ARTIST STATEMENT:
In relation to photography, I am very minimalist and methodical in my approach and outcome. I am not a “shooter” who takes dozens if not hundreds of photos per week. On the contrary, I may shoot ten images a month at most and at the end of the years time, I select 4, 5 or 6 images that I feel represent my work for that year.
Somewhat influenced by the artists of the Precisionism Movement, with their highly controlled approach to technique and form, while reducing compositions to simple shapes and underlying geometrical structures, with clear outlines, minimal detail, and smooth handling of surfaces, I am drawn toward those man-made and natural structures that interact and play upon each other in color, line, shape, symmetry and/or perspective while questioning the perceived balance/imbalance between the natural world and the constructs that man places within it.
EXHIBITIONS:
- Transition States @ The Nicole Villeneuve Gallery, Nov 2009 Chicago, IL
- Pop-Up Art @ Built, July 2011 Chicago, IL
- Structure @ The Chicago Photography Collective, Nov 2011 Chicago, IL
- The Holiday Show @ The Chicago Photography Collective, Dec 2011 Chicago, IL
- Out In The Cold @ The Chicago Photography Collective, Jan 2012 Chicago, IL
- At Work @ The Chicago Photography Collective, Apr 2012 Chicago, IL
- May Salon Show @ The Chicago Photography Collective, May 2012 Chicago, IL
- Rural America @ The Chicago Photography Collective, June 2012 Chicago, IL
- Urban Landscapes @ The Chicago Photography Collective, Aug 2012 Chicago, IL
- Lost and Found @ The Chicago Photography Collective, Oct 2012 Chicago, IL
- The Holiday Show @ The Chicago Photography Collective, Dec 2012 Chicago, IL
- Spring Salon Show @ The Chicago Photography Collective, Feb 2013 Chicago, IL
- Brückenschlagen! Building Bridges @ Two North Riverside Plaza, Sept 2014 Chicago, IL
- Brückenschlagen! Building Bridges, Dec 2014 Hamburg, Germany
CURATORIAL WORK:
Content and Planning Committee for Kizuna I (2011) and Kizuna II (2012) exhibitions for Nikkei Newspapers, The Japanese Consul and Sister Cities International, Chicago IL
Curator and Creative Director for Brückenschlagen! Building Bridges (2014) for Goethe Institut Chicago, Museum der Arbeit Hamburg and Amerikazentrum Hamburg
PUBLICATIONS:
COLOR Special Issue #86 – October 2011
– Portfolio Award
PRESS:
http://art.newcity.com/2011/12/20/review-special-collectionchicago-photography-collective/
http://sixtyinchesfromcenter.org/archive/?p=13192
http://sixtyinchesfromcenter.org/archive/?p=13115
ALL IMAGES © COPYRIGHT DAMON SHELL
It is a violation of Title 17, United States Code, to modify, enhance, or reproduce these images without the express consent of the copyright holder.