For Immediate Release Contact: Carol O’Sullivan

March 30, 2007 412-681-5449

Filmmakers Announces Spring Photo Exhibits

(Pittsburgh, PA) – Filmmakers Galleries present two new shows for Spring 2007. They are both on view from April 27 through June 10. Street is a digital photo mural installation by Pittsburgh artist and educator, Robert Beckman. Running concurrently in the outer gallery is recent work by Mandy Kendall and Eno Thereska, two photography certificate candidates from Pittsburgh Filmmakers. An opening reception will be held on Friday, April 27, 7:00 - 9:00 pm. It is free and open to the public.

Street is a large-scale installation of digital photographs that Robert Beckman has manipulated to create a colorful walk-through mural. The walls are lined – ceiling to floor – with overlapping, distorted images of urban storefronts printed on paper. The result is a 40 x 20 x 10 foot-space that’s an artistic interpretation of the original street. The installation, Beckman says, “bespeaks an alienating, yet seductive, environment where visual abundance and saturation attempt to simulate significance and meaning.”

Robert Beckman, a West Virginia native, earned his MFA at Kent State University. He currently teaches printmaking at Carnegie Mellon University and is the artistic director and co-founder of Artist Image Resource (AIR), a non-profit fine arts printmaking and imaging studio in Pittsburgh. Locally he has exhibited at the Mattress Factory Museum, Space Gallery, Silver Eye Photo Gallery, Associated Artists Gallery, Sweetwater Arts Center, Pittsburgh Center for the Arts, and Three Rivers Arts Festival. He’s also been involved in a number of national and international print exhibitions.

Mandy Kendall’s work is a collection of abstract panoramic black and white landscapes from Eastern Ohio and Western PA. Using double exposure, she superimposes the landscape onto itself, creating abstract images that change shape, but are still recognizable as landscapes. Kendall employs non-traditional use of film, demonstrating an array of images that can be achieved without resorting to digital manipulation. “I encourage viewers to see the extraordinary possibilities of everyday scenes,” she says.

Eno Thereska’s work is a series of black and white portraits. A surreal quality is achieved from taking the subjects completely out of context. “I take them from their original position in space,” he explains, “and place them on a controlled environment, where their gestures can be better scrutinized.” Individually they might look lonely and detached, but the juxtaposition of portraits – where they appear to look at each other – can change the viewer’s perception.

Filmmakers Galleries are located at 477 Melwood Avenue, North Oakland. Gallery hours are Monday through Friday, noon to 5:00, and during public film screenings. Free and open to the public. For more information call 412-681-5449, or visit: www.pghfilmmakers.org

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