Opening This Week:
Palm Beach Photographic Centre to Present
PAINTING WITH LIGHT
Hyper-Realistic Photographs by Matt Stock
December 17 to January 30
(West Palm Beach, FL – December 16, 2020) Fatima NeJame, president and chief executive officer of the world renowned Palm Beach Photographic Centre (PBPC), today announced that its next major exhibition is opening this week, featuring stunning visuals by the award-winning, Miami-based photographer Matt Stock, who will speak about his work at the virtual opening this Wednesday.
PAINTING WITH LIGHT
Hyper-Realistic Photographs by Matt Stock
December 17 to January 30, 2021
Virtual Opening on December 16, 6 to 8 pm
“Matt Stock’s area of expertise is creating hyper-realistic nighttime photographs in the most inhospitable and remote locations imaginable with a technique he describes as ‘painting with light.’ With this technique, Stock and his team meticulously illuminates a scene in intimate ways on location: often leaf by leaf and root by root,” said NeJame.
Using light sources ranging from the Milky Way and full moon to specialized lighting tools through the course of many hours and dozens of individual exposures, the photographer works in the dead of night and brings light into the darkness. This illuminating process can also be thought of as a subtractive process in the same way that a sculptor subtracts portions of a block of marble to reveal the artwork within.
“While on set, I think not about where I am adding light to, but rather where I am chipping away at the shadows,” explained Stock. “After these dozens of exposures are recorded, I then return to my digital studio where I take elements from each of these exposures and weave them together to create a single luminous composition. Some photographs can only happen once a year, some even less frequently.”
“This project is one that I literally bled for and means more to me than I can describe,” he said. “For the past three years I have been bitten, stung, infected, and more in pursuit of the most complex photographic project of my career: Abandoned Vehicles of the Everglades. This project explores the interaction between man and nature through nighttime environmental portraits of vehicles long abandoned throughout the Everglades ecosystem. So far, I have photographed nearly 70 such vehicles ranging from Ford Model A’s to VW buses and even a drug plane.”
“Just before the pandemic, I was awarded a Knight Arts Challenge Grant along with my partners on the project and fellow Everglades enthusiasts Charles Krpoke and Alison Klapper-Leon. Our goal is to transform this series of images into a published book. The Knight grant is a tremendous help towards accomplishing that goal but we still have to raise more funds to make this dream a reality.”
About Matt Stock:
Matt Stock developed his signature style of Painting with Light in the Dark® after building his career fusing art and science. Stock’s knowledge of his craft and innovative methods have led to many honors and awards including works in the permanent collection of Biscayne National Park and the National Trust for Historic Preservation, presenting speaker with TEDx Coconut Grove, recognition as one of five experts in night photography by Shutterbug Magazine’s 2014 Expert Photography Techniques Magazine, one of 30 artists representing the National Park System’s Centennial Anniversary. He was also recognized in 2017 with a grant from the National Endowment for the Arts. In 2019 he was one of 30 artists and arts organizations awarded a Knight Arts Challenge Grant. Stock teaches photography full time at Ransom Everglades School and is pursuing his MFA at the Savannah College of Art and Design (SCAD).
About the Palm Beach Photographic Centre:
The Photo Centre is located at the downtown City Center municipal complex at 415 Clematis Street in downtown West Palm Beach. Hours are 10 am to 5 pm. Monday through Saturday. For more information, please call 561.253.2600 or visit www.workshop.org or www.fotofusion.org.
The Palm Beach Photographic Centre is a non-profit organization dedicated to enriching life through the photographic arts. All donations are greatly appreciated at www.workshop.org/contrib.