I visited the neighborhood of DUMBO (Down Under the Manhattan Bridge Overpass) in Brooklyn yesterday, and was especially happy to get to 111 Front Street, a building chock-a-block with galleries. I was eager to see the Klompching Gallery, the love child of Debra Clomp Ching and Darren Ching (of PDN). They are warm and engaging gallerists and people, who are fully committed to the world of fine art photography. Both often share their knowledge and expertise at portfolio reviews and are called upon as jurors for a myriad of competitions. They are currently exhibiting the work of Renate Aller, who produces large scale seascapes, all taken from the same location at different times. Though the images are large, they are seeminly pixel free and very much look like sumptuous paintings.

Renate Aller’s Seascapes:

After enjoying Renate’s work, Darren and Debra showed me the work of Elaine Duigenan. Delicate, mesmerizing images of vintage hair nets and silk stockings that become charming, whimsical line drawings with a life of their own. Unfortunately her show was in August, but if you get to the gallery, I’m sure they will be happy to share her work.

“Elaine Duigenan works with objects; sometimes they are familiar items which have been discarded, other times they are the things which have been kept and valued. She places them in an environment in such a way as to effect transformation or bestow status. She is fascinated by what she has begun to term ‘intimate archaeology’. This arises out of a passion for both ‘sense of place’ and collecting/unearthing treasure. We all keep or preserve things as mementoes and Elaine is able to discover symbolism in the most mundane of objects. Her work invariably has an air of mystery and ambiguity which is often heightened when subjects are placed in a particular light or landscape.

“For me photography has become an ‘act of preservation’ and objects I focus on become the locators or igniters of memory. The traces and remnants we find in any landscape can spark recognition. They can even invoke a presence.”

Elaine Duigenanc’s images:

From Net

From Nylon