Rolfe Horn – Italy and other Vistas
Exhibition: November 14th – December 30th 2006

Scott Nichols Gallery is proud to present recent work by prolific photographer Rolfe Horn. Focusing on a variety of serene landscapes and architecture, this latest exhibition concentrates on his photographs from Italy as well as featuring his most recent project from his own backyard in the Montclair District of Oakland. With an arresting strength and boldness of form Horn’s photographs from Italy capture the ancient architecture of the Roman Empire, juxtaposed with quieter more meditative images such as seascapes of Hero’s Coast and meandering Etruscan streams. His newest photographs made on the Huckleberry Path near his home in Sibley capture the natural world with his signature uncanny freshness and purity of vision.

For almost 20 years Horn has worked unceasingly in the creation and recreation of his oeuvre. His love affair with photography was sparked at a young age when he would explore the trails around his home in the East Bay and Lake Tahoe. His formal training began in the traditional style of West Coast landscape photography with the instruction of Mark Citret. In 1993 he entered the Brooks Institute of Photography in Santa Barbara, California where he studied with Nick Dekker, who introduced him to experimentation with alternative processes. He graduated in 1996 with a Bachelor of Arts degree as the most outstanding graduate of his class.

Although rooted in tradition, Horn has always challenged the norm with his unusual images of the urban landscape and of nighttime scenes. As viewers we sense Horn’s fascination with the world- we see redwoods like bodies dancing with outstretched arms, parking meters rising like young saplings in the night air, and curved lines of a highway like wings of a bird across the sky. While working, he says, “I become a child where I am fascinated by the scene until it reveals a unique beauty which can only be expressed visually.”
 
Horn’s travels have led him through some of the most awe-inspiring and spiritual landscapes in the world, specifically Asia and Southeast Asia.  His first book, Angkor, published in 2000 by Nazraeli Press, probes the combination of spiritual structures within the natural environment, depicting ancient stones melding into the earth. In his most recent travel series, Japan 2001, the often geometric landscapes resonate with a serene calm, reflecting the simplicity and balance of the ancient culture. His newest book, 28 Photographs, also published by Nazraeli Press, has landed itself on the Photoeye bestseller list. His current project, In A Grove, depicts scenes of redwoods from his very own backyard, displaying Horn’s ever-increasing skill and confidence in transforming the world of the ordinary into the extraordinary.

Horn is able to create such scenes of drama- luminous images that seem to glow with their own sources of light- by using complex and advanced printing processes The technique of photography is so deeply ingrained in his being that he feels it is “like a reflex- a reaction to the visual and emotional senses. ”Through alternative processing founded upon his training in the zone system, he is able to create his images exactly as he imagines them in his mind’s eye.  His website, www.f45.com, provides a detailed explanation of his photographic technique and printing process, as well as an extensive archive of his work.