Arnold Berkman Photographs: A Retrospective

DUE TO THE COVID-19 VIRUS, THE GALLERY WILL BE CLOSED UNTIL MAY ???.  ARNOLDS SHOW WILL CONTINUE UNTIL THE END OF MAY.

I began to photograph almost sixty-five years ago when I was given a Kodak Baby Brownie camera for my birthday.  I still remember my excitement as I waited in anticipation for my photographs to return from Kodak, where I had sent them to be processed.  I still experience that excitement whenever I photograph.  

Of all the visual arts, only photography can capture and freeze a fleeting moment.  In my photography, I try to capture that moment.  I am attracted to what is uniquely beautiful, poignant, and evocative of mood and feeling.  The fleeting moment creates an emotional response in me.  I typically cannot verbalize my response, as if the way in which I respond to what I see is unconscious.  Nevertheless, I can visualize how my completed photograph might look. 

Texture, shape, composition, and light are elements that create mood and feeling.  Most important, for me, is light.  My favorite painter is Edward Hopper.  Hopper was once asked, “What do you paint?”  Hopper replied, “I paint light.”  The word, photograph, means to paint with light.  Without light, even the most special moment will appear static and flat.  Light brings a photograph to life.  Without light, there can be no mood nor feeling. 

All of these photographs arise from the visions that had caught eye.  Their subject matter is varied and eclectic.  They were made all over the world.  Each has its own story to tell. 

My photographs reveal what I see, how I see, and the manner in which I respond to what I see. They reveal much of me.  All of these photographs are my responses, often unconscious, to the fleeting moment that had been in front of my eyes.

Arnold Berkman

March, 2020   

Due to the COVID-19 gallery closure, the artwork Arnold has on display is all available for purchase through the artist.  Contact Arnold Berkman at 517-896-8542 or at candaberkman@comcast.net.