Where Have I Been?
Astute followers of my blog may have noticed my absence over the last few months. I have spent my summer in my darkrooms, both analog and digital, in preparation for my retrospective exhibition that opens September 6th at Shari Brownfield Fine Art in Jackson Wyoming. Shari is the first and only gallerist who has elected to put my photographic life on the wall, starting and the 1980’s and carrying through to present time. Because of the diversity of my creative interests, curators have avoided this in the past, but Shari’s confidence in the body of work has moved this forward. The exhibition will include early black-and-white works, both color and black and white cameraless, pieces, unique cyanotypes, and recent works exploring my fascination with Platonic Solids. A few examples are posted for your enjoyment.
Arcularius Ranch (1988)
Arcularius Ranch is private land that can be found at the confluence of Deadman Creek, Big Springs, and the Mono Lake tunnel outlet forming the headwaters of the Owens River in California’s eastern Sierra Nevada.
Field Flowers (2010)
There is nothing quite like the simple beauty and wonder hel in the colors of Summer flowers collected in the field facing my home in Montara, California.
Citrus #7 (2006)
This was among a series of images made from decays citrus leaves removed from the lemon tree I planted in celebration of my wife’s 50th birthday. I love the tension between the long-dead leaf and the beauty of its structure energized by a 40,000 volt discharge. As COLOR magazine wrote in 2009, “Buelteman is a inspired cross between Georgia O’Keefe and Frankenstein.”
Platonic Solids (2023)
In recent years I continue to move further away from photographic tradition in search of new horizons. I find the simplicity of light and space worthy of my inquiry. There exist five Platonic Solids, which are are polyhedra with identical faces, first described by Plato in 360 BCE which he associated with the elements earth (cube), air (octahedron), water (icosahedron), and fire (tetrahedron). Of the fifth Solid, the dodecahedron, Plato wrote “the God used [it] for arranging the constellations on the whole heaven.”