'IMAGINING EDEN: Connecting Landscapes," an exhibit of photography by Lyle Gomes, opens Monday at ARTshare 25 Gallery in San Mateo. The images represent his 16-year quest to capture in black and white that elusive place of serene natural beauty.
Using his panoramic format 4x5 camera, Gomes traveled throughout America and in Europe, taking photos of gardens, parks, golf courses and even cemeteries that summon for him the image of prelapsarian paradise.
"As humans, we find comfort and nourishment in nature," Gomes notes. "Historically, cultures have attempted to harness and focus these qualities through the creation of nature-like landscapes."
For Gomes, the connection between these various landscapes exhibiting harmony between man and nature is the "atemporal idea of a 'locus amoenus' — a pleasant place," harking back to the idyllic locations in the writings of Virgil, Apollonius and Sappho and the "imagined period of the Golden Age."
Often referred to as Arcadia, the landscape would include such features as shady groves, grassy meadows and flowing water.
Gomes' quest culminated in a book of 60 photographs, from which the exhibit takes its name. Although primarily a book of the American landscape, its 31 locations include places in England, where Gomes was a 1998 Fulbright Scholar, and in Italy, where he had a 2002 Rockefeller Foundation residency. "Imagining Eden: Connecting Landscapes" was published in 2005 by the University of Virginia Press.
He began using the panoramic picture format following his master of arts degree from San Francisco State University in 1980, with later inspiration from the work of Czechoslovakian photographer Josef Sudek.
You can meet the artist at a reception from 3 to 5 p.m. March 10. The exhibit, supported by a grant from the Peninsula Community Foundation, will be on view through April 27. ARTshare 25 Gallery is on the second floor at 32 W. 25th Ave. Hours are 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Mondays through Fridays.
Call ARTshare at (650) 591-2101 or visit
http://www.artshare.org.
