Bihl Haus Arts -- Photographs --Texas Flora with a Japanese Flavor

Roy Pittman

ROY PITTMAN

“BETWEEN THE LEAVES”
Photographs of Texas Flora with a Japanese Flavor
opening reception: Friday, Sept. 17, 5:30-8:30 pm

Bihl Haus goes botanical with BIG photos of Texas flora by photographer ROY PITTMAN. Please join us for the opening reception of this official Fotoseptiembre exhibit, titled "Between the Leaves," on Friday, Sept. 17th, from 5:30 to 8:30 pm.

Roy's Texas-sized nature photographs are imbued with a Japanese aesthetic, the outcome of childhood experiences in Japan where the concept of beauty is integral to daily life. Although the impermanence of beauty and daily life are sometimes lamented in Japanese arts, they are more often celebrated for their evanescence.

In a similar fashion, Roy celebrates the transient disposition of nature in his photographs of native Texas flora. Roy eschews the flower in full bloom or the leaf at pitch perfection to follow the dictum of 14th-century Buddhist essayist Kenkô: “Branches about to blossom or gardens strewn with faded flowers are worthier of our admiration.” In his photographs, Roy isolates on a soft white ground the single fading leaf or the lone wilting flower to present a universal truth: All life is fleeting.

“I have worked many years to be mindful of the beauty that surrounds me," Roy says of this body of work. "The fallen oak leaves I picked up in Travis Park last December are as dramatic and as beautiful as the infinite vistas at Palo Duro Canyon. Magnified, the tiny wildflowers I collected in Olmos Basin Park this spring display surprising complexity of structure and a visual elegance. One does not have to look too far to marvel at the beauty of nature.”

Hope to see you this Friday at Bihl Haus Arts!


Bihl Haus Arts is a not-for-profit contemporary art gallery located at 2803 Fredericksburg Rd. on the premises of Primrose at Monticello Park Senior Apartments. The gallery, open Fridays and Saturdays, 1-4 pm and by appointment, is made possible with the generous support of The Potashnik Family Foundation and Primrose. More at www.bihlhausarts.org