Silent Language

Stormy Route 27, by Grant Haffner

Head Of Pond Road, by Grant Haffner

Plank, by Leah Giberson

For Two, Leah Giberson

Caravan Series (One), by Leah Giberson

I think places, spaces, and objects have a language. They seem to catch and reflect the mood of the people that live or use them and tell their stories, even when they're not around; tons of stories (no wonder chairs look like people sitting down). They create a connection between the designer and consumer, being pretty suggestive to this last one. I believe this hidden language is what gets us so crazy about them...furniture and architecture, cities and towns, old and new. They make us decode their past as well as guess about their future, though they all speak silently.

Capturing that language is not an easy job; it requires a big doze of sensitivity, observation, and sixth sense. It seems to be easy for these two artists which seem to have a lot in common, Leah Giberson and Grant Haffner. Enjoy the pictures and let them fascinate you with these words:

Leah Giberson

"In my current mixed-media work, I search for personal meaning in the most ordinary of surroundings.I start by photographing suburban and urban landscapes and then use these digital printouts to begin my mixed-media collages. I work back into the prints with paint and sometimes embroidery thread to alter the setting and distill the essential elements of each image. The lines between the "fact" of the photographic image and the "fiction" of the paint are blurred at times, but not denied. I am not trying to hide the process, but rather, I am investigating where fact and fiction meet and how they influence and inform one another, creating a new and arguably truer story."

Grant Haffner

"Grant sees every passing mile of country road as a potential painting, often pulling his 1986 Ford F150 onto the shoulder to record the more striking scenes with a Polaroid picture. Via these Polaroid snapshots, he is able to carefully study the angles and planar landscapes, revealing intersections of sky and the open road. His compositions are rendered with a bold and sometimes solarized color palette, which is cleverly balanced to depict the speed and rhythm of the rural roadways. The slightly exaggerated poles and power-lines are primary to these compositions as they are utilized to exaggerate the depth of field and perspective and the artist's absorption in the fleeting landscape of the East End of Long Island. Haffner is committed to exploring these horizons, which appear to extend as far as the eye can see, with no end or beginning."