BRETT WESLEY GALLERY

Jan 13, 2010

PRESS RELEASE:

Contact Person: Victoria Hart

Company Name: Brett Wesley Gallery
Phone: 702.433.4433

Email: inquire@brettwesley.com
Website: BrettWesleyGallery.com

Life & Times; a figurative exhibition juxtaposed between vintage London and modern Las Vegas.

Las Vegas, NV – January 13, 2010 — Brett Wesley Gallery is celebrating the opening exhibition of Life & Times featuring two local photographers; established, award-winning Diane Bush and emerging Curtis Walker. Opening and artist reception will be Thursday February 3, 2010 6:00 p.m. to 9:00 p.m. at 1112 S. Casino Center Blvd. This event is free to the public. The exhibition will run through February 26, 2011.

This exhibition showcases photographs of people, situations and juxtaposing the past and the now – a 35-year gap. Some look staged; others look in the moment. Fascinating ideas for the viewers to explore are the gulf of time and also the aesthetic differences between a young photographer emerging in 21st century and shaped by his media experiences, Vegas, etc., and a late career photographer shaped by the youth quake and turmoil of the 70s.

These two cultural lenses and solid photographers, each skillful and adept in craft, offer intriguing insights and create strong feelings for the viewers. Humor, wistfulness, shifting memories, awareness of time and its passage, tensions, etc., are just a few of the contrasts and symmetries.

Diane Bush:

At the age of 18 Diane began this body of work that encompasses ten consecutive years of observing and photographing the British in the 1970’s. Diane captured people and places that moved through her life with an altruistic view of the working class. All photos were spontaneously composed in the camera and are framed by the black negative edge to show that no cropping or re-framing occurred post shoot.

Diane quotes. “Looking back upon the work 30 years later, I see them as an extension of Tony Ray Jones’ kindly and amusing body of sometimes clichéd images of the British, melded with a Robert Frank outsider view of another culture.”

Since her relocation to Las Vegas in 1997, she has been awarded 15 grants and a Fellowship from the Nevada Arts Council. In 2009 she became a U.S.A. Fellowship nominee. Diane has taught and delivered a wide variety of commercial, documentary and fine art photography genres and techniques that span a 40-year career. Internationally published and exhibited, Bush has won numerous grants, awards, fellowships, and commissions from Kodak, Ilford, Puffin Foundation, The Yorkshire Arts Council, Nikon, Cirque du Soleil, Polaroid, and others. Her work has graced the walls of the Photographer’s Gallery in London, the Houston Center of Photography, and Soho Gallery in NYC, to name a few. Kuda Editions published her monograph, WARHEADS in 2006, and her experimental work is once again appearing in Robert Hirsch’s third edition of “Photographic Possibilities”. Her works are in the Helmut Gernsheim, Polaroid, Eastman House, and Cirque du Soleil collections.

Diane’s participation in this exhibition was made possible in part by a Jackpot Grant from the Nevada Arts Council, a Division of the Nevada Department of Cultural Affairs.

Curtis Walker:

As an emerging photographer in Las Vegas, Curtis is a visual storyteller. He likes working with people to bringing out their best assets and personality traits to convey a visually striking slice of life. Sometimes they are people he knows; sometimes they are from modeling agencies or even complete strangers. Regardless of his personal ties to them, the goal is to find the character within them and create the most dimensional and interesting story possible.

Curtis Joe Walker was born in Las Vegas, NV. The son of a Lady Luck bartender, he had an inside look at the hidden sides of the casino industry from an early age. This insight, combined with a lifelong quest for what “normal” has led to a career that includes writing, acting and photography. He has studied at UNLV, CSN and UCC in Cork Ireland. In May 2010, Curtis opened Photo Bang Bang, a studio in downtown Las Vegas with his partner Marcos Rivera.

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Brett Wesley art receptions are held once a month on Preview Thursday at 1112 S. Casino Center Blvd. on the corner of Charleston Blvd. The gallery building itself is a nod to mid-century modernism, urban chic and classic American roadside architecture.

What makes Brett Wesley Gallery distinctive is its selection of stunning works by emerging and established painters, photographers, and sculptors from Las Vegas and around the world. Owner Brett Wesley Sperry states “Our primary goal is to show works of art that are bold, relevant, and well-crafted across several media and ultimately expand the visual dialog among collectors and artists. Brett Wesley Gallery is a place to celebrate the arts and share knowledge with art collectors, fans and artists alike.  And each month, whether you love what we’re showing or not, there will always be something here that’s memorable and worthy of discussion”.

High-resolution images available upon request.