Southwest Baptist University will host an artist exhibit featuring the photography of Steven Brown from Nov. 7-18 at the Driskill Art Gallery on the Bolivar campus.
Brown, an adjunct professor for SBU’s art department, has had a love of photography for nearly his entire life.
“At the age of 12, I discovered my first camera store when my mother took me with
her on a shopping trip to the nearby city,” Brown said. “I had noticed, going into
the shop, that a few doors down was a camera store. I was immediately intrigued. I
asked my mother if I could go in and look around. My mother was a very gracious woman
who would always encourage me in any interest that I had, so of course she said yes.
“That was the beginning of my journey with photography.”
Brown’s work has been in two different areas during the past seven years.
“One body of work explores the idea of the reduction of the image using the camera as well as digital manipulation,” Brown said. “These images are about reducing distractions to the point that the image becomes even more focused through the use of camera angle, focal length and various tools found in Adobe Photoshop.
“The second body of work is a more overt manipulation of physical spaces that I visit. These images are captured in abandoned places which were once thriving and full of activity. I find discarded objects in these long forgotten places and wrap them in linen and photograph the result in such a way as to give the space a new form through the creation of art.”
Brown describes photography as “fundamentally different than art forms, such as painting and drawing.”
“A painting starts with a blank canvas,” Brown said. “The artist may have a fully formed idea of what the final piece will look like, but there is still the moment at the beginning of the creation of the art where the painter is faced with a blank piece of paper. This is not true for photographers. A photographer must decide what part of the world to show in the photograph before activating the shutter on the camera.”
A reception for Brown will be held from 5-6:30 p.m. on Nov. 11 at the gallery.
For more information about the exhibit or the SBU art program, contact Dawn Katzer at 417-328-1651 or dkatzer@sbuniv.edu.