Andrew Auten's "Appalachian Portraits" Makes its U.S. Debut

Benedictine University is pleased to present the U.S. debut of Texas photographer Andrew Auten. His exhibition , called “Appalachian Portraits” are a group of photographs taken from his trip to the Appalachia area of the United States. The exhibition is currently on display through December 19th.

 

Auten traveled to Appalachia and stayed there for a period of time. He got to know the members of a small, poor, rural community, taking their portraits over a period of a few months. Most of the images from this exhibition were taken at a community gathering at the local public school gymnasium. During the event, clothing, food, toys and entertainment were provided to the children and their families.

The artist’s fantastic use of tenebrism  captures these children’s expressions and throws them over the top in terms of their individual quirks, and showing us their developing sense of bravado. They are simultaneously playful and pensive, happy and lonely.

 

The Caravaggio-esque lighting bring these contemporary images back to the Baroque period, and we feel we are looking at these subjects as we would with any painting done by Velazquez or Caravaggio. They are fresh, daunting and bold.

 

Auten’s perspective lends new directions for photography which have been locked into technology since its inception. Here we see the beginnings of a new, broader use of the medium, as art. We forget these are photographs.

 

Auten studied fine art at the College of Santa Fe, and currently lives in Austin. More of his work can be found at www.andrewauten.com/