840 Vernon Blog

The newest addition to the David M Grossmann Gallery is Howard Tatar's "As A Match To The Heart." Thanks to Howard for sharing this account of how the exhibit came to be. 

Drawn from photo images taken in Poland, Germany, Israel, the Galapagos Islands, New Orleans, the Monument Valley Navajo Reservation and other locations, “As A Match To The Heart” is my initial deep dive into the world of black & white and sepia photography. Moreover, it is the fulfillment of my attempt to mine the deep emotions, soul and heart of the viewer in an unconventional way.

Like many children when I was growing up, I was mesmerized by Walt Disney’s “Fantasia”.... a blending of animated imagery with classical music of Bach, Tchaikovsky, Stravinsky, Mussorgsky, Dukas and others. For the first ten years of exhibiting my photography, my focus was substantially bold colors of water droplets and floral abstracts. This is where my creative compass pointed. Two years ago, I decided to turn away from what had been successful for me and, instead, challenge myself in a way that was 180 degrees from what I was creating up to that time. Inspired by the “Fantasia” concept, I began to create works that married photography with poetry, song lyrics, prayer and biblical quotes. My objective was to develop a body of work where the quotes and lyrics did not describe the photos but had an emotional connection to them. The photo images would stand on their own, with the poetry and song lyrics having a dotted line complement to them. None of these photos were taken with specific phrasing in mind. The words and images were completely independent of one another until I brought them together in the final stage.

Ultimately, my goal is to capture visual statements that go beyond documentation and to photograph and ‘create’ intimately and with feeling.

“Merely copying an object is not art. What counts is to express the emotion called forth in you, the feeling awakened”----Henri Matisse