BE THERE
La Habana: Evanescent GrandeurPresented by Claire Oliver October 12, 2006- November 11, 2006Reception: October 12, 6:00 pm - 8:00 pmMichael Eastman
"I am all about recording what I see directly and honestly - I never set up my photographs; I want to find the art in what I see," says Eastman. "Fine art should indeed be about color, composition, texture, space and all the rest of the visual cues but for me, it is most importantly about having an opportunity to show people a different view of the world. I try to illuminate things that the viewer may never have thought about, to help them see the world in a new and different way." Most remarkable may be the photographs' rich and saturated color which Eastman attributes to his exceptionally long exposure times. Using only the naturally occurring light, the artist waits as long as it takes for the ambient light of the room to expose his film properly. Returning to Cuba for a fourth and final time, Eastman was dismayed to find the family estates he had been documenting decayed beyond recognition. "I didn't have the heart to photograph the utter devastation I found there. It was clear to me that what I had captured on film in my previous journeys was documentation of a culture lost forever." In a single frame Eastman has been able to capture the past, present and future of these noble buildings and by extension, that of an entire people. Eastman is in the permanent collections of The Metropolitan Museum of Art, The Art Institute of Chicago, The Los Angeles County Museum of Art, the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston and many other important National and International Museums. He is the recipient of a National Endowment for the Arts Grant and his work has been written about in many magazines and newspapers including The New York Times, The Los Angeles Times, and The Chicago Tribune.
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