Starting
on September 27, the large, multi-layered, black and white photographs
of Michael Philip Manheim will be on display at Safe-T-Gallery, 111
Front St. Suite 214 in Dumbo Brooklyn. The show entitled “New
Butoh” features photographs created by Manheim in collaboration
with talented contemporary butoh dancers that capture both the movement
and the psychological dynamic of this rigorous dance form. The exhibit
will open with a reception for the artist on Thursday, Sept. 27 from
6 to 8 PM, and will be the site of a number of live butoh performances
over the next 5 weeks.
Butoh, the dance and performance art that originated in post-World War
II Japan, embodies a diversity of esthetic and cultural traditions. Integral
to many are concerns for organic expressiveness by the individual dancers,
spontaneity, and integrity with the natural world. The photographs of
Michael Philip Manheim explore a similar range of concerns. Working in
collaboration with experienced butoh practitioners, he produces images
that are neither documentation of specific works or portraits of individual
dancers, but rather parallel explorations of the emotional and aesthetic
terrain that the performers are pursuing.
The richly printed black and white images feature one or several performers,
in natural settings, performing spontaneous movements during extended
improvisations. Manheim writes, “I was the witness, responding
to the instincts and interpretations of each dancer, rather than directing
their movement. The butoh dancers went into and over their feelings as
I photographed them in multiple exposures on each frame of film. This
technique allowed me to record whole phrases of movement, and these layered
images seemed to dwell in the spaces between the literal.”
Michael Philip Manheim is a photographer who lives near Boston, Massachusetts,
his work has been exhibited throughout the United States and in Germany,
Greece and Italy. His photographs have been featured in magazines such
as Zoom (U.S. and Italy), Photographers International (Taiwan), La Fotografia
(Spain), Black & White (United States), and numerous other publications.
This will be the first one-person exhibition of his work in New York.
During the course of the exhibition Safe-T-Gallery
will be host to several butoh performance pieces - during the annual
Dumbo Art Under the Bridge
Festival (Sept. 28, 29 & 30th) and during the first two weeks of
the biennial New York Butoh Festival (starts Oct. 18th.) Please check
our website for the latest information.
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