Allison Somers
ENFOLDING
October 10 – November 17
Opening Reception Friday October 10, 6-9pm

Microscope is extremely pleased to present ENFOLDING by Allison Somers as the first solo show in its new space, and the third at the gallery by the former Brooklyn artist, now based in Paris. ENFOLDING finds Somers inspired by nature and traditional photo and dyeing practices in new works featuring dye on fabric, cyanotype on birch log, and related black & white photograms.

For ENFOLDING, Somers assumes as her starting point early camera-less photography and the millennia-old tradition of fabric dyeing, building upon and cross-pollinating possibilities in medium and large-scale, single and double-sided dye-based works. Titles such as “smoking”, “asleep at the movies”, and “looking at maps” remind that unlike the insta-nature of current technologies, time and waiting are essential elements of these hand-made works in which image and color are determined by the length of exposures ranging from 15 minutes to a full day. Imagery not only results from but has enfolded within the traces of the materials and processes of its making.

In several of the works, Somers reinterprets the photogram, replacing photosensitive paper with photosensitive dye and fabric that is folded, bound, and otherwise manipulated to create works of unexpected patterns and hues that surface during the exposure process, with the sun serving as the light source. In others, Somers entirely sets aside the photographic materials grounding the works in traditional dyeing methods yet using her knowledge and practice of darkroom chemistry to embed within a sense of immediacy and illumination.

Related investigations from the darkroom in the form of photograms resulting from salt dissolving on photo paper, and from nature – cyanotypes on birch log – reference Somers’ earlier body of work and hint at new possibilities ahead.

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Allison Somers was born in Los Angeles and is currently based in Paris, France. In her work she re-explores early-century photographic techniques, processes, chemicals and dyes on paper and fabric, as well as moving image. She has previously exhibited at Microscope Gallery, White Box, Participant Inc., Emily Harvey Foundation, 80WSE Gallery, Scaramouche Gallery among others. Somers received an MFA from New York University in 2010 and this is her third solo show at the gallery.


Allison Somers, “Enfolding”, partial installation views


Allison Somers
“untitled”, 2014
silver gelatin print
20 x 16 inches


Allison Somers, ENFOLDING, Oct. 10 – Nov 17
Opening Reception Friday Oct. 10, 6-9pm

For any inquiries please contact the gallery at 347.925.1433, or by email at inquiries@microscopegallery.com



Microscope Gallery (note new address)
1329 Willoughby Ave, #2B (btwn Wyckoff & St. Nicholas)
Brooklyn, NY 11237
tel: 347.925.1433
info@microscopegallery.com
Hours: Thurs through Mon 1-6pm

L Jefferson Street (exit Starr)