SFUAD and photo-eye Gallery Co-Present Special Performance by Collector W.M. Hunt
Hunt is a New York curator and author of “The Unseen Eye: Photographs from the Unconscious”
07.16.2012
Media Contacts:
Santa Fe University of Art and Design:
Lauren Eichmann
1-505-473-6440
lauren.eichmann@santafeuniversity.edu
photo-eye Gallery:
Rixon Reed
info@photoeye.com
For Immediate Release
Santa Fe, NM – July 16, 2012 – Santa Fe University of Art and Design (SFUAD) and photo-eye Gallery will co-host a performance by W.M. (Bill) Hunt on July 26 at 6 p.m. in Tipton Hall at the Anne and John Marion Center for Photographic Arts on the SFUAD campus.
Hunt will recreate his unique performance piece suggested by the text for his book, The Unseen Eye: Photographs from the Unconscious (Aperture 2011). Hunt debuted “A Life in Photographs and other digressions…” last October when the book was launched.
Based in New York City, Hunt has been a collector since his early years as an actor. He is a frequent lecturer on collecting, a well-known dealer, a fundraiser, writer and an adjunct professor at the School of Visual Arts in New York. Hunt is known for his wit, his eye and his often larger than life personality.
“A Life…” is a monologue with projections and video, a rumination on Hunt’s many years of collecting and a life in photographs. The author hopes to bring into the light some of the names and stories left out of The Unseen Eye. The book presents a wonderfully idiosyncratic and compelling collection of photographs assembled around a particular theme: magical, heart stopping images of people in which the eyes are obscured, veiled, or otherwise hidden.
Amassed over the course of almost 40 years by Hunt, the collection includes works by masters such as Richard Avedon, Diane Arbus, Imogen Cunningham, William Klein, Robert Mapplethorpe, and Robert Frank as well as lesser known artists and vernacular images. Hunt’s instinctive pursuit of striking images has resulted in a collection that manages to evoke a picture of humanity from birth to death, with all the associated nuances of memory, wit, eroticism, fear, grief, and horror. The images are drawn together by the narrative of the collector himself—a highly personal monologue that weaves throughout the book, in which Hunt offers his own perceptive responses to the images he has gathered over many years. The end result is a series of surprising epiphanies about how and why one collects.
“The Unseen Eye: Photographs from the Unconscious” (Aperture 2011)
11 x 10 ¼ in. (28 x 26 cm)
320 pages, 370 color photographs
Hardcover with jacket
ISBN 978-1-59711-193-5
$75
Special Performance by W.M. Hunt
What: “The Unseen Eye: A Life in Photographs and other digressions…”
Free and open to the public
When: Thursday, July 26, 2012 at 6 p.m.
Where: Tipton Hall, Marion Center for Photographic Arts at Santa Fe University of Art and Design
1600 St. Michael’s Drive, Santa Fe, NM
About photo-eye Gallery
photo-eye was founded in 1979 by Rixon Reed as a mailorder photography book source in Austin, Texas. In 1991 photo-eye moved to Santa Fe, New Mexico where it resides today as the home of photo-eye Books and photo-eye Gallery. In 1997 photo-eye’s website was launched and became one of the first e-commerce bookstores online. photo-eye has since grown to become the world’s largest online resource for photography books and now includes many other divisions including a limited edition publishing program, rare and out-of-print online book auctions, Photographer’s Showcase, PhotoBistro.com and most recently ArtPhotoIndex.com -- a visual database of selected art and documentary photographers from around the world.
About the Anne and John Marion Center for Photographic Arts
The Anne and John Marion Center for Photographic Arts is home to exemplary traditional and alternative process darkrooms and a state-of-the-art digital facility. It also houses the Beaumont and Nancy Newhall Library, one of the top informational resources in the United States on the history, aesthetics and technology of photography. These resources provide an opportunity for students interested in photography and photo-based works to study an exceptional curriculum under leading artists and teachers while earning a BA or a BFA degree in photography. The Marion Center is housed in a building designed by internationally renowned architect Ricardo Legorreta.
About Santa Fe University of Art and Design
Santa Fe University of Art and Design is an accredited institution located in Santa Fe, New Mexico, one of the world’s leading centers for art and design. The university offers degrees in arts management, contemporary music, creative writing, digital arts, graphic design, moving image arts (filmmaking and video production), performing arts, photography and studio art. Faculty members are practicing artists who teach students in small groups, following a unique interdisciplinary curriculum that combines hands-on experience with core theory and prepares graduates to become well-rounded, creative, problem-solving professionals. As a Laureate International Universities Center of Excellence in Art, Architecture and Design, the university boasts an international student body and opportunities to study abroad, encouraging students to develop a global perspective on the arts. Santa Fe University of Art and Design (formerly the College of Santa Fe) is accredited by The Higher Learning Commission and a member of the North Central Association, www.ncahlc.org.