The Sentiment of Love, as mentioned previously, is an exhibition of photography currently on at Urban Angel’s The Art Lounge. I stopped by the opening last Thursday to see photographs by Alva Bernadine and Tamara Seabrook.
It struck me a bit odd that The Art Lounge was hosting a photography exhibit, as they normally specialize in my area of expertise, street art. What I didn’t realize before I arrived was that I knew Tamara Seabrook as the regular collaborator of graffiti writer Part2ism. Other than Part2ism using a few of Seabrook’s photos as inspiration for recent paintings though, these two artists do very different work.
But even more different are the photographs of Seabrook and Bernadine. Although they both have an erotic bent, the end results look completely different. Seabrook’s photos have an edginess that comes from her low-fi style where the photos are often blurry or grainy and subjects wear home made masks. Seabrook’s photographs force the viewer to examine the subject, sometimes not a pretty sight.
By comparison, in Bernadine’s photos are mostly very bright and technicolor, a bit surrealist. Viewers might first look at the subject as you would be expected to, but the most interesting parts of his images are the little touches. Using reflections and shadows, he tells stories and expands on the character that he is photographing.
I don’t make it to nearly enough non street art related galleries, so it was a pleasant surprise to have these two photographers show up in a gallery I go to all the time.
The Sentiment of Love is open Wednesdays through Saturdays until August 31st.
