Solo exhibition ‘Cameras: Interpreters of Reality’ opens at Bender Gallery, Oct. 5

Press release from Bender Gallery:

Bender Gallery is proud to present “Cameras: Interpreters of Reality”, a solo exhibition of glass cameras by Joshua Hershman. Hershman is a mixed media artist who primarily works with kiln cast glass and photography. The cameras are life sized and are created by making a mold from antique or broken cameras, which destroys the original camera in the process. The cameras are then cast in glass using the lost wax method. With a background in craft and design, Hershman uses his dynamic range of skills to create highly detailed, innovative, and thought provoking sculpture. The exhibition opens on Friday, October5 at 5 PM.

Hershman was raised in a socially conscious household, where artistic paths were fostered from an early age. Being born with no peripheral vision or depth perception, decades of vision therapy led him to have a lifelong fascination with the complex nature of the visual system as well as the science of light and optics. By using cameras themselves as frames for his experimental photographic processes, Hershman asks us to look more closely into the simple act of taking a photograph. His work focuses on the significance that film and photography have played on the development of contemporary global culture, and shows how the complex nature of our image-based society is constantly being redefined by the lens.

In his artist’s statement Hershman says, “Since early childhood, I have experienced the world without peripheral vision or depth perception. My vision has since been corrected, but through this process I came to acknowledge the curious nature of such visual anomalies, and began to mimic these irregularities within my work. By using broken cameras and intentionally defective lenses, I manipulate light and encourage alternate ways of looking at photography by allowing the optical and fluid qualities of glass to bring new meaning and depth to the photographic image. By taking photographs and fusing them permanently within glass, I link two diverse yet parallel vocabularies into a unique, sculptural vernacular. The natural play of light and optics inherently found in glass imitates the actual process of taking pictures and exposing negatives. Allowing the work itself to capture these forces, the invisible and counter-intuitive nature of light is revealed. Using the camera as a point of departure, I emphasize the aesthetics of its design, functionality, and iconic meaning, effectively demonstrating how images can both shape and distort our culture, memories and global consciousness”.

Hershman was born in Colorado 1981 and began working with glass at the age of 17. In 2004, he graduated from the Craft and Design Program at Sheridan College in Ontario, Canada. In 2008, he earned a BFA with Distinction from the California College of the Art and an MFA from Alfred University in New York in 2016.

Bender Gallery is a contemporary fine art and sculpture gallery in downtown Asheville with a focus on glass art by internationally recognized artists. The gallery has been specializing in glass for fourteen years and the owners have an in depth knowledge about contemporary glass art. The gallery offers a boutique setting with a contemporary modern aesthetic. They also carry abstract and figurative paintings, mixed media, and select ceramic works.