We all have the extraordinary coded within us, waiting to be released. -Jean Houston

JUDITH TESLER

Further Into the Ordinary

In the evenings when natural light ceases to enter through her studio windows, photographer Judith Tesler begins to assemble the most ordinary collection of subjects – a bottle of shampoo, a jar of mousse, a glass of water. She will pour out the contents of these containers onto surfaces – a sheet of glass, a counter top, any surface that takes the light and reflects it back will suffice. Once the tableaus are in place, Tesler will secure her camera to the tripod – under such dim lighting the exposures will be long. And then, the eye and the camera conspire to focus, shoot and repeat until rolls of film contain hundreds of full color shots. Later, in the developing process, Tesler’s careful editing will result in works that evoke a sense of another world; a world imagined, yet one containing hints of earthly reality. In each work, Tesler takes us with her…further into the ordinary.

The exhibition,"Further Into the Ordinary” will feature two of Tesler’s recent projects. The one described above and another comprised of black and white warm tone prints where the subject is the artist’s bed. Both projects turn everyday objects into images of places we feel we know, but can not quite name. It is the mystery in these works that hold our eye and occupy our mind.

Tesler has interned with Creative Time and Paper Magazine in New York City. In 2004 she received a BFA in photography from the University of Massachusetts Amherst.

CENTRAL GALLERY

October 24 – November 21, 2003