Yale MFA Photography 2008
Gallery 339
Opens July 11th
July 11- Sept 6

I went to see this exhibit on July 12th at Gallery 339. This is the work of the nine photographers who completed their Masters in Fine Arts in the Photography program at Yale University for 2008. The show originated in New Haven, moved to Danziger Projects, and now finishes up at Gallery 339 in Philadelphia.

Philadelphia based photographer Sarah Stolfa is represented by Gallery 339, and while her work is presented on the first floor, I completely missed it on my first walk through because of the enormous color prints by Richard Mosse depicting emergency training exercises. Their sheer size overwhelms everything else on the first floor, especially the quiet and thoughtful work of Stolfa...(the following two photos are by Sarah Stolfa)






It is interesting how many of the photographs in this exhibit resemble the work of Gregory Crewdson, who teaches at Yale. That isn't necessarily a bad thing... I like Crewdson's work.... it's just fascinating to me the similarity of styles among these nine photographers, and how much influence Crewdson must have in that MFA program. Among those who really capture the Crewdson style are Samantha Contis, Suyeon Yun, Jen Davis, and Bradley Peters

I thought Bradley Peters work was the best of this exhibit, with interesting and creative use of light(as a subject) and blur as a repeated theme among five or six really gorgeous images...(the following two photos are by Bradley Peters)





There were two other photographers in this show that caught my eye. Bryan Graf presented some very unusual collage work consisting of digital, silver based, and polaroid snapshots that worked really well together in my opinion, and his was the one unique and even rebellious style among the group. Bravo to Graf for daring to be different. The other photographer was Marley White who presented several photographs with vintage photos as subjects, something that just appeals to me. Her work was lighthearted and not as overly serious as the rest of the group...(below is a photograph by Marley White)



Yale MFA Photography 2008

Gregory Crewdson

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