ROCHESTER. N.Y.- George Eastman House presents Photography on the Edge: Create and Be Recognized, an exhibition exploring a long overlooked aspect of outsider art — outsider photography, which are works created outside the established photographic field. The 15 artists surveyed include luminaries Howard Finster, Morton Bartlett, Henry Darger, and August Walla. Through their lenses and appropriated images, many of these artists have exposed their own worlds, often fueled by obsession and passion. For the first time the work of these artists has been brought together to examine the motivations, methods, and materials that allowed them to created work outside of the mainstream. Photography on the Edge, on view at Eastman House Jan. 22 through April 10, is a rare opportunity to experience their creations.

While extremely prolific, the artists represented in the exhibition often lack any formal art education, and although hugely ambitious in their work, almost none had an interest in the art marketplace. Since most of their work was never intended for public consumption, its inclusion in the show and the fact that it is being presented posthumously, is of no coincidence. These unschooled artists often times did not have direct access to a highly technical medium such as photography. They instead made innovative and unexpected work using found images and employing experimental techniques.

The exhibition challenges the boundaries that define photograph, encompassing various techniques such as collage, photomontage, and manipulation/tableau, the unifying theme among the artists is their compulsion to create. Collage refers to affixing photographs or photomechanical reproductions to a background; photomontage refers primarily to photographs cut-and-pasted together to form a new whole; and works based on manipulation include multiple printing, hand-coloring, and/or staging the subject to be photographed.

Photography on the Edge transcends all conventional expectations of photography. It includes the work of visionaries such as Morton Bartlett, a Harvard-educated photographer with an obsession for creating the ultimate family photo album; Lee Godie, an artist on the streets of Chicago who used a Trailway-photo booth as her studio; August Walla, first institutionalized at the age of 16, who spent most of his life in a mental hospital for schizophrenia; and Richard Shaver, a science- fiction writer who documented extraterrestrial images found inside of rocks. This intimate glimpse into the realities of these outsider artists reveals a unique and sometimes obsessive existence. Through their enigmatic expressions, one senses the secret characteristics that shape their work.

While some of the artists are well known for their work in outsider art, the show highlights their lesser known works that include photographic elements. The singular passions, marginalized mindsets, and extreme circumstances experienced by this group, make the exhibit fascinating and not to be missed. The freshness of Photography on the Edge will help us look at contemporary art and photography in a new way.

Photography on the Edge was organized by Yerba Buena Center for the Arts in San Francisco "to acknowledge the work of artists who otherwise would be left unrecognized and uncelebrated for no other reason then their lack of participation in the formal art world," according to René de Guzman, visual arts curator. The exhibition was curated by John Turner, an art historian and scholar in outsider art, and Deborah Klochko, who is the former Director of The Friends of Photography and a museum educator and independent curator. Klochko, now based in California, is a Pittsford native who graduated from Rochester’s Visual Studies Workshop and once worked at Eastman House as a docent.

"It is clear from the work in this exhibition that photography goes well beyond the narrow definition of pointing a camera and shooting a picture," said Klochko and Turner. "By using photography in is broadest understanding, these artists are able to pose, paste, color, or collage their individual visions into exciting and unique works." Klochko continued, "This exhibition breaks the rules, which is what good art is all about."

The exhibition is accompanied by a 155-page catalog published by Chronicle Books, which is for sale in the Eastman House Store. For more information about the exhibition please call (585) 271-3361.

FILM SERIES
Eastman House will present a film series in conjunction with the exhibition Photography on the Edge. The film series, titled Create and Be Recognized: Outsider Films and Filmmakers, kicks off Friday, Jan. 21. The Dryden Theatre will present its own take on outsider art, cinema made by or about artists whose earnestness, lack of guile, and unique personal visions make for fascinating viewing experiences. Another name for outsider art is raw art, and that’s exactly what these films are: raw, pure, personal. All films begin at 8 p.m. Admission is $6 adults/$5 students. For more information call (585) 271-4090.

Friday, Jan. 21