Anchorage Daily News

I used a computer-downloaded file to preview images in the Rarefied Light 2008 Exhibition before they went on display at the Anchorage Museum nine days ago. There was an initial hesitancy to critique the show from computer files, but I was lured by the crisp, intense images that filled my screen.

Slide viewing is fast becoming an anachronism, but the computerized imagery of the photos in the exhibit created in me a sense of nostalgia for the big family slide shows that once reflected off our living room walls. Viewing digital files is also the manner in which the juror made his initial selections and rejections for the show.

My response was immediate and positive. Though I entered my own work -- and didn't make the cut -- I was excited by the high-quality photography that the juror elected to include. There are plenty of unique and thought-provoking works: Landscapes, portraits, still lives, abstractions and various digital manipulations.

The juror, David Hilliard, chose 63 of 388 entries from across the state. "Deva and her Beach Towel" by Linda Smogor is "Best of Show." Brian Adams, William Bloomhuff, Patrick Cobb, Hal Gage, Clayton Hillhouse, Ashley Kelley, Deborah Mercy, John Reeder, Jodi Swanson and Craig Updegrove received honorable mentions.

Hilliard also selected Brian Adams, Ashley Kelley, Deborah Mercy, Sheryl Maree Reily and Linda Smogor for a December "Juror's Choice" exhibit at Alaska Pacific University.

The dichotomy of modern photography is that technology has made the art of picture-making concurrently simpler and more complex. Point-and-shoot digital cameras can do much of the work automatically, and printing is more efficient. Yet artists can use Photoshop or other means to enhance, compose, edit and greatly alter the initial slice of life that was captured through the lens.

The dark room can still be the artist's playground, but computer programs have extended and proliferated techniques, resulting in a surreal mix of inseparable fact and fiction.

The appeal of this exhibition is in its "cinema verite" approach -- capsules of real life, poignant and real.

There are shots of Alaska, but they do not present a populist Alaskana picture. They are richer and deeper. Even basic landscapes leave the viewer with the sense that people have a presence or a history in the place.

An example is Bob Hallinen's view of the abandoned Igloo Hotel on the way to Fairbanks. The familiar landmark is so appropriately shown in the context of fleeting semi-trailer trucks.

Bloomhuff's "Floating Man" is a high-contrast print of a suspended figure and its shadow. Striking in its enigmatic perspective and minimal context, the print is intense and inventive.

The juror's selections reflect a sensitivity and compassion for the human condition. There is a serenity and soulfulness in the show's aura. Even in the pure landscapes, there is a connection between art and nature, between a fragile environment and its inhabitants. Gary Benson's photo of the blight in the shadow of Anchorage says a lot about the immediacy of those concerns.

We can all appreciate Joseph Kashi's capturing of fishermen immersed in the icy reality of a blue-gray arctic day, or his graphic reflection of dead trout in an ice-fishing hole.

I love Gary Postlethwait's picture of ravens in the snow and Sheryl Maree Reily's "Amy," with just the leg of the subject visible from her pose on a motorcycle. They not only had to have been there at the right instant but also engaged in the mind-set of a photographer to preserve those visions.

Rarefied Light has become a premier venue for Alaska photographers to showcase their creativity and skill. It has a rich history of quality and professionalism. The 2008 show is not only a continuation but also one of the stronger presentations. It is an exciting blend of familiar names and newcomers, traditional subjects and experimentation.

Artists sometimes seek validation through juried exhibitions. Yet any selection is only as valid as the insight and integrity of the particular juror. Likewise those who select a juror -- and so knight them -- share the responsibility for the result.

Sometimes an element of consistency for the artist may emerge out of the historical conundrum of juried shows, but an individual juror's choices are just as often arbitrary and capricious. Alaska has been the beneficiary of some very good jurors over the years -- and some real duds.

As an artist, I have been both the beneficiary and victim of juried art selection. "Win some, lose some" has always been my take.

I would caution young artists not to put all their heart-rendered beans into the taster's stew. Acceptance in juried shows is not an end-all or tell-all, only one unsurveyed avenue on the map to professional fulfillment. There are many other roads.

With those realizations in mind, my reaction to Rarefied Light 2008 is that this juror served us well.

Don Decker is an Anchorage artist, teacher and writer.

RAREFIED LIGHT juried photography exhibit will be on view through Dec. 28 at the Anchorage Museum. It can be viewed in Kenai and Cordova later this winter.

Another reason to see the show

On the walls just outside this year's Rarefied Light exhibit hang seven works by juror David Hilliard. These are each composed, triptych-like, of three or more panels arranged to present a single color photographic image. In all but one, human models, obviously posed, are the subject, usually positioned in the center panel.

Typical of the style, and perhaps the most intriguing, is "Doting on Jane," which shows two older women in a swimming pool, symmetrically flanking an even older woman, helping her adjust a bright, floral swim cap.

-- Mike Dunham