Sun #28 from the exhibition Summer Days

Sun #28, 1998

Wax on photograph

14 x 11 in (35.56 x 27.94 cm)

Edition.

Signature: Signed, titled and dated in pecil on back of photo

Inv: 2593

Gift of the Artist

"A series of photographs that resulted from my desire to deal with light in the most direct way possible. Through the use of a pinhole camera and the manipulation of the photograph’s surface I explore the nature of the “object” being photographed. Things occur during the process of exposing the film that question the mimetic capacity of photography. The clarity of the atmosphere, the time of day, or the day of the year yield variation, yet within this variation there is repetition and sequence. I abandon the most descriptive method of imaging in exchange for one that abstracts the form and incorporates an element of chance, returning to an earlier imaging process in hopes of reclaiming what Walter Benjamin refers to as the “aura” of a photograph. I wish to look directly into the sun and through the process of photographing, turn it into an ephemeral, abstract form intended for contemplation; both as an “object,” the sun itself and the final product of this process, the photograph. All photographs are unique 11x14 inch silver prints with wax surface." Joel Whitaker, 1999

Summer Days

Charles Basham

Last Day of Summer, 1986

Lithograph on paper

15 x 22 in (38.1 x 55.88 cm)
Harry Callahan

Cape Cod Beach Scene, c. 1975

Gelatin silver print

8.75 x 11.5 in (22.23 x 29.21 cm)
Ralph Gibson

Untitled (Umbrella on Beach), East Hampton, 1981

Chromogenic print

12.25 x 8 in (31.12 x 20.32 cm)
Hans Hofmann

Untitled (Beach Scene), 1935

India ink on paper

8.25 x 10.75 in (20.96 x 27.31 cm)
N. Jay Jaffee

Brighton Beach Sun Park, No date

Gelatin silver print

13.875 x 10.875 in (35.24 x 27.62 cm)
N. Jay Jaffee

Man on Bench at Beach, No date

Gelatin silver print

10.875 x 13.875 in (27.62 x 35.24 cm)
Barbara Morgan

Children Dancing by Lake, 1940

Gelatin silver print

15.875 x 19.875 in (40.32 x 50.48 cm)
Andy Warhol

Jon Gould and Victor Hugo on a Surfboard, No date

Gelatin silver print

8 x 10 in (20.32 x 25.4 cm)

Back to Exhibition

About the artist

Joel Whitaker

American

b. 1961

Joel Whitaker (born 1961) is an American photographer based in Dayton, Ohio. As both an artist and educator, he creates work to explore the process of making and to engage with various methodologies of artistic creation. His primary subjects are common, everyday objects, as he avoids dramatic or exotic subjects. Whitaker received his Master of Fine Arts in Studio Art from Florida State University and has sustained a career in arts administration, visual arts higher education, and the production of his photographic work.

Exhibition contents

Additional Details

More from this Exhibition

Last Day of Summer, 1986

Cape Cod Beach Scene, c. 1975

Untitled (Umbrella on Beach), East Hampton, 1981

Untitled (Beach Scene), 1935

Brighton Beach Sun Park, No date

Man on Bench at Beach, No date

Children Dancing by Lake, 1940

Jon Gould and Victor Hugo on a Surfboard, No date

About the artist

Joel Whitaker

Charles Basham

Harry Callahan

Ralph Gibson

Hans Hofmann

N. Jay Jaffee

Barbara Morgan

Andy Warhol

Joel Whitaker