Photographs Do Not Bend presents: Wu Jialin: Homeland / Don Schol: Vietnam Rememberances

by PegNews wire

Photographs Do Not Bend presents the will be the first American solo exhibition for Wu Jialin in a commercial gallery in the United States. His most recent American show was at the Houston FotoFest in 2008. The exhibit runs May 2 through June 20, with an opening reception May 2 from 5-8 PM.

Wu Jialin was born 1942 in the Yunnan Province. Since 1968 Mr. Wu, with his Chinese government issued cameras, has been documenting the people of the Yunnan Province. This province is bordered by Laos, Vietnam and Myanmar, representing 26 ethnic groups and is the most undeveloped province in China.

Wu Jialin's photographic influence did not come from the outside world, but from a handful of Chinese photographers. He did finally meet Magnum photographer Marc Riboud, who began to promote Mr. Wu's work in Europe.

These astonishing contemporary images of China provide a window of China's past. With the swift progress of China's modernity, small villages found in the subject of Wu's photographs will soon disappear.

Wu Jialin has been awarded the Leica Medal of Excellence and the 1997 Mother Jones Award for Documentary Photography. He was also selected by Henri Cartier-Bresson for the Le Choix d'Henri Cartier-Bresson exhibition in 1999. In 1997 he was included in an exhibition at the International Center for Photography in New York.

For the first time PDNB will feature a works on paper exhibit that is not photography. Texas artist, Don Schol, will present his recent woodblock suite, Vietnam Remembrances.

After receiving his MFA at the University of Texas in 1966, Don Schol was drafted into the Army and became an Officer in the Infantry. He was deployed to Vietnam, but luckily upon arriving, was assigned to lead a combat artist team whose mission was to record the war for historical purposes. Eventually he and his team completed their works after their tour of duty. The complete archive now remains in the Military History War Art Collection in Washington D.C.

Going Home, 2008Schol's philosophy, religion and art studies no doubt made him an excellent candidate for such a project. War is brutal, and he witnessed and expressed man's inhumanity to man. This period of his life became a major influence on his future works of art. Through mainly sculpture, he has dealt with the Existential theme. Morality, fate, human choice, religion all come into play.

Schol has great admiration for the German Expressionists. From this the artist grasps for the emotions through strong line and forceful imagery. The Vietnam Remembrances series invokes a sudden visceral response from the viewer.

These woodblock prints are not as severe as some photographs by Vietnam journalists Larry Burrows, Eddie Adams or Don McCullum. Schol explains his metaphors are designed to "soften the sobering effects of the utter starkness of reality."

Don Schol was born in Iowa and was one of several generations of soldiers in his family. His father was a prisoner of war in Germany. After WWII, his mother and father moved their family to Dallas for a fresh start. At present Schol is a member of the Art Faculty at the University of North Texas, teaching photography, drawing, and sculpture the past 40 years.

Don will be present at the opening reception, May 2nd.

Source: PDNB