Archive for December 2010
Skyscraper City
On Saturday, December 4, Betz Gallery (1208 W. Gray) hosted an opening reception for an exhibit of color and black-and-white photography by Houstonian Tom Haymes, “Skyscraper City,” which will run through December 23, takes the Houston’s tallest buildings as its subject, offering fresh perspectives on the familiar towers of Downtown and Uptown. Two strategies dominate, from narrowing on repeated patterns of windows and awnings, as with a startling juxtaposition of the Chevron and Exxon buildings, or by casting whole buildings vertiginously against the sky. Both approaches rely, as with Ansel Adams’s landscapes, on a careful consideration of the role and quality of light and climate, and on the nearly tactile activity of the clouds. Often, vast reflective surfaces provide a sort of interpretive strategy, a rippling mirror of the surroundings, including other buildings and streetscapes. Several employ a fish-eye lens, including one dizzying shot dominated by one of the decorative stainless steel arches along Post Oak Boulevard.
