Tenesh Webber
1963
(CANADIAN)
USA
Tenesh Webber is a Canadian abstract photographer whose work explores and challenges conventions of traditional black and white photography.She lives in Jersey City, New Jersey and works in Bushwick, Brooklyn.
Education
Webber studied at the Emily Carr University of Art + Design in Vancouver, and at OCAD University, in Toronto, where she received an AOCA Degree.
Technique
Tenesh Webber has, over the past 25 years, worked in either large scale/mural size prints; manipulated the photographs in the darkroom, or manipulated the negatives in the camera.
Her current photography, which focuses on medium-scale photograms, continues her explorations of the medium. The prints are medium scale, 11"x11", or 20"x20"...
Webber's process begins with sketches, in which she develops the image ideas. She then creates two-dimensional objects out of sewing thread, or marker on plexiglass. She builds the images through layering, stretching and cutting the thread, and through repetitive line drawing onto plexiglass.
These "plates" are used to create cameraless photographic images.
Hand placement and loose threads offer an element of chance into the work, and each print within a series is unique.
The resulting abstract images create rhythmic, intuitive compositions and offer tension between the organic and rectilinear.They suggest macro and micro views of nature, or of the man-made.
Inspiration
Webber studied with Canadian artists Ian Wallace and Eldon Garnet who were early innovators in experimental photography, in the 1970's, introducing large-scale and sequential imagery into their photography practice. She was inspired by these artists, to develop her own approach to working with the medium, leading to explorations in scale and alternative photographic processes, including her current work with photograms.
Her photography is also influenced and inspired by the work of a long history of photographers, painters and sculptors working in abstraction.These include, Richard Serra's bold oil stick drawings, Barry Le Va's arrangements of geometric form, and Agnes Martin's delicate minimal process....
Her work falls within a tradition of "rayographs", or photograms, established by artists such as Man Ray, and Laszlo Moholy-Nagy, in the 1920's, artists whose work in photography was informed by their painting and sculptural practice.
Building on these artists work, Webber has developed a unique approach to the creation of her photograms, integrating elements of sculpture and drawing while also incorporating chance operations.
Collections
Webber's work is featured in public and private collections including the Brooklyn Museum and Barclays Bank, NY.
Exhibitions
Webber has exhibited her work nationally including solo exhibits at Yossi Milo Gallery and Margaret Thatcher Projects, NY. She has also exhibited in group shows in Europe.
Galleries
The Pierogi Flat Files, Brooklyn, NYRick Wester Fine Art, New York City, NY
The Versatile Photographic Practice of Ryan Foerster
Conservation is one of the core ideas of photography. Capture a vision of reality. Do not waste time by letting it slip away. Conserve a fragment of the moment so it might be experienced after the...
Read more
Redefining Photography - The Mediums of Kate Steciw
If we were conducting an investigation into the term Post Internet Art, Kate Steciw might appear at first to be an excellent Artist of Interest. Steciw makes abstract, three-dimensional objects us...
Read more
Can We Consider Andreas Gursky an.. Abstract Photographer?
The physical world often seems like a vast and indifferent place; a fact German photographer Andreas Gursky will not let us forget. Some call Gursky a documentary photographer because of the reali...
Read more
Reflections in the Water - Barbara Vaughn Photography
One measure of the success of an abstract photograph is how easily it allows viewers to look beyond evidence of objectivity, and to open themselves up to connections with the unknown. By such a me...
Read more
How Photogram Introduced the Non-Representational to Photography
A photogram is a cameraless photograph: an image burned onto a photosensitive surface without the use of a machine. Photograms predate photographs. The earliest photographic images of reality capt...
Read more
When William Klein Turned to Abstraction in Photography
William Klein is considered one of the most influential photographers of the past century. His reputation comes largely from his work as a street photographer, a genre he all but invented in the 1...
Read more
The Assembled Art of Barbara Kasten
At first glance the art of Barbara Kasten may not seem subversive. Kasten builds architectonic sculptural compositions in her studio then lights and photographs them, transforming temporary, three...
Read more
How Aaron Siskind Found Abstraction on the Streets
Aaron Siskind was one of the most influential photographers of his generation. In part, that influence manifested through the various teaching positions Siskind held at some of the most prestigiou...
Read more
How Wolfgang Tillmans Used Technique to Reach Abstraction in Photography
Nothing can be fully appreciated without understanding its opposite. We appreciate warmth when we freeze. We love light when trapped in darkness. So it is no surprise that Wolfgang Tillmans, who f...
Read more
Abstract Photographers to Follow
Abstract photography has blossomed since the invention of digital cameras, especially since cameras merged with our mobile devices. Abstract photographers work in a form that demands experimentati...
Read more
The Abstract Side of Thomas Ruff Photographs
We may complain that digital manipulation has made all photographs suspect; but even in its non-manipulated condition every photograph is only a partial truth at best. The biggest illusion photogr...
Read more
Abstraction in Photography of László Moholy-Nagy
Today, photography is ubiquitous. Cameras are imbedded in billions of electronic devices, and it is hard to imagine any subject that has not been thoroughly explored ad nauseam in photographs. But...
Read more
IdeelArt Gathering in Brooklyn
IdeelArt recently had the pleasure of getting together for a few hours with more than thirty American abstract artists in a bar in Brooklyn. The experience was unique and powerful. We often meet o...
Read more
When you read the words abstract photography how do you react? Do you perk up, fascinated to discover more about this topic? Or do you recoil, annoyed at the very thought of it? Or are you ambival...
Read more
From pencil to ink, charcoal to pastel, drawings represent an important part of our offering at IdeelArt. But, what is drawing actually? Though most often associated with figurative artistic movem...
Read more
Love in the Age of Medium Specificity
As art lovers, we seek ways of increasing our enjoyment of art. One reliable way we’ve found to do this is to converse with each other about the art we love, to talk about what we like, what we do...
Read more
