Michael Mazzeo Gallery is pleased to present Fathom and Fray, an exhibition of recent works by the American photographer, Caleb Charland. This is the artist’s first solo show at the gallery, having previously participated in two group exhibitions. The 17 prints of various sizes include both camera and cameraless images. The exhibition is on view from May 5 through June 11 with a reception for the artist on Thursday, May 5, from 6-8PM.

Fathom and Fray is the culmination of Caleb Charland’s photographic inquiries into space, time, and energy. In the tradition of Eadweard Muybridge and Harold “Doc” Edgerton, he combines science and art in unconventional experiments designed to further his understanding of the world. Unlike his forebears however, Charland’s photographs rarely provide us with proof, but rather pose questions and offer possibilities.

Finding resonance in matter as diverse as a cardboard box, bacteria, and smoke, Charland manipulates and transforms these mundane elements by means of repeated actions, interventions, and performance. The resulting images give us a glimpse of his irrepressible curiosity while providing us with confounding and often revelatory visions alluding to the cosmos and the metaphysical.

As Charland states, “Even within the well tested laws of science there are, and must always be, pathways to reinterpretation and discovery. My hope is that these pictures rest in the gap between knowledge and uncertainty.”

Caleb Charland received his MFA in 2010 from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. His work is in the permanent collections of The Philadelphia Museum of Art, The Smithsonian Museum of American Art, The Portland (Oregon) Art Museum, and The Progressive Collection as well as in many private collections. Charland lives and works in Portland, Maine.