Finding Equilibrium: Photography by Larry Garmezy

Archway Gallery presents Finding Equilibrium: Photography by Larry Garmezy. Opening Reception Saturday, January 9. On view through February 4, 2016.

Although Finding Equilibrium began as an exploration of the patterns, textures and colors found in the pristine waters of natural springs, midway through this adventure Garmezy’s thoughts shifted to the demands placed on these waters as they meander downstream through the human world.

This exhibition ends with a suite of images designed to challenge the viewer with the question, “When are WE too many?” Are we, in fact, losing equilibrium?

Finding Equilibrium was also the title of the last image of Garmezy’s previous exhibition at Archway Gallery, Orogenesis which focused on the “solid” forms of mountain landscapes, ephemeral on a time scale only a geologist can appreciate.

This time around he studied waterscapes in and around natural springs that change in the blink of an eye. This fluid environment is designed for the photographic art form. Whereas the human eye can see the motion created by the upwelling of water, it takes a mechanical shutter to “freeze” the scene, revealing the composition in all its glory and novelty.

Through digital deconstruction of details the fundamental form and texture, color and light emerge. Seeing rhythms in the natural world is an offshoot of Garmezy’s geologic background and much of his work captures the unusual and subtle patterns he finds at every scale of observation from the microscopic to the grand panorama.

This exploration began with the discovery of a spectacular natural spring along the eastern flank of the “Island Park Caldera” in eastern Idaho and continued through the Rockies, central Texas, New England and Southern France. The spectacular range and intensity of color and the patterns created by the interplay of the water, light, plant life and topography spring from these images as the body of water attempts to “find equilibrium.”

The show’s title also suggests the role the natural world plays in Garmezy’s life and where he returns to seek his own equilibrium. “To this day, I can close my eyes and return to every mountain range, valley, stream or snowfield I have traversed over the past 50 years,” he said.

Garmezy attended Amherst College in the mountains of Massachusetts and graduate school at Penn State, in the mountains of central Pennsylvania; he recently retired from Shell Oil after a 32-year geologic career traveling the globe. Garmezy’s art career began in earnest in 2007.

His work has been exhibited in juried shows in Seattle and Houston. Most recently a piece from Finding Equilibrium was accepted into the September 2015 juried membership show of the Houston Visual Arts Alliance. His work has been on view at numerous venues in the Houston area, including a public commission in Bellaire.

Larry is a member of the Houston Center for Photography, and the Houston Visual Arts Alliance. He has been a member of Archway Gallery since November 2011.

Pictured: Larry Garmezy, “Light of the Vaucluse”, 36″x24.”