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ARTIST’S STATEMENT
Mark Tedeschi is a well known and passionate Australian photographer. This is his 12th solo exhibition. He has participated in over 20 joint exhibitions in Australia, Italy, France and the USA. His images are included in the collections of the Art Gallery of NSW, the National Library in Canberra, the Museum of Sydney, the Justice and Police Museum, the State Library of NSW (which has over 170 of his images), the Centre for Fine Art Photography in Colorado USA, and many private collections. His images have been published extensively in books and journals. Mark has won numerous photographic awards and prizes in Australia, North America and Europe. He has been a finalist in the National Photographic Portrait Prize at the National Portrait Gallery in Canberra (3 times), the Moran Contemporary Photographic Prize, the “Head On” Photographic Portrait Prize at the Australian Centre for Photography in Sydney (twice), and the Photographic Portrait Prize at the National Portrait Gallery in London. Mark has been a judge of photographic competitions on many occasions and he frequently gives lectures on photography. Mark is a member of the Board of the National Art School in Sydney. He was an artist-in-residence at Sydney Grammar School in 2009. He has been awarded the Italian national honour of Cavaliere della Repubblica for his services to photography and the law.
Exhibition: Line of Sight - It's All About Light- 29 April to May 15, 2011
It’s all about light. As I have delved more and more into photography, I have come to appreciate that the success of an image is due in no small measure to the quality of the light, even more than the subject matter of the image. I now feel a sense of excitement and anticipation when I see some magnificent light that I can try to capture and recreate with my camera, no matter what object the light is illuminating. Light is such an ephemeral quality. Its beauty depends not only on its inherent qualities, but also on what it has passed through and what it has landed on. It is as though the photons of light, which have existed from the dawn of the universe, have waited through vast ages to be released to travel vast distances over infinitesimally small periods of time, acquiring the accumulated beauty of what it has passed through, only to deposit that beauty for our enjoyment when it finally comes to rest on a solid. The dichotomy of light is that, although we speak of the duality of light and dark, there is in reality no duality at all. Light is one of the archetypal aspects of the universe that exists as a unity. There is no such thing as dark – only a relative absence of light. The ebb and flow of light, the bright and the shadow dancing with each other, is the real tool of the image maker.
Exhibition: STILL LIFE, NO FRUIT - 29 April to May 13, 2009 - 25 Images of industrial abandonment and decay
In this exhibition, Mark Tedeschi shows us abandoned industrial sites and objects that are evocative of long lost functionality and that convey the pathos and eerie beauty that comes to buildings and objects from age and abandonment. Some of the images contain amazingly beautiful hues and shapes, while others are cheekily suggestive of long-lost worlds. Many of them, as the title suggests, convey Mark Tedeschi’s quirky sense of humour. He says:
“I have always felt that the “ugliness” of age and decay is beautiful, while conventional “beauty” can be boringly ugly. That goes for people as much as it does for buildings and objects. From the rotting canals of Venice to the rusting tin sheds of rural Australia, age and decay can exhibit a variety of textures and colours that twists our insides with their sheer beauty. That is why old buildings that have been over-renovated lose the patina of age and become dull and lifeless. I am sure that one of the reasons why we find decayed buildings and objects so intriguing is that the appearance of age is not something that we have created ourselves, but something that has slowly evolved from the forces of nature, despite our best efforts and intent. It is as though there has been an extended partnership between the original builder, now often long-gone, and nature to create a beauty that neither could have done alone. When I take photographs, of people or buildings, I try to create something that has a message or meaning or universal appeal that goes beyond the surface of the image. I delight in evocative ambiguities. A photograph of a magnificent old factory that is crumbling and full of dried bird droppings can tell us something about the past that is universal to us all. I also try to inject some humour. I believe that one shouldn’t be too serious in art-making. Often playfulness can help us capture some hidden truth or meaning”.
