PHILLIP CARPENTER: SIX PORTRAITS
_____________________________________
Straight photography is unique in its devotion to reality, meaning that real relationships and interchanges can be reflected by the medium. Phillip Carpenter’s portraits are such social proof and evidence of personal exchange. In a world where one can disengage from one’s neighbors by looking at screens and text instead of speak, the simple act of approaching others has, sadly, become a radical gesture. Carpenter’s process is unique by contemporary standards – with open eyes and genuine curiosity, he engages with the world around him, trusting his instinct, his place, and his moment. It is this kind of necessary engagement with the world that has complicated the seemingly straightforward work of street portraiture in the digital age. Sincere interpersonal exchange has increasingly become an exceptional commodity, as digital “communities” grow more vital to how we interact. Carpenter’s photographs are documents of conversations, and they are evidence of speaking to strangers and being sensitive to those around him. His images often present arresting individuals without context, figures that look out beyond the frame, inviting viewers to conduct similar exchanges from the social place where the photographer once stood. These six portraits have been selected to converse with viewers and to encourage such consideration of the current state of interpersonal engagement.
– Lauren Palmor PhD
Art Historian
Everything seems ephemeral, even the moment of being aware. I react to the world as it presents itself in response to me moving through it at a particular time, in a specific place, in a specific state of being, as another person interacting with thoughts of the past, the spontaneity of the present, and the unknown possibilities of the future.
I think of portraiture as a collaborative occurrence. Two people are usually present, the photographer and the person being photographed. But it’s not only a photograph of the person on the other side of the lens; it is a photograph of an experience, a connection between two people within this moment together. Brief and ephemeral as it may be, there is a consideration for this moment that goes beyond the often-misrepresented suggestion of who people might appear to be. I am more interested in the space between us, where we existed together in collaboration, at that moment, at that time. It is this space where we unquestionably acknowledged each other.
– Phillip Carpenter
Manuel and Gigante. San Francisco, CA 2012
Phillip Carpenter: Six Portraits.
A Gallery. Seattle, WA
Phillip Carpenter: Six Portraits.
A Gallery. Seattle, WA