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The Art of The Novel

the Art of the Novel

Toni Pepe at Buffalo Big Print and Brian Arnold at Burchfield Nature and Art Center

Two photography shows with similarities currently on view are Toni Pepe’s Angle of Repose at Buffalo Big Print and Brian Arnold’s Short Stories at the Burchfield Nature and Art Center. Both have solitary, contemplative qualities and focus on still objects, particularly books. Both photographers studied literature as undergraduates before studying photography in MFA programs, and both retain a literary sensibility.

Pepe’s pieces feel as though they were staged from a Jane Austen novel. Pepe derives her aesthetics from sources such as the Dutch painters, particularly Vermeer, in terms of the light, stillness, and detail. She is also influenced, she says, by “classical notions of beauty, contemporary advertising, the films of Peter Greenaway, the family album/family snapshots as well as the decorative style of the Victorian and Baroque eras.”

Tony Pepe's work at Buffalo Big Print

Her images are populated with domestic household items. Empty plates, tea cups and spoons are mixed with crumbs, clumps of flour and clouds of dust swirling around a female protagonist whose face we never see—a repressed hausfrau attempting to break free of traditions when she violently shakes her broom or when she tosses flower-pots in a choreographed piece.

This mysterious woman provides flashes of color: her bright red lipstick, a deep green satin dress, a red sash. She is a composite literary character, Pepe says, “from Virginia Wolfe’s Clarissa Dalloway to Lady Macbeth as well as female family relatives of mine. The character has no origin, her identity is familiar, yet it can not be pinpointed.”

In the background are wallpaper patterns that hint at a life outside the house, full of trees, flowers, leaves, fruit, peacocks.

Dust plays a part in her photographs. If it seems odd to elevate this lowly substance to a subject, Pepe reasons that it “has many familiar metaphorical meanings attached to it, such as remains, decay, ashes to ashes, it can be atmospheric and suffocating. Dust is also a material we are constantly trying to eradicate from our homes. Scientifically speaking, dust is 70 percent human—skin, hair and nails. And, finally dust is considered the enemy of the photographer.”

Where Pepe’s heroine is a stifled housewife, Brian Arnold’s unseen protagonist in Short Stories is a bookish scholar. Arnold’s photographs are of books with pages strewn open to biological or biographical texts.

A bookshelf (or lack thereof) is a good indicator of where a person’s interests lie. Arnold’s tastes are eclectic. There are snatches of poetry; here a volume on anatomy, there a Luis Bunuel or Lewis Carroll biography; a political treatise.

His images convey a rich sensuality, the feel and smell of old books. A palpable mustiness inhabits the space; one can almost inhale the scent of these tomes. However, these shots don’t have a claustrophobic feel, as they were taken inside a library with windows open for fresh air and light.

Arnold chose certain books based on their illustrative content and their physical appearance, for such characteristics as age, binding and paper type.

There is a reason that Arnold’s photographs have a deeper richness than typical black-and-white photographs. Besides concentrating on light and contrast, he says, “They start as conventional black and white prints, and then go through a series of bleachings, and then subsequent tonings with selenium and gold chloride. The combination of gold and selenium work to both lengthen the tonal scale, but also change the colors of the print, offering a broad range of subtle colors ranging from blue to purple to burgundy to gold.”

Arnold is fascinated by the alchemy of photography. He feels there is “a literal and metaphorical transformation” when he develops his film. In early experimentations he used 19th century photographic methods, such as platinum/palladium and gum bichromate printing. He now teaches photography at Alfred University and has made a conscious effort to continue developing his silver gelatin prints with dark room techniques.

Pepe’s show is on view through March 21, at Buffalo Big Print, 78 Allen Street (884-1777/buffalobigprint.com). Arnold’s show runs through March 31, at the Burchfield Nature and Art Center, 2001 Union Road (677-4843/thebnac.org).