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odes and travels

    I’ve seen the work of Anna Tomczak before. She was one of the featured artists in Photoprocess, an exhibition at the Jane Gray Gallery, and her work also hangs in Jacksonville’s new Main Library. From now until July 14th, her work is featured at the Cultural Center at Ponte Vedra Beach, in an exhibition entitled, Odes and Travels.

    Generally, Tomczak arranges still life compositions, juxtaposing an assortment of flowers with distinctive objects to create a presumably allegorical scene. Her compositions recall the album artwork from the Pixies’ catalogue, with the raw edges of the Surfer Rosa artwork and the allegory of the photos inside Doolittle. At first glance, the images in Doolittle seem like a random display of items, but as you read the lyrics printed on the adjacent page, the image begins to reveal its meaning.

    Although Tomczak’s images are simply titled, we can use the title as a springboard to any number of ideas. In fact, that flexibility is what makes Tomczak’s work so appealing. It can be a pleasant experience to be captured by an image while deciphering its message. That’s one of the best ways an artist can really connect with a large audience; by allowing each viewer to draw his/her own conclusions.

    Specializing in Polacolor image transfer photographs on archival art paper, Tomczak uses this complicated process to keep the artistic influence active all the way through the image’s creation. These aren’t snapshots, and there’s no way a regular film-developing machine could produce these images. It’s an intense process that allows the artist to manipulate as much of the final image as a painter can.

    I’m enraptured by Tomczak’s work, and it’s the handmade nature of her work that elicits in me such a deep response. She displays her work with the rough edges of the image exposed, allowing us to see the evidence of the developing process. She even allows developmental flaws and image decay to remain, giving the composition an artisan-like feel. It causes us to consider the physical creation of the final product as well as the conceptual creation. Modern photography often chooses to act as a transparent window to the image’s contents, but Tomczak’s image transfers call attention to the medium itself, just as a painter’s brush strokes are evident on a canvas or the impressions of a potter’s fingers remain in a bowl.

    Do your best to visit the Cultural Center at Ponte Vedra Beach before Tomczak’s work is replaced. To the best of my knowledge, none of the work shown at the Cultural Center has been present at the other places I just mentioned. Take some time to let your mind be drawn into a few of the images. You’ll notice yourself creating a complex explanation that fits you quite nicely, and you’ll wonder if it’s the exact reason Tomczak arranged the image in the first place.

    To learn more about Anna Tomczak and her work, visit her website at annatomczak.com. To learn more about the Cultural Center at Ponte Vedra Beach, visit ccpvb.org.