JOE RUDKO
ADVANCED TECNHIQUES OF PHOTOGRAPHY
Joe Rudko Advanced Techniques of Photography
June 21 - July 28, 2018
521 West 26th St, 9th Floor, New York, NY 10001 T (212) 759-7555 F (212) 759-5824 www.davidsoncontemporary.com info@davidsongallery.com
Installation (Floor 9
Davidson Contemporary presents Advanced Techinques of Photography, a solo exhibition of new work by Seattle-based artist Joe Rudko. Originally trained as a photographer, Rudko has not made a new photo in about three years. Instead, his work involves a combination of drawing, collage, and sculpture to produce images that include old or vintage photographs, postcards or, at times, even advertisements. The title of the show is a somewhat tongue-in-cheek reference to a textbook titled Ansel Adams Guide: Basic Techniques of Photography. Whereas the didactic book using Adams’s famed methods covers the basics for budding photographers, Rudko subverts the idea, claiming an “advanced” level which addresses non-traditional uses of old physical photographs. In this way, Rudko creates new images out of static ones, reconstructing them without digital manipulation. Programs such as Photoshop have made photography a digital medium, calling into question the veracity of source and fact or any given shot. Here, the artist returns to a more analog, hands-on approach, using existing but anonymous photographs but cleaving them, only to then reconnect them with photographic spotting ink, interspersing images with each other, or even tearing them by hand to adjoin them according to a system. Before and after they’ve passed through Rudko’s hands, the photographs he uses are objects in and of themselves, not just images to be flicked through like a social media feed, but rather extant things with a life and meaning that is both subjective and objective. Without knowing their original source, the viewer is forced to reconcile not only with the parts of the image that are immediately identifiable, but also with the artist’s intended manipulation, combination, and reconfiguration of them. Joe Rudko is a graduate of Western Washington University and has shown broadly in both solo and group exhibitions throughout the Northwest including PDX Contemporary Art (Portland, OR), Roq La Rue (Seattle, WA), LxWxH (Seattle, WA), Photo Center Northwest (Seattle, WA), Whatcom Museum of Art (Bellingham, WA), and Greg Kucera Gallery (Seattle, WA), as well as Von Lintel Gallery (Los Angeles, CA). He has been the recipient of the Future List Award and two Art Walk Awards from City Arts Magazine as well as the Vermont Studio Center Fellowship Award. His work was featured on the cover of indie rock band Death Cab for Cutie’s 2015 album Kintsugi and is included in the collections of the Portland Art Museum, Fidelity Investments, and the private collections of Dorothy Lemelson, James and Susan Winkler, and Driek Zirinsky. Rudko lives and works in Seattle, WA. This is his first solo exhibition with Davidson Contemporary.
SLICE 2017 Cut found photographs on paper 15 x 11 inches 38 x 29 cm
HAIRPIECE 2018 Found photographs on paper 50 x 38 inches 127 x 97 cm
STAGE 2017 Found photographs on paper 32 x 45 inches 81.3 x 114.3 cm
WRESTLER 2017 Found photographs on paper 50 x 38 inches 127 x 97 cm
WOMAN WITH COLUMN 2017 Found photographs on paper 30 x 22 inches 76 x 56 cm
TRIPLETS 2017 Found photographs on paper 6 x 11.5 inches 15 x 29 cm
FOUR SEASONS 2017 Found photographs on paper 22 x 30 inches 56 x 76 cm
BORDERLINE 2018 Found photographs on paper 30 x 22 inches 76 x 56 cm
DANCERS 2018 Found photographs on paper 30 x 22 inches 76 x 56 cm
FRONT WINDOW 2018 Found photographs on paper 14 x 21 inches 35.6 x 53.3 cm
LOCKED 2018 Found photographs, colored pencil, on paper 15 x 11 inches 38 x 28 cm
MOUNTAIN 2018 Found photographs on paper 30 x 22 inches 76 x 56 cm
QUADRUPLE PORTRAIT 2017 Found photographs on paper 15 x 11 inches 38 x 28 cm
BILLOW 2018 Found photograph, photographic spotting pen, on paper 20.5 x 13 1/2 inches 52 x 34 cm
FORTUNE TELLER 2018 Found photograph, colored pencil, on paper 15 x 11 inches 38 x 28 cm
CHROMATIC BORDER 2018 Found photograph on paper 30 x 22 inches 76 x 56 cm
TOUCH UP 2017 Found photograph, acrylic, on paper 17 x 14 inches 43 x 36 cm
MOTHER W/ CHILD 2018 Retouching ink on photograph 14 x 11 inches 35.5 x 28 cm
SCREEN (SELENIUM BROWN) 2018 Retouching ink on photograph 13 3/4 x 10 3/4 inches 35 x 27.3 cm
Installation (Floor 10)
CV
Lives and works in Seattle, WA BFA, Western Washington University, Bellingham, WA SOLO EXHIBITIONS 2018 2017 2016 2015 2014 2013
Advanced Techniques of Photography, Davidson Contemporary, New York, NY Intermediate Techniques of Photography, PDX Contemporary Art, Portland, OR Basic Techniques of Photography, Greg Kucera Gallery, Seattle, WA Album, PDX Contemporary Art, Portland, OR Broken Image, Roq La Rue, Seattle, WA Double Vision (w/ Max Cleary), Arts West, Seattle, WA Picturesque, PDX Contemporary Art, Portland, OR Significant Objects (w/Kelly Bjork), Toast Gallery, Seattle, WA Manual Labor, LxWxH, Seattle, WA Convertibles (w/ Drew Miller), Vignettes, Seattle, WA New Paintings, Violet Strays, Online Exhibition
COLLECTIONS & SPECIAL PROJECTS Album cover for Death Cab for Cutie Portland Art Museum permanent collection, Portland OR
This catalogue was produced in conjunction with the exhibition Advanced Techniques of Photography at Davidson Contemporary, New York City, June 21 - July 28, 2018 All works Š Joe Rudko