Connecticut”™s New Britain Museum of American Art is presenting a two-part exhibition spanning three decades of work by Hartford-based artist Ellen Carey.
The exhibition, titled “Struck by Light,” represents the largest survey of Carey”™s photo-objects and lens-based artworks. The exhibition includes examples of her Photography Degree Zero (1996”“2023) practice of Polaroid 20 X 24 lens-based images””including Pulls and Rollbacks””as well as her Struck by Light (1992”“2023) series of camera-less photograms””Dings and Shadows””inspired by the earliest examples of paper photography. Collectively, the works trace Carey”™s contributions to the field of photography through her pioneering explorations of light, color, and shadow, and are drawn from the collections of the museum and the artist.
“Struck by Light is the DNA of my dual artistic endeavors, a double helix with light and color, photography within process, that combines destiny and fate,” said Carey. “When light becomes visible the photo-object speaks. My photographs say craquelure, parabola, hue, abstract, process, minimal, photogram, light, beauty, color, wonder, invention, innovation.”
Part one of the exhibition is now on view in the museum”™s Helen T. and Philip B. Stanley Gallery, with part two opening July 20 in the Maximilian E. and Marion O. Hoffman Foundation Gallery. More information is available on the museum”™s website.
Photo: Ellen Carey”™s “Crush & Pull with Hands & Penlights” (2022); photo courtesy of the artist.
