New Art Exhibit Featuring Allen Russ: “City of Trees: The Natural Monuments of Washington DC”

January 30, 2012 · Posted in Artists, Places to go in DC, Vastu News · 1 Comment

Over the weekend we had a new art exhibit go up called “City of Trees: The Natural Monuments of Washington DC” from DC-based photographer Allen Russ.

Allen Russ on the series:

“This is an ongoing book project of landscape photography focusing on the trees of Washington DC. I am working on this project in conjunction with the Trust for the National Mall. For the next several years, I will be adding photographs as I create them.”

As you may recall, Allen has exhibited at Vastu before back in 2010 as part of a $500 or Less art show and was even interviewed, at the time, by Cecile Oreste from Borderstan.

About his work:

“I would characterize my work as equal parts science and art. Often when I conceive of a photograph, so much of my intent is to capture some biological, chemical and physical symptom of the effects of time on my subject as well as the geometry of the subject and the scene of which it is a part.

It is often the case that I manufacture or manipulate my subject over weeks and months. Treating it chemically or simply leaving it to be affected by weathering. Although, many of my subjects are man-made relics of the industrial era, I am primarily photographing nature.

I am trying to capture not just the symptoms of time, but the actual passage of it. This means that I spend the time around many of my photographs under long exposure conditions trying to contain 30+ minutes on a single piece of film.”