ANDREW FLADEBOE – THE SHEPHERD’S REALM
2015-09-14The Shepherd’s Realm is a multi-part photographic series consisting of portraits of working dog breeds set against striking landscapes. The result of extensive international travel, the exhibition features ten photographs taken in New Zealand as part of a Fulbright scholarship, six produced in Norway, and one early photograph from the series taken in Scotland. This is the gallery’s first solo exhibition of Fladeboe’s work and the third installment of Peter Hay Halpert Fine Art’s exhibition series at Site 109 in Manhattan’s Lower East Side.
Inspired by the tradition of British animal portraiture, Fladeboe’s images reference the eighteenth-century paintings of George Stubbs and the nineteenth-century canvasses of Edwin Landseer. The Shepherd’s Realm has much in common with the artistic practices and scientific investigation of the Victorian era. The work draws from the ideals of Romanticism and celebrates the beauty of the natural world through sublime landscapes and embracing the raw experience of nature by emphasizing emotion through aesthetics.
As Fladeboe points out: “The camera is also an instrument of science and facts. I want to illustrate these animals in the way they truly are.” In this manner the series merges the traits of Romanticism with the scientific and documentarian elements of Realism. While this pairing might seem like an oxymoron, it fits with the Victorian era’s pursuit of the wondrous beauty of nature comingling with the scientific: “My work inhabits the realms between the accurate portrayal of nature and the emotional qualities of it,” says Fladeboe.
Opposite – Over the Mountain, 2014
Exhibition runs from October 8th till November 1st, 2015
Peter Hay Halpert Fine Art @ Site 109
109 Norfolk Street
New York
NY 10002
