FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Dan Torop
Skydiving
November 18 - December 23, 2010
Opening Reception: Thursday, November 18, 6 - 8 pm
Derek Eller Gallery is pleased to present Skydiving, an exhibition of recent photographs by Dan Torop.
Named for a poem by Ishmael Reed, Skydiving is a novelistic series of images with moral and psychological dimensions. Torop explains, “It’s about finding subtle feelings and letting them live in a picture, rather than an easy beauty.” Emotional objects, the photographs explore mortality, suffering, and pathos as well as optimism and happiness. They convey epic subject matter on a modest scale.
Nature - from rocky landscapes, to humble houseplants, to wounded tree branches - is a focal point for Torop. The other-worldly Cocteau-Orphic reflections in Point of Rocks become a metaphor for the land of death, as does the shadowy woods by the dark river in Heron. Seizure recalls the harshness of Garry Winogrand’s zoo photographs: humans perceive their own miserable state through images of suffering animals. At the same time, Sunset and Sheep portray contented animals in hopeful environments.
Another group of photographs investigate formal concerns within a natural setting. Taken in 2009 at particularly high altitudes, these works include Pass, Tortilla, and Blue Tarp. Torop writes, “In the thin air, where the mind barely functions, form becomes all. I’m exploring the edges and flatness of the image plane, the balance and sequence of objects, and the blankness of the skies.”
Dan Torop’s work was recently featured in We Pictured You Reading This at Redux Contemporary Art Center, Charleston, SC, and 50 Artists Photograph the Future at Higher Pictures, New York. Torop lives and works in New York City. This will be his fourth solo exhibition at the gallery.
A full-color book entitled Skydiving published by A-Jump Books accompanies this exhibition.
Derek Eller Gallery is located at 615 West 27th Street, between 11th and 12th Avenues. Hours are Tuesday - Saturday from 11am - 6pm. For further information or visuals, please contact the gallery at 212.206.6411 or visit www.derekeller.com