I stopped by Michael Mazzeo Gallery the other day based on Jörg Colberg’s recommendation. Transmutations is a group show of contemporary abstract photography featuring the work of Caleb Charland, Christian Erroi, Yong Hee Kim, Sebastian Lemm, and Chris McCaw.

The show is cohesive and the work is excellent. Of the five, however, Sebastian Lemm’s Strata series stood out for me. His black and white images are beautifully intricate and invite repeated viewings. I love the way the multiple exposures reinforce the natural patterns of the work. I paid a visit to Sebastian’s website and also found the images from his Schattenseite to be quite impressive, and hope to see more of his work soon.

strata # 1, by Sebastian Lemm

strata # 6, by Sebastian Lemm

See more from Strata here.

I was also extremely interested to see Chris McCaw’s work in person. The reproductions I have seen online and in magazines have been intriguing, but they don’t tell the whole story. McCaw uses extreme exposures of the sun made directly onto silver gelatin paper to create one-of-a-kind original works. The physical aspect of the process includes burned holes, charred edges, and vintage paper, and seeing them in person made me see them in a new light. In the wrong hands this process could easily become a gimmick, but in this case, the process is integral to the work, and it feels very authentic to me.

More of Chris McCaw’s work can be found online at chrismccaw.com.

The show is open until June 20th, if you are in the metro area during that time I strongly recommend a visit.