Snowbound
In January of 2006 I spent a month in Iceland, the days wandering a fjord. The photographs from this wandering comprised half of Snowbound. The remaining photographs shared a similarly snowy theme.
Snowbound ended up a project room of twelve photographs a the Derek Eller Gallery in June of 2007.
Incidentally, during the rather longer nights I worked on programming the physics of collision into a web browser.
Here is the press release from the show:
As a counterpoint to our June New York weather, Dan Torop presents us with Snowbound, a dozen photographs of snowy landscapes. Torop's images reflect the cherished moment of remove that comes from being bound, or lost, within a place. The language of this small paradise exists for us to happen upon in future days or to reflect on in former. For the visitor, the cold moment is a negotiable foray into fiction and found territory. For Torop, snowbound has become a sudden place where delirious peace dawns.
Many of Torop's photographs were made during his stay in northern Iceland in the winter of 2006. Others document Torop's recent ascents (both foiled by pre-season snowstorms) of Monkey Mountain in the Colorado Rockies, or capture an upstate winter brook by moonlight and an other-worldy body of water in the digitally manipulated Ocean with Pale Moon. Low sun reflects on hillsides; Orion stands in a midnight sky; sweet horses share grass far from a snowy fjord. Through the images we descend from high above the plain, see a figure in morning mist, then find ourselves on a road through clouds reminiscent of the final moment of Gilliam's Brazil. The works exist within the traditions of American landscape photography, but also look back to the Transcendentalist hopes for the wandering self and a not-entirely-tranquil nature.
Dan Torop’s work has recently been seen at the Islip Art Museum, Middlebury College Museum of Art, and Fairbanks Museum in Vermont. This will be Torop’s third solo show with the gallery.
Derek Eller Gallery is located at 615 West 27th Street, between 11th and 12th Avenues.
Hours are Tuesday - Saturday from 11am - 6pm. For further information or visuals, please contact the gallery at 212.206.6411 or visit www.derekeller.com.