Photo: Dana Jonas/Dennis Turner.
About a year ago art director and designer Dennis Turner discovered the work of the photographer, Dana Jonas at her art opening. Turner instantly connected with her images, so much so that he approached Jonas about collaborating on a project he was obsessing about.
“Originally, I wanted to explore a darker side of humanity,” says Turner, “I envisioned using human limbs to represent how society can sometimes discard or ignore individuals who are struggling in life. In sharing ideas with Dana, our vision shifted into relationships and how that energy of past relationships still linger and sometimes even haunt us. In our series, we have beautiful people and for them their dark side manifests itself in the residue of their past relationships. Who knows how their relationships ended? It is up to the viewer to decide and whether our characters are conscious of it or not, they are still haunted.”
The resulting show is “Dumped”, opening at Frame Central Loft Gallery (on Pike and Broadway) on October 13th. The images are meticulously composed, grounded in narrative and steeped in dark eroticism. In each photograph, a beautiful anonymous protagonist goes about their life as usual, while surrounded by disembodied limbs. “My intent as an artist is to find the very guarded center of every individual,” Jonas explained, “That genuine moment of which the camera only gets a glimpse. Early on, Dennis and I challenged ourselves to not use the subject’s eye’s or identity. Our intention is to take away the windows to the soul, and force the viewer to look deeper into each piece’s environment.”
The opening reception, featuring DJ Transport, is on October 13, 5-9pm and part of Blitz: The Capitol Hill Art Walk.
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