Image/Identity: Looking For Who We Are

“Image/Identity: Looking For Who We Are”

Opens at Ironworks Gallery December 16, 2011

Exhibition Features Work by Photographer Bill Westheimer and Sculptor Larry Dell

16/12 – 20/01

Orange, NJ, December 7, 2011 – Valley Arts Inc. today announced the opening of “Image/Identity: Looking For Who We Are” an exhibition of photographs by Bill Westheimer and sculptures by Larry Dell at the Ironworks Gallery located at 406 Tompkins St. in Orange, NJ. The opening reception is December 16, 2011 from 6 – 9 pm.

The exhibition “Image/Identity: Looking For Who We Are” poses questions about the idea of the self and how experience forms our individuality.

Bill Westheimer will present photographs from his “Manual” series. The series’ title “Manual” refers to hands, the subjects of the photographs. According to the artist “MANUAL is a collection of portraits of people from diverse backgrounds, occupations, ages, and cultures from around the globe. In each hand portrait is a study of the person’s dominant hand, revealing evidence of how they have lived, who they are, and what they may become.”

Using 19th century collodion wet-plate techniques, Westheimer photographed each person’s dominant hand then collaborated with his subjects to make a camera-less photogram of the palm print. Both images were then combined with the subject’s handwriting to create one portrait of each person from three perspectives.  ValleyArts brings Westheimer’s work also outside the site of the gallery with an outstanding display in one of the Valley’s business windows on Valley Road as part of the Windows of the Valley initiative.  

Larry Dell will present sculpture from an ongoing project prompted by the discovery of his adoption. Although highly personal the work is meant to pose questions about personality and relationships that are applicable to virtually everyone. The “Ghost” series explores the idea of  “phantom” relatives lost through external circumstances, which may never be known. The “Lost Identity” work deals directly with last contact between the artist and his natural mother. “These are subjects that choose and propelled me to explore ideas about dishonesty, love, my relationships to the people most important in my life and my own identity,” said Mr. Dell.

ValleyArts, Inc. is a nonprofit organization whose mission is: to grow and maintain a vibrant arts district in the Valley neighborhood of Orange and West Orange and to create cultural and artistic opportunities for local residents of all ages. The IronWorks Gallery is one of ValleyArts’ initiatives to promote local artists and the benefits of art within the local community at large.