THE LANGUAGE OF COLOR07.24 2009
Shawn Brackbill and Maggie Manzer at 1026
Space 1026 presents an exhibition of the photography of Shawn Brackbill and Maggie Manzer opening First Friday August 7, 7-10 p.m., at 1026 Arch Street, Philadelphia, PA.
Both Brackbill and Manzer use the camera to capture unguarded moments in the lives of their subjects, be they a friend or a stranger, a bedroom or an unfamiliar landscape.
Shawn Brackbill has made a career of photographing indie culture luminaries, but his portraiture defies the standards of typical “band portraits.” Whether shooting a musician before a performance or models waiting in the wings at a fashion show, the subjects populating the austere environments of his photographs seem to be caught in a cinematic state of suspended animation. Similarly, the mundane settings of Brackbill’s landscapes create a blank canvas that invites the viewer to discover the absurd or the sublime in these commonplace scenes.
Brackbill received a degree in Film Studies from University of Pittsburgh. He has taken photographs for a variety of musicians, record labels, and fashion designers including Sonic Youth, Kurt Vile, Dischord Records, and Iris Loeffler. His work has been featured in publications such as MOJO, Anthem, and Dazed and Confused.
Maggie Manzer seeks to create a beautiful record of her world, travels and experiences through her photography. Her highly personal work features friends and lovers captured in ordinary, occasionally intimate and even vulnerable moments; yet the exquisite light infusing each image imparts the sense that her subjects live in a magical reality separate from the rest of the world. These sparse but poetic tableaux allow her viewers a momentary escape from everyday life into simpler and seemingly effortless existence.
Manzer was born in Arkansas and grew up traveling around Europe with her parents. She studied fashion photography at FIT and currently splits her time between New York and Philadelphia. She also runs Progressive Sharing, her gallery space in Philadelphia.