FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

'Sight:Insight' - New Works by Selected Gallery Artists:
Judith Jaye Tanzman, Rhonda L. Wilson
Dates: February 3^rd - 28^th, 2004
Opening Reception: Saturday, February 7^th, 6-9 PM

Absolute Art Gallery
2326 Huntington Drive, San Marino, CA 91108
Tel: 626.285.8585, Fax: 626.285.8808
E-mail, <mailto:info@absoluteartgallery.net>
Web site, <http://www.absoluteartgallery.net>
Gallery Hours: Tuesday to Saturday, 11am-6pm, and by appointment

San Marino, CA -- Absolute Art Gallery, a new contemporary art gallery, is very pleased to announce its fourth exhibition, 'Sight:Insight,' featuring two contemporary fine art photographer, Judith Jaye Tanzman, Rhonda L. Wilson.

With a strong passion for art, Absolute Art gallery will present a variety of excellent contemporary artists working in many different styles and media. The gallery will act as go-between classical and modern, human and natural, historical and realistic, and stimulate conversation of such issues in order to provide a window of communication for art enjoyment and appreciation, and to increase dynamic cultural activities for our families, friends, and the community.  The exhibition opens February 3^rd and runs through 28^th, 2004.

ÒSight:InsightÓ links together with two contemporary fine art photographers visually and spiritually, from their strong intuitive sights, through their creative process, to their final artistic presentations.

Judith J. Tanzman's work has evolved over the last 25 years, like the slow erosion of her recent landscape subjects.  Her focus has shifted from internal to external, from examinations of the human figure and family history to desolate outdoor spaces.

ÒInfrared light is to the environment as silence is to the emotion,Ó Judith said. Two things remain constant: the inward journey her work takes her where she trying to balance the physical, intellectual and spiritual selves; and her consuming process of manipulating light, perception and even photographic chemistry.

Judith's been experimenting on a series of large-scale photos she calls 'Terra Mortui.' She fully immerses herself in a site, returning at different times of the day, month, and year to study the constantly changing details and shimmering, silvery light.  She uses infrared, black and white film, which, like the environments she shoots, is fragile when exposed to light and the elements.  The film produces a grainy, "charcoal sketch" quality with a layer of light that emanates from the surface. ÒI carefully select images that capture "the spirit" of the past and destructive temperament of the present.  Yet the finished work transcends the stench and decay and reveals the ethereal qualities and surreal beauty so often over-looked.  Thereafter, these images become fossils of time, past and present, taken out of the context of reality.Ó

In recent years Judith's been drawn to ephemeral landscapes located just hours outside the city limits.  In the disconcerting silence of these shifting and eroding places, She photograph the remains of abandoned ecosystems and built environments gone terribly wrong.  While sites like Death Valley invite photographers to capture the vast scale or exquisite land formations, 'I'm more interested in the sculptures that emerge and coexist among the skeletal remains of mining towns like Rhyolite, Nevada.  Or at the Salton Sea, with its noxious stench and the crunch of decaying fish and birds under foot,' And, 'I'm more fascinated by the fish that surface, imprisoned by the murky, muddy and oily waters, only to disappear.'

ÒAshes to AshesÓ is another series that captures the rebirth of the spirit emerging from the fragile temperament of natural and human existence, in its depths and emotions the very essence of the spiritual and the physical can be found.

Rhonda L. Wilson, another contemporary photographer with strong artistic intuition, is always seeking of visual information of the world: ÒSTRONG FORM IN BEAUTIFUL LIGHTÉSo simple. So magical. Yet so defining. The essence of everything I want in my images. This is the 'IT' I seek.'

Rhonda found the real definition of 'form,' the feature of the two opposites of light and shadow, the shape structure and design of any create form where none existed before and a simple form made outstanding with beautiful light can make even the most mundane thing look exceedingly beautiful. She responds to the rhythms of the lines and the gradations of the light. She was attracted by a natural tension between the shadows and the light. This tension is a drama of conflicting forces that adds a certain distinctive quality that gives pleasure to her senses. 'I want your to see the beauty and the value in the these seemingly unremarkable scenes. I want to make compelling to you what I am compelled to see and feel. I want to awaken you senses as mine are awakened. I want you to have the joy of discovery as I do.'

The opening reception will be held from 6-9 PM on Saturday, February 7^th, 2004 and will be open to the public.

Absolute Art Gallery is located at 2326 Huntington Drive, between San Marino Avenue and Del Mar Avenue, 100 feet east of San Marino City Hall, south of Huntington Library in San Marino.

For more information about Absolute Art Gallery and exhibitions, including images, please contact: Gallery Director at 626.285.8585 or info@absoluteartgallery.net