From August 20 to September 11, Kansas City Stockyards Gallery presents the "Plastic Camera Show" that includes six photographic works by writer/photographer CB Adams, including the diptych shown here titled "A New Season." The free opening reception for the "Plastic Camera Show" is Friday, August 20 from 5-8 p.m.
The call for entry by gallery owner Vanessa Lacy was for images made with plastic, or toy, cameras, such as Holgas, Dianas, Spinners, Pinholes, etc. The guiding them for the show was from a quote by Dorothea Lange: "The camera is an instrument that teaches people how to see without a camera." This is resonant with the lo-fi nature of toy cameras that operate with limited controls and many quirks.
CB Adams (www.qwerkyphotography.com) is an award-winning, published short fiction writer and fine art photographer. Adams draws upon a collection of more than 60 film-based and digital cameras in a wide range of formats to create images that often render the beautiful embedded in old, forgotten or run-down subjects. Recent gallery showings include: “summertime” at A Smith Gallery, Johnson City, TX, “Krappy Kamera” at Soho Photo Gallery in New York City, “Art Through the Lens 2019” at Yeiser Art Center in Paducah, KY, “Unrefined Light: Image-Making With Plastic Cameras” at The Foundry Art Centre, St. Charles, MO, RAW: St. Louis Presents Grandeur,” Plastic Fantastic X, Lightbox Gallery, Astoria, OR, “Somerville Toy Camera Show (2016, 2018 & 2019) in Boston, MA, and “State of Our Shared Land” at St. Louis Artists Guild, among many others.
Follow CB Adams on Instagram @qwerkystudio and @johnbent61, Facebook @qwerkyphotography, Flickr @cbadams2 and Twitter @hansduker.
Artist Statement from CB Adams: "Photography is freedom, my unfettered opportunity to render the world as I encounter it randomly in my everyday life, without (usually) a predetermined (thus limiting) goal of capturing a specific scene or series, or even project. This freedom extends across a spectrum of cameras, including toy cameras, which I have been shooting with for more than 15 years. I integrate the blur, light leaks and other idiosyncrasies into each image. I use the imperfections of the toy camera lens to remind the viewer that a photograph belies the machine that made it, tips the hand. The aberrations of toy camera images disrupt the exchange between photographer and viewer and result in an image that announces itself, redefining the lines between accuracy and reality."
The Kansas City Stockyards Gallery is located in the beautiful, historic Livestock Exchange Building located at 1600 Genessee St, Suite 161, Kansas City, MO 64102.