'Processed Memory' - Photographs by Remy Dean

The exhibition is on show this summer, until 7 September 2013, at Oriel Maenofferen Gallery, Llyfrgell Blaenau Ffestiniog Library, Canolfan Maenofferen, Blaenau Ffestiniog, LL41 3DL. Telephone: 01766 830415.

Alongside the photographs, there is also a small exhibition of 3D work by the potter, Jane Williams.

The following is an artist's statement from Remy Dean that accompanies the current exhibition:

'Processed Memory' Exhibition Poster

I am…

…a writer, teacher and visual artist…

…son, brother, husband, father and friend…

…”a dream to some, a nightmare to others”…

…the sum of my memories.

The exhibition you are currently adding to your own memories grew from an accident. An album of family photographs I had taken in the 1980s was forgotten about and left in the bottom of a box in a damp cellar. Over time the action of the elements ate into the surface of some of the photographs and ‘destroyed’ the image. Amongst these pictures was the last portrait I had taken of my grandfather, and also a photograph I had won my first competition with.

Particularly today, the photograph has become synonymous with memory. This connection is overtly used in advertising campaigns. Both the photograph and the memory are parts of a process, and these processes are always ongoing. They both involve the act of seeing: utilising photochemical reactions (on film, photo-sensor, or retina) and an attempt to ‘remember’ using chemicals (print, screen or cortex).

'View from Pompidou', photograph by Remy Dean (C) 2013

I liked how the ‘destroyed’ pictures had not remained passive, they had become organic and recorded the effects of their environment. The patterns were quite beautiful. Likewise, our memories are not passive, they are affected by time, age, emotion and environments. So I experimented with ‘destroying’ other pictures using similar organic, analogue processes. These traditional prints became ‘chemographs’, which, in many ways, is what our memories are.

You will also see a few ‘traditional’ landscape photos, some of the Moelwyn mountains that so majestically define our skyline, and have done so for millennia - well beyond the scope of human memory. I see these old friends nearly every day (though sometimes they are entirely shrouded in clouds), and they always look different. They remain the same, yet continually change. They never get old.

'Moelwyn: Midwinter', photograph by Remy Dean (C) 2013

I am fascinated by these two time scales – the instant of the photograph and the eternal that surrounds us. The moment of an experience, the lasting effects of memory. Memory and identity have been a recurring theme in my fiction stories and my recent non-fiction book, Evolution of Western Art (2012) is my take on some examples of great art, representing moments captured, and now remembered, from a period of more than 40,000 years… One of the photographs you may have seen in my last exhibition here at Oriel Maenofferen appears on its cover and was taken from my series of ‘drawings with light', Ghosts of 1513, a small selection of which are exhibited here (and will not be publicly shown after 2013).

I hope you enjoy seeing and remembering and thanks for sharing.

A selection of photographs shown in this exhibition are now featured in an on-line gallery (Pinterest)

Night / Light - On-line Catalog

The slideshow displays some of the images from Night / Light by Remy Dean, exhibited at Oriel Maenofferen Gallery, Blaenau Ffestiniog, Summer 2011. There were 45 images in total, all photographs except for two sketches from the 360 series. This was Dean's first solo show.

1. Postcards From The Ghosts Of 1513 (18 images) [£135 series / £16 per pair]
2. Moelwyn, Night Won’t Fit In My Camera [postcards £1 each]
3. Culture Jam Caerdydd [postcards £1 each]
4. Dim Distance [£450]
5. Soluna, Storm Clears Over Llan Ffestiniog [£40]
6. Penygwndwn Mood [£55]
7. Moelwyn, Impending Snowstorm [£66]
8. Early Morning Rain [£75]
9. From The 360 Series (drawing, 2010) [£108]
10. From The 360 Series (drawing, 2010) [£108]
11. Tanysgringlas [£75]
12. Fire Calligraphs (diptych) [£125]
13. London, Above Below [£75]
14. Welcome Home [£55]
15. Direction Of Light # 1 [£145]
16. Direction Of Light # 2 [£145]
17. I Am, You Are, We Are (triptych - after Malevich) [£450]
18. Creased Composition: Shining Through [£98]
19. Nightscape: Cloud Cross [£40]
20. Emotional Systems [£75] / West-East
21. Nightscape: Sky Portal [£350]
22. Starring Barbara Stanwyck, Mae West and Cary Grant [£350]
23. Elevate Me [£75]
24. Speed Of Life [£75]
25. Without Limits [£75]
26. Self Noir: Women ‘n’ Whisky [£1,600]
27. Moelwyn, In A Misty Morning [£145]
28. Moelwyn, Weather Changes [£145]

I would like to thank all of those who visited Oriel Maenofferen Gallery to take a look at my work, and all those who helped organise and publicise the exhibition.

Selected photographs from this exhibition are now featured in this on-line gallery (Pinterest)

NIGHT / LIGHT - recent photography by Remy Dean

Night / Light - an exhibition of recent photography by Remy Dean will be on show this summer until 10 September 2011, at Oriel Maenofferen Gallery, Llyfrgell Blaenau Ffestiniog Library, Canolfan Maenofferen, Blaenau Ffestiniog, LL41 3DL. Telephone: 01766 830415.

Apart from the Ghosts of 1513 series, which spans the Atlantic from Spain to Florida, most of the images have been made in and around the Blaenau Ffestiniog area and deal with light and movement. There are 45 pictures in total. Alongside my photographs, I am pleased to say, there will be an opportunity to see some small-scale sculpture work and a hand-pressed book by Mark Eaglen.

Here, by way of an 'artists statement' relating to the exhibition, is an extract from an interview with Remy Dean conducted by Kim Vertue:

Why did you choose photography as your medium?

Photography attracts me for many reasons. Almost by definition, it is representational because it mimics our own visual interaction with the world we share. I am interested in the relationship of subject, technology, human action and a time constraint of a few seconds. The resulting images range from fairly traditional landscapes to pictures that are closer to abstract expressionism. The aesthetic of light set in darkness also appeals to me. Many Magicians and religious orders wear dark cloths to represent the void, where creative and spiritual powers are born. The light from stars has travelled vast distances through the void of space to inspire both the poet and the scientist. I am interested in images where captured light can give the impression of being a solid construct, or where light can transform a solid structure, such as a building, into an insubstantial ghost-form.

What or who are the main influences and inspiration for your work?

Compositionally, I look at Joan Miro, Kazimir Malevich, Cy Twombly, Franz Marc, Kandinsky and Klee. Conceptually, I look to Marcel Duchamp and Joseph Beuys. Poetically, I think my work is under the influence of many… William Blake, Richard Long, Scott Walker, Andrei Tarkovsky, David Lynch, David McComb, John Foxx… the Gothick Romantics…

How do you see your work developing?

The weather, natural light effects and moods of the mountains can change in a moment and I would like to attempt to capture more of the transient conditions that only people who are lucky enough to live here, in Snowdonia, really get to know. I will also continue exploring technological and human interfaces and possibly become more interventionist, to the point of staging visual fictions…

(An image from the Ghosts of 1513 also appears as the cover image for the book Evolution of Western Art...)

Selected photographs from this exhibition are also featured in this on-line gallery (Pinterest)