Telluride Gallery of Fine Art: Scott Rhea at Art Walk

03 Jun Telluride Gallery of Fine Art: Scott Rhea at Art Walk

Water.

The subject is addressed in Scripture nearly 1,000 times. Water twins with the subconscious mind, representing the world of the dreams. Water is a universal symbol of change, often present at turning points in a story. Clear, fresh and pure, it is a sign of life. Dark and murky, water symbolizes death.

Scott Rhea, The Addiction

And sometimes, such as in the very special case of Scott Rhea, the bi-polar nature of water comes together to produce something wonderful to behold.

Rhea is a successful commercial photographer and director born and raised in Louisiana. Early aspirations of designing clothes combined with a love of photography led to a career shooting fashion. Rhea has lived and worked in Europe and the U.S. shooting advertising campaigns and editorials. His collection of ethereal underwater photography, two-dimensional theatre, was inspired by the destruction and aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. The images exploring themes of cause and effect are beguiling examples of Magic Realism: strange circumstances and juxtapositions infuse the ordinary with a sense of mystery that both beckons and threatens the viewer.

Scott Rhea, The Circus Within

The opening of a solo show of Rhea’s work, including a video installation, on display at the Telluride Gallery of Fine Art coincides with Telluride Arts’ First Thursday Art Walk and includes a wine tasting. The exhibit will be up for one month.

“Preservation of the original state that conceived  this work remained key in bringing the images to life. After Hurricane Katrina, I began waking in the middle of the night and journaling the storybook like visuals, which were oppressively beautiful in ways, yet serene and hopeful. Everyone knew it was inevitable New Orleans would eventually suffer this fate so the idea of visually exploring cause and effect, actions and consequence, gave way to the common theme of this collection.

The weightless environment of the underwater world and behavior of light in water set a stage for creating a world that cannot be replicated above ground. Collaboration of the many talented people, the bravery of the talent, and common belief in the idea that something magical was going to happen were all components that made for the perfect alignment of events for a project like this to be created.”

Scott Rhea. Lessons

At a time when so much can be accomplished digitally, it’s refreshing to encounter images such as those of Scott Rhea. Representing the intersection of New Orleans and the artist’s subconscious, they are at once consummately lucid and deeply haunting.

To learn more, click the “play” button and listen to my chat with Scott Rhea.