A Certain Alchemy (Southwestern & Mexican Photography Series, Wittliff Collections at Texas State University)
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Book Summary Information
Photographer: Keith CarterIntroduction: Bill Wittliff
Afterword: Pat Carter
Edition: Hardcover
Audio: English (Unknown); English (Original Language); English (Published)
Published: 2008-10-01
ISBN: 0292719086
Number of pages: 184
Publisher: University of Texas Press
Book Reviews of A Certain Alchemy (Southwestern & Mexican Photography Series, Wittliff Collections at Texas State University)
Book Review: Magic in the ordinary
Summary: 5 Stars
Keith Carter has an intense intellectual curiosity and boundless enthusiasm. His knowledge of mythology, religion, literature, and poetry deeply inform his imagery, as does his wealth of knowledge of overlooked nooks and crannies in the history of photography. It is impossible to spend any amount of time around Keith and not look at the world around you in a fresh way. This enthusiasm for life and photography comes through in each and every image in his new book "A Certain Alchemy."
"There is an element of magic in photography - light, chemistry, precious metals - a certain alchemy. You can wield a camera almost like a magic wand. Murmur the right words and you can conjure up proof of a dream." - Keith Carter
Keith is a master of "conjuring up proof of a dream" his most recent images are certainly evidence of that. Beginning with the cover image, "Levitation, 2001" bringing to mind every child's dreams of flying, rising above it all. "Fallen Giant, 2005" evokes the wonder and curiosity of being a small child, while simultaneously resembling something snatched from a sci-fi movie. As demonstrated by his image "Fireflies, 1992", Keith can also conjure up nostalgia - arguably another form of dream. "Radio Flyer, 2000", best represents this in his recent work. This image of a child pulling a wagon looking up at the tail of an old airplane reminds me of a time long forgotten, yet as fresh as a moment ago. I think Bill Wittliff puts it very well in his introductory essay - "It's not that these pictures are telling you things you didn't already know, but rather that - like `Fireflies' - they're reminding you of things you've deep down always know but somehow forgotten ..."
These evocative images which we have come to associate with Keith's vision are book ended by two new and different series - In the front, a dozen toned photograms from 2002 and at the end a dozen toned images of his mother's battle with Alzheimer's in 2006. I must say that when I first started through the book the photograms did not strike a responsive chord in me - they felt out of place. However, after working my way through the entire book, I began looking at them in relationship to the later series of his mother and gained a much greater appreciation for them.
Keith's magic is his ability to see within ordinary everyday moments images that transcend the commonplace to tap into our collective subconscious. I've long been a fan of his work; the pragmatic photographer in me looks at many of the images and wants to know what and where. The quixotic side looks at the images with a sense of wonder and awe.
"A Certain Alchemy" is his tenth book; I anxiously await his next endeavor.
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Summary of A Certain Alchemy (Southwestern & Mexican Photography Series, Wittliff Collections at Texas State University)
Praise for Keith Carter's work: ". . . mythic territory, familiar from literature, earlier photography, popular music, and movies, but transformed by Mr. Carter into a freshly exotic land." --New York Times "This is lovely, mysterious stuff: welcome to the Carter cult." --Village Voice " . . . magic in the mundane, poetry in the commonplace . . ." --Atlanta Journal-Constitution Lauded as "a transcendent realist" and "a poet of the ordinary," Keith Carter is an internationally acclaimed photographer whose work has been shown in over one hundred solo exhibitions in thirteen countries. At first finding his subjects in the familiar, yet exotic, places and people of his native East Texas, Carter has since expanded his range not only geographically, but also into realms of dreams and imagination, where objects of the mundane world open glimpses into ineffable realities. In A Certain Alchemy, his tenth book, Keith Carter explores relationships that are timeless, enigmatic, and mythological. Drawing from the animal world, popular culture, folklore, and religion, Carter presents photographs that attempt to reflect hidden meanings in the real world. Accompanying the images is an introduction by Carter's friend and fellow photographer Bill Wittliff, who describes Carter's artistic journey and the epiphanies he has experienced. Patricia Carter, Keith's wife and muse, also offers her insights into the wellsprings of his work. In Keith Carter's own words, "A Certain Alchemy is a collection of imperfect observations of the relationship we have to our ideas of place, time, memory, desire, and regret. It is an anthology of oblique angles and awkward pauses that examines the history of photography and our own shared natural histories."Artists, A-Z Books
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