Michele Kellner
T
he American artist Michele Kellner uses photography to explore the world around us, providing a lens through which the everyday appears extraordinary. With a careful eye for detail, Kellner captures in black and white the multiple reflections found on store windows, passersby, merchandise and the streetscape all superimposed upon a single pane. The resulting photographs make up her series "Through the Glass Lightly: Reflections on Storefronts," an array of intriguing images in which buildings become nebulous shadows, trees transform into prismatic webs, mannequins and people collide. Occasionally Kellner herself appears in the photograph, emerging like an apparition from the surrounding silhouettes. In most cases, the light—whether reflecting upon or shining through the large window—distorts the scene, creating a thought-provoking record of a moment in time. Through these unique visions, Kellner conveys a sophisticated philosophy regarding the plurality of life; she states, "We all have our own, rather narrow view of the world. I want to broaden that outlook to show that there are several truths happening at the same time—all the time." Thus, with intention, Kellner's art mirrors reality and, in the process, prompts us to question reality's very nature. www.portfolios.com/michelekellner
Philippe Ringlet
B
elgium's Philippe Ringlet has painted for more than fifteen years, but kept his work relatively private until 2002. Since then, his French and Swiss exhibitions have found commercial and critical success.
The French word flou translates as 'soft focus' or 'haziness,' and this ambiguity fits the mood of Ringlet's "Le Flou S'installe. Its pitcher and plates seem to glow from within, suggesting not so much cleanliness as an otherworldly feel. Elsewhere, the strong, simmering tones of orange and banana-yellow evoke the sensuality and eventual decay of ripe fruit (which, tellingly, does not appear on the table itself). Here, Ringlet pays sly homage to the still-life masterpieces of his Flemish forebears. Yet, the feral quality of one corner's dark circular brushstrokes recalls Abstract Expressionism, and its emphasis on revealing what the psyche hides. Is Ringlet's table the unifying site of abundance that our culture celebrates, or the place where a family's darkest secrets will be revealed? Rnglet's "soft focus" is not a blurring of hard truths; his 'haziness' is not muddled purpose. Rather, the flou of "Le Flou S'installe" acknowledges the unavoidable uncertainty found in daily life.