House Gallery is pleased to present Truss, an exhibition of new photography by Utah-based artist Chris Dunker. The architectural images in Truss explore industrial culture with magnificent coolness, presenting the utilitarian as uncompromisingly beautiful. The exhibition opens on February 1st, 2011. The opening reception begins at 5:30 on February 18th and features a performance of FE26, a coolheaded, unhurried arrangement written by experimental composer Benjamin Taylor in response to Dunker’s photographs.
In making the work for Truss, Dunker sought out hangars, stadiums, warehouse, and other structures in which form dictates function, specifically focusing on trusses as the graphic elements that both define space and embody efficiency. It’s the truss that enables these powerful structures to stand, yet a certain delicacy accompanies their strength.
Delicacy and strength coexist in each of Dunker’s photographs. In Golden Truss, a web of supports weaves into the background, while natural lighting causes each of the building’s yellow-orange and copper-colored elements to quietly glow. Perspective matters immensely in this image and others, as Dunker’s series pays homage to the vastness of industrial space and the importance of redundancy, a trope that enforces both the utility and sublimity of the structures Dunker features. In Hongduk Steelcord, fluorescent lights pull the eye back into a space defined by Renaissance-worthy one-point perspective.
The classically modern approach Dunker takes to his work makes the form and function of his photographs, just like that of his subjects, symbiotic. Images with austerely elegant compositions are as functionally compelling as the structures they portray.
Dunker, the son of an industrial filmmaker, has been exploring industrial imagery and architecture for over two decades. He holds a B.S. in Applied Art and Design from California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo. In 1995, he received an M.F.A. in photography from Utah State University, where he worked as an Assistant Professor of Photography. He has exhibited nationally and his work belongs to a number of respected collections, including those of the Museum of Fine Art, Houston, the Nora Eccles Harrison Museum of Art and Brigham Young University.
- Catherine Wagley
