The exhibition, “Frank Yamrus: I Feel Lucky,” opens at the Rayko Photo Center on Thursday, September 12, 2013. The artist will be present and signing books: http://clampart.com/2012/04/frank-yamrus-i-feel-lucky/.
Rayko Photo Center
428 Third Street
San Francisco, CA 94107
Originally inspired by the onset of his self-described mid-life crisis, Frank Yamrus’ collection of self-portraits “I Feel Lucky” documents the examination of his life’s decisions. They retrace his path to turning 50 and look beyond. After a short respite from taking pictures, Yamrus returned to his camera in 2007 as a way to process his upcoming 50th birthday. His work always had an autobiographical persuasion but in this series he places himself in the crosshairs of his own camera. Created over six years between his 47th and 53rd birthdays, Yamrus uses life’s “big” moments—marriage, fatherhood and the loss of loved ones—as cornerstones of understanding but relies on the smaller moments—working in the yard or enjoying cotton candy—to help present a more congruous life. He explores his relationships with family, friends, and lovers and uses the backdrop of his own photographic history to further enhance his understanding of self. Identity is dynamic and as Yamrus allows us to glimpse into his private life the evolution of his identity is revealed. Bill Hunt writes about these images, “[t]he six years it took Yamrus to make ‘I Feel Lucky’ don’t chronicle a highly defined sequence, nor could they be expected to. That said, the series is of a piece. What is ambiguous yet telling is the ongoing and unpredictable nature of the investigation and the imagination, the conceptualizing and the actual making of images… . [This work] is disarming and savory. Yamrus’ senses are in high gear. He sees, he feels, and in this life’s work, his photographs behave as a caesura does in music: like the swelling note in the middle of the musical phrase, ‘I Feel Lucky’ is a suspended moment that prepares us for more wonders to come.”
For more information on the exhibition:
https://carlos-arrieta-clvo.squarespace.com/
See Yamrus’ series, “I Feel Lucky”
Browse all of Yamrus’ work at ClampArt
Blog post by:
Brian Paul Clamp, Director