February 03 – March 24, 2007

Opening reception: February 3, 6–8 pm

Artist Talk: Teresa Hubbard, 6:30 pm

Lora Reynolds Gallery is pleased to present a solo exhibition of works by legendary photographer William Eggleston. The exhibition will include 13 large-scale square-format color photographs from the portfolio, Cadillac. The images date from 1966-1971 but were not printed until 1999 – after being overlooked in the studio for more than 25 years.

As with much of Eggleston's work these images were shot in the southern states. While his works have been characterized as banal compositions of everyday life, he is not a realist documentary photographer. Although he captures what is right in front of him – the afternoon light falling across an ivy-covered tree, a deserted storefront plastered with advertisements and a rusted out sign from an abandoned Cadillac dealership – he does so poetically and with extraordinary beauty. Be it shiny or shrill, pristine or paltry, formal aspects of composition and color are essential to the emotional weight of his pictures. A careful observation of the space around and between things is vital in creating his signature mood - a hushed and mysteriously abandoned world.

It has been 30 years since William Eggleston's landmark exhibition at the Museum of Modern Art, New York in 1976 (organized by John Szarkowsi, it was the first color photography exhibition at MoMA and the beginning of the recognition of color photography as an art form). His unconventional viewpoint of everyday things, initially dismissed by critics, has led to his being regarded as the leading and most influential color photographer of the 20th century.

William Eggleston was born in Memphis in 1939 where he continues to live and work. His work is part of significant public and private collections worldwide and has been the subject of major exhibitions at numerous institutions including the Museum of Modern Art, New York, Art Institute of Chicago, J.Paul Getty Museum, Los Angeles and Tate Modern, London.