Mysterious Light Photography Exhibition

Mysterious Light

Photography Exhibition

April 8-May 20 

Artist reception April 29th, 6-8pm 

Musical Performances by:

 Masato Tachi 
&
Michael Hernandez

Location:
West Valley Arts Council
13243 N. Founders Park Blvd.  Surprise, AZ

Gallery Hours: Mon-Thurs 8:30-5pm, Friday 8:30-noon

Meet the artist, musical performances, food music, beer/wine.
Free and open to the public.

Mysterious Light: 
Thomas Schultz

  Since time immemorial man has looked to the heavens for answers to the questions: Where did I come from? Why am I here? And What will become of me?

  "It is certainly interesting to know that we come from the stars, but even more interesting is the realization that we're part of the cosmos, [and] although we may only be a speck in the immensity of the universe, we are the Great Father's children, and our destiny is linked to that of creation. Every being has a role to play, a destiny to fulfill, and so every bit of existence is transcendent." ~~~Don Isidro, Mayan Sage

  The photographs I display here are each literal photographic time capsules ~ a moment captured and recorded under the light of the moon. Seemingly ethereal, they depict a time and a subject, though time itself also serves as a subject.  Each still depicts a measure of the now....and the now...and the now.....to become what is shown: a singular event within an extended passage of time.  Each image portrays this time lapse; we need only to expand our vision to see beyond and into this space. In these individual time segments, the possibility of multiple dimensions can be conceived, and that these captured moments create perhaps a dimension unto itself in an idea of condensed time.  This concept makes one question the relationship of time and space, and of co- existing realities.

  Our belief systems are based on experience, knowledge and intuition, therefore we “know” what we see and feel. It would be easy to take reliable objects like the sun, the moon and the stars for granted, especially in a world so far removed from itself. What I feel is now more than ever we need to use our intuition and our knowledge to return to nature, to live in the moments, to see past our accepted reality.

  “Reality is the vision we have of what surrounds us, but there are other, much more subtle realities which are more important. As humans evolved, they lost this ability to perceive and are thus disconnected from the cosmos; in a state of neglect they seek to fill with material goods. This only condemns them to self- destruction and is the reason a return to the Natural Order is imperative." ~~~Ramon Carbala, Mayan Mam

  The primitive natives of the Malay Peninsula believed the firmament was solid. They imagined the sky as a great pot, held over the earth by a slender cord. If the cord broke the pot would fall and the earth would be destroyed. They also imagined the Sun and Moon as women, and the stars as the Moon's children. Legend tells us the Sun long ago had as many children as the Moon, and fearing that mankind could not bear so much heat and brilliance, they both agreed to devour their children. The Sun kept the bargain, but the Moon hid her children. The Sun was very angry and sought to kill the Moon. As she pursued her, the chase of Sun and Moon became a perpetual one. 

  It is our perceptions of time and space, which root us to a milestone, a memorable event, a singular moment. In any lapsed segment of so-called reality, we can sometimes see beyond what we previously knew to be possible, or what we imagined was reality, from just the moment before. Before, that is, it slips away into another, and another, and another; the sands of time in an endless hourglass, eons unfolding into eternity and a greater abyss of space.

Tetnus anyone!

Two weeks ago my friend Andrew Phelps was visiting from Austria, he just left town this morning to attend a lecture in New York.  Andy and I attended the same high school and spent many days together during our young adult years traversing the state of Arizona in search of adventure.  We often took our cameras and our skateboards on our trips, with hopes of finding a drainage ditch or empty backyard pool to consume the time.  Back then we did not have to travel far to reach the edge of town, and once beyond, the empty space was ours for the taking.  Little did we know that the landscape which we played would be a major part of our lives and the focus of our photography today.   Last week, while Andy was in town, we had the opportunity to go out into the abyss once again in search of lost luxury.  He suggested we head to Maricopa which was one of the cities worst hit during the real estate crash that began in late 2008.  When we arrived in Maricopa just after sunrise, it became apparent that much had changed since the late 80s, however it seemed that much of the developers got out in time, and the city had not suffered as dramatically as we had thought.  I was under the impression that Anthem was looking into a development in Maricopa, but we found no signs of such.  We did discover that Home Depot and an unknown movie theater had pulled the plug in the nick of time, however many homeowners and Walmart were not as lucky and remain stranded in the void many miles from anything.  These home owners were taking advantage of the amount of home that they could purchase compared to a home half the size in town.  Today in Maricopa you will find a handful of track home communities in which you will find homes huddled together, like desert wildlife taking shelter from the elements.  These small groups of homes are surrounded by vacant lots with streets, gutters and light poles, and the scene takes on new meaning.  Surrounded by a 6' block wall fence tumble weeds take rest as they are trapped in corners while the top edge of the wall creates a new horizon. 

We made a couple exposures then headed west on Maricopa Road in search of a site where an individual had collected 10 million used tires with plans of converting them to fuel. Tire story we located the site but were unable to enter due to a locked gate and a posted sign with the words No Trespassing State Property.  Neither of us were willing to take the chance......so we headed back in the direction we had came to photograph an abandoned double wide off the side of the road which we had seen on the way out.  On approach the home seemed to be in great condition, and I wondered why someone would leave a perfectly good home in the middle of nowhere.  The windows were covered with screens as if the owner had planned to return.  A golf club was inlayed in the thin top crust of the desert soil.  

Two iron stakes emerged from the ground with a short distance between, which Andy determined was the remains of horse shoe pit.  Both of us remembered the Brew and Shoe, which was a yearly event held at his families cabin on the rim, and symbolized a happy and care free time in our lives.  I found a single horse shoe later in the bathroom of the home, and on the way to the car I pitched it at the pin, the shoe hit the metal pole and rang out loudly.  It remained close enough to yield a point.  But before I had flung the shoe, I decided to exit the trailer from the front door, instead of the side door which I had entered, in hopes of discovering new photo opportunities, which I did...however, I discovered after jumping off of what remained of the front porch,  I was surrounded by a thick pile of tumbleweeds. 

 At first I thought I could just blaze a trail through, so I started forward but changed my mind at the last second.  At that moment I stepped into the tumbleweeds and onto a board hidden in the weeds.  A sharp pain entered my foot, I lifted my foot up to inspect as the board was stuck to it.  I pulled the board off my foot with much resistance, similar to removing a nail from wood with a hammer.  I then thought of Tetnus.  I hobbled back to the car expressed to Andy that I had stepped onto a nail and we needed to stop at a store in town and purchase supplies to clean it my wound.  The pain was hardly bearable, and I could feel that it was bleeding inside my shoe.  I did not even want to take my shoe off since there was nothing I could do at that point.  On the way back to town, we discussed how dangerous some of these locations are, and I had brought up the story of the photographer who died in a building in Detroit.  

Richard Nickel was interested in documenting with photographs abandoned buildings in Detroit, designed by Architect Louis Sullivan.  Through Richards work many of the buildings would be preserved. Like Richard I am very aware of hazards in and around abandoned buildings and take precautions to minimize injury, but I also realize that accidents happen.  Richard payed the ultimate price for his documentation of Detroit's disappearing architecture, and I a sore foot for about 4 days.  I will live to shoot another day...... see more pics from the trip

Video Decay

You never know what you are going to find in an abandoned garage in a small mining town in Arizona.  Today on our return trip from Globe to photograph the Toastmaster before it is no longer, we stopped to photograph an old sign in front of a derelict gas station.  I made several exposures as I made my way around the property.  The garage had a couple roll up doors, which most of the glass was broke or missing. Without hesitation I proceeded to investigate by leaning my head through an opening.  Like I said you never no what you are going to find......see more.....

Burnt Out......

Last week as my son and I were heading to the Burton Barr Library in Phoenix, a small building on the side of the road caught my eye.  My son was not very happy with my discovery, since I did not have my camera with me, and I suggested we turn around and retrieve it from home.  Normally, I would have just shot it on another day, but the lighting was perfect!  The above shot was taken inside the bathroom of another house close to the small shack that initially caught my eye.

 The home was practically burned to the ground, what was left was completely charred.  Remnants of the family that lived in the homes posses-ions were scattered about the rooms, melted and blackened from fire.  My son found some pretty interesting artifacts, some of which I photographed, and we took home with us.  I could not help but to think about the family that once lived in the home, I thought to myself;  I hope that everyone survived the fire.  I was also very surprised at how easy it was for me to move about the wreckage without much thought considering my past experience with fire.  I blame the moment.....I seem to get lost in composition and thought while I am photographing, it is somewhat therapeutic.  I normally discover the fine details later in the process when I am post processing the images.  I have often felt cheated when it comes to giving these details the credit they deserve while at the scene, however I find comfort knowing that I will be able to revisit the scene at will through the exposures that I make.  You can view the entire set here

Snow Blanket

Happy New Years......New Years Day 2011, Gold King Mine, Jerome, Arizona, everything was covered with snow......  Earlier in the day driving North on the 17 leaving Phoenix, I was unsure of the possibility of snow coverage in Jerome, but as we approached Cottonwood, doubt turned to promise as frozen fountains appeared along the roadside and the side of the hill that Jerome sat precariously upon was pure white, with the exception of the contrasting dark lines of rooftops perched on the steep slope.  As we made our way through town, we were positive that there would be good snow coverage at the mine.  I became restless, and could not contain my excitement.. the thought of the rusty plethora of vehicles that were scattered around the property, potentially sitting under a fresh coat of snow, made me want to explode.  I was worried that the owner would not be home and the gate would be locked, since during our last visit two weeks prior, the mine was closed for the Christmas holiday.   This time we would not be denied, we were in luck, and as we rounded the last corner just before the property began, today we would not greeted by a large chain link gate topped with rusty razor wire and a sign which a crudely crafted skull and crossbones was painted and the words" Trespass after 5:30 and Die" was hand scribed with what looked like blood.  We were in....once through the opening, we were fairly positive that we would soon be making our way through the maze of automobiles that were perfectly placed by the owner.   We made our way up to the house where we would pay our $10.00 entry fee.  Its all a blur after that...but luckily I had my camera with me and recorded the entire process.  I do remember the sun was shining brightly and the reflection of it hurt my eyes.... The snow was dry and fluffy, terrible for snowball creation, but nice for tromping around in.   The air temperature was a brisk 27 degrees, which did not seem to bother us at first.  We were somewhat prepared for cold conditions;  I had on boots, thermal underwear, jeans, t-shirt, and a sweatshirt, with a Northface shell and gloves just in case.   We shot all morning and afternoon, probably would not have stopped until we froze to death, however we became hungry and needed a break.  We ran into town, had a Ghostburger and headed back before we were finished chewing our food.  By this time the sun had made its way behind the mountain and most of the place was in shadow, which made for some wonderful light conditions, however it also made for some extremely cold temperatures.  Within 5 minutes, my fingers began to hurt from the cold, I was forced to put my gloves on and my pant legs were frozen stiff from the bottom up to almost my knees.  It was as if I were wearing bell bottom pants made of steel.  We made our way around shooting as much as we could, until we just could not take the cold any longer and the light ran out.  We knew we only had little time, the place normally closed at 5:00 pm.  We entered the house where we originally payed our entry fee with just 10 minutes to spare.  We said our fairwells, banged the snow off of our boots as we hopped in the truck and headed home.  EPIC!........Field Recordings

Mysterious Light Photography Exhibition

Mysterious Light Photography Exhibition
Thursday January 2oth-February 12th
Artitst Reception January 2oth 5-9pm

Artist in Residence Gallery/Studio
14010 N. El Mirage Rd.
El Mirage, AZ 85335

Thomas Schultz

Born in Oceanside, California in 1967 and spending his youth and early adulthood traversing the Sonora and lower Mohave deserts of Arizona and California, Thomas has been following the decay of the western landscape for almost three decades.  Using his camera, Thomas documents the interaction of human resolve and a harsh unforgiving environment.  His subject matter could be considered mundane; sun-bleached highways, abandoned structures, derelict signs, collapsing shopping centers, vacant motels, deserted gas stations, and vast landscapes are prevalent in his work.

Visual narrative in the form of sequences became a format for showing his work as early as the creation of his first flipbook in the mid 1970’s. Early exposure to films such as 2001: A Space Odyessey, and A Clockwork Orange , coupled with a middle class suburban upbringing during the early Reagan years brought about the confluence of boyhood innocence, censorship, and raw, unedited artistic social commentary.

Interested in reckoning disparities, Thomas’ perspective presents the viewer with a visual narrative of the evolution of time, space, and structure while exploring issues of transformation , and transience, life and death, temporality and abandonment.  His images evoke feelings of loneliness and despair immersed in sublime beauty.

 "My purpose holds to sail beyond the sunset and the baths of all the Western stars until I die"
— Alfred Lord Tennyson

Mysterious Light was partially funded by an artists grant received from the West Valley Arts Council

If these walls could talk....

Last Monday I gained legal access to the Toastmaster Cafe with the intention of photographing decades of neglect and nature’s unforgiving resolve.  Upon entry I was overwhelmed with a sense of time— past and present.  Although the interior was recently cleaned and re-arranged, there is a real sense of uninhibited decay.  I intend to make several trips to the cafe throughout the next couple months to record its current state.  Sadly, the café is destined for demolition and it will cease to exist.  These photographs will be a record of its last days.