THE LENS OF ABELARDO MORELL
2025-01-13Abelardo Morell’s unconventional photographs provoke curiosity and wonder. Using optical science as well as illusion, he reimagines the world around us.
Morell (American, b. Cuba, 1948) is best known for his use of the camera obscura process. A camera obscura is an ancient technology—a darkened room that admits light through a pinhole, projecting an image of the view outside onto the opposite wall. Morell’s innovation is in transforming everyday spaces into camera obscura: his projections interact with the room’s furniture and décor, and he photographs the results. Intermingling past and present, indoors and outside, these works encourage reflection on our relationship with memory, nature, and place.
New Realities features sixteen of Morell’s inventive photographs, drawn from the Museum’s holdings. In addition to his camera obscura works, this exhibition will also highlight a selection of photographs from Flowers for Lisa. This varied series of floral still lifes alludes to philosophy, art history, and mortality through both physical and digital manipulations.
Opposite – Flower Arrangement with Small Mirrors, 2019,
Exhibition runs through to April 26th, 2025
Allentown Art Museum
31 North Fifth Street
Allentown
PA 18101
