642 E. Market Street
Louisville, KY 40202
(502) 303-7259
www.garnernarrative.com
Hours: Wed-Sat: 1:00 – 6:00 pm, Sun: 12:00 – 5:00 pm,
First Friday Gallery Hops 1:00 – 9:00 pm, and by appointment
Salvaged Landscapes
Featuring Stephen Dorsett
Dates: October 15th – November 14th, 2021
Events: First Friday Reception November 5th, 6:00 pm – 9:00 pm
Artist Reception, Sunday, October 17, 2-5 pm
The work in the show is a meditation on consumerism and the environment. As I transform consumer waste into miniature landscapes, I think about the effort and ingenuity of the people who designed and manufactured the products, and how they allow workers to earn a living. I also think about the impact of the products on the environment. Most importantly, I think about my own role in this paradigm. How much do consumer products enrich my life, how much trash do I dispose of on a regular basis, how much value does the environment have to me personally, and how can I make better choices that have a less detrimental impact on it? Through these artistic meditations, I try to become a more conscientious consumer and steward of the environment.
My photographs are of miniature landscapes made from consumer waste. Each of my landscapes starts with gathering materials. Boxes, fast food containers, aluminum foil, and Styrofoam packaging are never hard to find. After I collect them, I smash, boil, burn, and pulverize the materials into sculptural media. Next, I compose miniature landscapes looking through a camera lens. My lighting setup is low-fi. I use desk lamps for light and colored binder dividers to alter the light’s color. The end products are realistic and highly saturated landscape photographs. To give viewers an understanding of my artistic process, I will display the landscape dioramas that serve as the source of my photographs alongside the landscape photographs themselves.