AARON R. TURNER | BLACK ALCHEMY: Resolve (attempt #1)
July 6th, 2023 - September 30th, 2023 | Press release
Open Monday - Friday | 2 - 6pm | Viewings By Appointment Only
Closing reception with the artist: Thursday, September 28th, 6–8PM
Walk-through with the artist: Saturday, September 30th, 12-2PM RSVP is required.
The media release is available here.
Title: Understanding origins of Mississippi Suite: #4, 2020
Edition: 3 + 1 AP
Series: Black Alchemy: If this one thing is true
Size: 20in x 24in
+ info
“Black Alchemy provides a lens through which I see the world while simultaneously considering the past, present, and future. I use light in combination with influences of geometric abstract painting to shift questions of identity within an established, often monolithic historical narrative and address the discourse of photography.”
Aaron R. Turner
Penumbra Foundation is pleased to present Black Alchemy: Resolve (attempt #1), a solo exhibition by Arkansas based artist Aaron R. Turner.
Resolve (attempt #1) explores the linear movement of light, desire, and time. In the pursuit of abstraction to create speculative narratives, Turner uses various photographic techniques and processes, including reflective and archival materials, and in-camera and darkroom manipulation.
This exhibition combines works from multiple series within and outside of Black Alchemy, and is a non-representational response to and visual analysis of objective and subjective ideas in photography as it relates to the individual lived experience of everyday life and internal contemplations.
Moves From The Archive
Moves From The Archive is a richly layered book that pulls from a wide array of ideas, influences and traditions. The photographs, which are a part of the larger and ongoing project, represent cultural and familial images, exploring them as both subject matter and material. […]
The result is a formal language that exists in dialogue with legacies of nonrepresentational art in both photography and painting. Turner also challenges assumptions about what it means to be a Black artist working within this tradition – drawing a parallel between racial passing and abstraction.
Photogravure
Title: Untitled (self, extended), 2020. Photograph: Aaron R. Turner.
Gravure plate and prints: Beth Ganz.
Edition: 10 (2AP)
Paper Size: 11x14in.
Image Size: 6.5x8.5in
Produced by Penumbra Foundation
Images in the Exhibition (selection):
Title: Shift: History at Play #2 (Triptych)
Edition: 3 + 1AP
Series: Black Alchemy: Vol. 3
Size: 20in x 24in
Year: 2020
+ info
Title: Shift: History at Play #1 (Triptych)
Edition: 3 + 1AP
Series: Black Alchemy: Vol. 3
Size: 11in x 14in
Year: 2020
+ info
Title: Sister & Beauty #2 (partial)
Edition: 3 + 1AP
Series: Black Alchemy: If this one thing is true.
Size: 16in x 20in
Year: 2020
+ info
Title: Back to labor #1
Edition: 3 + 1AP
Series: Black Alchemy: If this one thing is true
Size: 11in x 14in
Year: 2020
+ info
Title: Understanding origins of Mississippi Suite: #1,
Edition: 3 + 1 AP
Series: Black Alchemy: If this one thing is true
Size: 20in x 24in
Year: 2020
+ info
About the artist
Aaron Turner is an artist and educator currently based in Arkansas. He uses photography as a transformative process to understand the ideas of home and resilience in two main areas of the U.S., the Arkansas and Mississippi Deltas. Turner creates still-life studies on identity, history, blackness as material, and abstraction. Turner received his M.A. from Ohio University and an M.F.A from Mason Gross School of the Arts, Rutgers University. He was a 2018 Light Work Artists-in-Residence at Syracuse University, 2019 EnFoco Photography Fellow, 2020 Visual Studies Workshop Project Space Artists-in-Residence, 2020 Artist 360 Mid-America Arts Alliance Grant Recipient, 2021 Houston Center for Photography Fellowship Recipient, 2021 Creators Lab Photo Fund recipient from Google’s Creator Labs & the Aperture Foundation, and 2022 Darryl Chappell Foundation photographer-in-residence at Ogden Museum of Southern Art.
Acknowledgments
This exhibition was made possible thanks to the work and generosity of Aaron R. Turner.
Penumbra's Exhibition Space is supported in part by the Joy of Giving Something.
Black Alchemy: Resolve (attempt #1) was organized by Aaron Turner and Leandro Villaro.
Related Programming: Chloe Brover & Jazmin Maço. Social Media: Gabrielle Gowans. Text Editor: Liz Sales.
Exhibition Production: Light Valve Technology: Prepress Express. Printing: LTI-Lightside. Framing: Ashmun Workshop.
Images © Aaron Turner / Penumbra Foundation
About Penumbra’s Exhibition Space
Penumbra’s Exhibition Space is a new gallery dedicated to presenting work that advances historic and alternative photographic processes in ways that are as conceptually and socially relevant as they are materially driven. The goal of this space is to foster conversations about the role of photography in contemporary society through curated exhibitions and collaborations.
About Penumbra Foundation
Penumbra Foundation is a non-profit organization that brings together the Art and Science of Photography through education, research, outreach, public and residency programs. Its goal is to be a comprehensive resource for photographers at any level, artists, students, professionals, historians, researchers, conservators and curators. Penumbra specializes in advancing the use of historic and alternative photographic technologies for contemporary image-making.