The last time we spoke to John Reiff Williams, he was preparing for the big showing of his work at Thomas Paul Fine Art in Los Angeles. More than 50 pigment inkjet prints later, the exhibition opened this past weekend to what Williams characterized as a “sea of people.”
“It became almost a retrospective, in that my beach work was done in the late ’70s. Having that as a reference point helped people make the leap between the earlier single-point perspective concept to going liquid in the photography. It helped me explain that evolution during the opening, and the people there seemed to grasp the concept,” says Williams.
The three photographic series – the La Jolla Beach Project, The Edge of Collapse Series from Mexico City and the Hollywood Boulevard Series – are all featured at the gallery exhibition, which is expected to run through March.
Photo by Lisa Ono
Most of the work was printed on Hahnemuhle Photo Rag 308 g on Williams’ Epson 3800 Stylus Pro inkjet photo printer. A couple of the bigger pieces (30″ x 40″) were printed by a service bureau.
Originally, the prototype frames were welded metal, but maple frames were used instead. Optium Museum Acrylic was used over the prints in place of glass to cut down on glare.
Photo by Lisa Ono
“In terms of presentation the component that was really astonishing to me was that museum acrylic over the images. So much of the work is in the low end as far as tonality so it was important that the lights didn’t distract from the photography. And, the maple frames did their job and made the work pop so that the photographs were the star of the show,” says Williams.
For more information about the exhibit at Thomas Paul Fine Art, go to www.tpaulfineart.com/. And, for an insider’s view of the thought process behind the photographic series at the exhibition, click here.
