keen eye for capturing the irony in the events that unfold before our eyes. It is the found objects in everyday life to which Adams is most attuned. He creates a subtle mood and visual mystery that conveys meaning not only from the image itself but also through imagining what exists just beyond the frame. "I see photography as a way of cropping the world—selectively taking things out of context—which often results in stripping the meaning out of the original subject matter, or at least making the image open to interpretation. It’s the opposite of traditional photojournalism whose intention is to create ‘narrative’ and context rather than discard them." While he has exhibited artistic photography in a variety of genres, in the past five years he turned his artistic eye inward to reflect a more autobiographical tone. While some people compare his work to that of Robert Frank, Adams finds himself more and more influenced by Larry Clark whose career was built on pictures drawn from his own life and drug-addled friends rather than a specific documentary mission. The unique presentation of this collection of twenty-three silver gelatin prints enhances the voyeuristic sensibility of Mr. Adams’ work. Each photograph is jewel box in size, measuring 4" x 6" to invite the viewer in to make an intimate appraisal. The craftsmanship of the wide, dark wood frames hearkens back to late 19th-century Shaker design—yet the aesthetic is boldly contemporary, providing a strong backdrop to draw the viewer’s gaze directly to the subject matter. This artisanship extends to the printing where Adams exhibits his skills in traditional darkroom processes. He shoots mostly with Leica and Nikon 35mm film cameras...

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