For
Immediate Release
October 20, 2004
Contact: De Santos Gallery
(713) 520-1200
DE
SANTOS GALLERY PRESENTS HENRIK KAM: ABANDONED SPACES
OCTOBER 23 – NOVEMBER 23, 2004
Opening
Reception: Saturday, October 23rd 6-9pm
Houston—De
Santos Gallery presents recent work by Dutch photographer Henrik
Kam. The twenty color photographs on view at the De Santos Gallery
belong to Kam’s SF Bayfront Interiors series, which are part
of his larger body of work known as The San Francisco Bayfront
(1996–2002). This project is based on the southeastern waterfront
area of San Francisco. Kam, who has lived in San Francisco since
1981, documents abandoned office spaces and industrial sites where
dangerously toxic research experiments were performed by the U.S.
Navy during the Cold War and the Vietnam War.
Kam’s
luminous color prints on aluminum (shown here in two formats, 23
x 49 inches and 23 x 31 inches) capture the natural light still
flowing into empty rooms in various states of disarray.
“I
see myself as an ‘urban/industrial archeologist’ unearthing
visual clues and indexing the evidence of an industrialism which
built the West and armed an empire…. Decades of careless handling
and disposal of heavy metals and low-level radioactive materials
has left behind a legacy requiring a multimillion-dollar cleanup
effort at one of the largest Superfund Sites in the country, adjacent
to one of the poorest neighborhoods in the city,” writes Kam
in his artist statement.
Kam
was chosen for the “Discoveries of the Meeting Place”
exhibition in Houston, 2002, and has exhibited widely throughout
the U.S. His work is in the permanent collections of the Museet
for Fotokunst, Odense, Denmark and the Museum of Fine Arts,
Houston. Kam will be present for the gallery opening on
Saturday, October 23rd from 6-9pm. He will give a brief artist’s
talk at 6:30 pm that evening.
About
the De Santos Gallery
The
De Santos Gallery, designed by architect Fernando Brave, is owned
and directed by Luis and Gemma de Santos, who are natives of Spain
and long-time residents of Houston. The De Santos Gallery specializes
in photography (including traditional and new media) from contemporary
European and Asian photographers including Anna Halm-Schudel, Roman
Loranc, Sang Nam Park, and Kimiko Yoshida. The gallery also has
work available by North American and Latin American artists: Clyde
Butcher, Linda Butler, and Edgar Moreno among others.
The
De Santos Gallery is located at 1724-A Richmond Avenue at Dunlavy
Street in the Museum District of Houston. Gallery hours are: Tuesday
through Saturday from 10:30 a.m. to 5 p.m.; we are closed on Mondays.
For information, please call 713-520-1200 or visit desantosgallery.com.
Current
and Upcoming Exhibitions at the De Santos Gallery:
Henrik
Kam: Abandoned Spaces, Oct. 23 – Nov. 23, 2004
Paula Chamlee: Madonnina and Tuscany, Nov. 27 – Dec. 31, 2004
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