THRU THE LENS:
PHOTOGRAPHIC ART FROM THE FREDERICK R. WEISMAN ART FOUNDATION
Curated by Billie Milam Weisman

July 21 - October 25, 2025 
Ronald H. Silverman Fine Arts Gallery
Photography as Multidimensional Art: “Thru the Lens: Photographic Art from the Frederick R. Weisman Art Foundation”

Since its emergence in the 19th century, photography has served as a powerful tool for documenting the world and capturing reality with striking fidelity. In the early 20th century, it was often regarded as a mechanical process, fundamentally distinct from painting and largely disconnected from the realm of fine art. Over time, however, photographic practice evolved to encompass a broad spectrum of techniques and conceptual approaches. Yet, the documentary impulse remains a strong undercurrent for many artists.

In this compelling exhibition, Thru the Lens: Photographic Art from the Frederick R. Weisman Art Foundation, curated by Billie Milam Weisman at the Ronald H. Silverman Fine Arts Gallery, photography is presented as a multidimensional art form. The show features an eclectic selection of works that transcend traditional documentary origins, highlighting a dynamic range of artistic styles and practices. These images whether straightforward photographs or radically altered assemblages speak in whispers and proclamations, revealing personal, social, cultural, and political dimensions.

Some photographs are traditionally framed, while others are transformed through layering, painting, slicing, and sculptural recompositing evolving into new forms that challenge the boundaries of conventional photography.

The exhibit features forty-three diverse artists from fourteen countries (Asia, Europe, South America, and North America) and spans several decades. Notable examples include: early black and white photos by Robert Rauschenberg and Helmut Newton; edited and combined images from film stills by John Baldessari; images from the realism of Chuck Close to the neo-surrealism of Bijou; silk-screened portraits by Andy Warhol; collaged photographs by David Hockney; self-manipulation portraits by ORLAN; silt-scan

photography by Jay Mark Johnson; photography contextualized by cinema by Melanie Pullen; sculptures made from multiple images by Srdjan Loncar; abstract photographic work exploring art and technology while visually referencing the bold style of Jamaica’s rude boy culture by Tim Berresheim; vibrant giclée prints by Dawn Dedeaux; usage of light and digital projection to combine shadow onto celebrity photographs by Paul Rusconi; and some works, by Gustav Gurianov, Yuri Kasparyan, Florian Merkel, and Jane Gottlieb that bridge the gap between painting and photography through their vibrant reworking of

each image.

These works span styles from mid-20th-century realism and surrealism to postmodern photo-based conceptual art. Collectively, they reflect evolving attitudes toward nature, technology, identity, and environmental consciousness often with a rebellious spirit that challenges norms, conventions, and even the medium itself.

Billie Milam Weisman’s curatorial approach invites viewers to interrogate how photographs function conceptually, methodologically, aesthetically, and emotionally. The exhibition’s spatial composition fosters interplay among works, creating a collective narrative that flows through tone, color, subject, and technique.

Ultimately, Thru the Lens is more than an exhibition, it is a meditation on how photography refracts human experience.

-Dr. Mika M. Cho Director, Ronald H. Silverman Fine Arts Gallery, 2025