The Etherton Gallery recently unveiled its latest exhibition titled “Alternative Views,” showcasing a collection of black-and-white and color photos by artists Jason Lee and Frank Gohlke. Despite being two different artists on their own paths, they share an interest in exploring one question in particular in their work and with their audience — what’s out there?
“All of my work focuses on ‘what’s out there,’ as seen while roaming here and there,” Lee said in a statement. “Never planned, always in the moment — it’s the simple act, really, of collecting pieces along the way.”
“The world is a pretty interesting place,” Gohlke said. “It can be interesting and puzzling, there’s potential for beauty and transcendence and mystery in the most ordinary things.”
Jason Lee
For the photographer, an opening is a joyful and fun opportunity to see new faces, answer questions and generally talk about photography.
Lee’s collection in the gallery are photos taken between 2017 and 2022 while he was driving between California and Texas — including Arizona, New Mexico and Colorado. The photos depict scenes he saw during his travels, featuring landscapes, old buildings with neon signs and streets and roads — similar subjects to Gohlke.
Being familiar with Gohlke’s work, Lee said he is honored to be showing with him.
“I have yet to meet Mr. Gohlke but I am very familiar with his work and have been for years now,” he said in a statement. “He is a photography hero to a lot of folks — and for good reason.”
When Lee received an invitation from the gallery to showcase his work, he said he was thrilled to have the opportunity and expressed that he enjoys organizing exhibitions. Photographs, Lee said, are great works of art standalone, but he also said that the act of grouping them together is particularly interesting and makes up a large part of his creative process.
“The way we can move prints around, (decide) how big or small we print them, where we position them and how — sometimes alone or paired with something else — is all a big part of the creative process for me,” Lee said in a statement. “It’s fascinating to see how images can take on a different feel when alone versus paired with something else and vice versa.”
Frank Gohlke
For Gohlke, inspiration can come from anywhere and even the mundane can be exciting.
“What I hope I do when I make a photograph is to situate myself so that you can see a lot of different things and how they relate to one another in surprising and revealing ways,” he said. “It’s interesting to me, the way that freeways and cities accommodate themselves to one another, what people do when they build a house and how they inhabit it and what the world looks like at night.
“There’s really not much that I don’t find interesting — at least on first glance.”
He said he is particularly interested in capturing landscapes, which he defines as “anything you see when you walk out the door.” Old buildings and houses, retro cars, roads and streets and natural scenes are common subjects in his collection.
Many of Gohlke’s photographs were taken on film, which he also developed on his own, and are several decades old now. As of ten years ago, the artist said he has transitioned to digital photography — appreciating the opportunity to see the product immediately, rather than waiting — but said he does sometimes miss film photography. Gohlke explained that he loved working in the dark room and gained a lot of pleasure from the process, but that one must adapt. At the end of the day, he said, “it’s still a picture, it’s still a camera.”
Being two like-minded artists, Lee and Gohlke have both expressed that there is no secret to taking a good photograph — with Lee challenging the idea of what a “good” photo even is. The two agreed that the important part of the process is being passionate about the art and the process.
“I can say that it helps to genuinely love what you’re doing and doing it with genuine curiosity,” Lee said in a statement. “Allow yourself to be drawn to whatever you feel drawn to — for whatever reason that is — and not necessarily forcing yourself on it, or forcing your hand.
“Be an observer.”
Gohlke echoed the sentiment and added the importance of exploring the work of other photographers as well.
“It’s a matter of attention — you have to pay attention to everything that goes into the process,” he said. “You have to look at all the great photographs that have been made in the history of the medium to understand what it’s capable of.
“You can’t make a good photograph with half a mind or half an eye.”
Both Gohlke and Lee have explored artforms outside of photography — the former a writer and the latter an actor and director. What makes photography stand out against other mediums, Lee said, is the way in which taking a photo connects the artist to the world.
“Being out there and looking around, completely open to what is what and asking questions about it all is an invigorating experience,” he said in a statement. “I love capturing what is there and how things lay as they lay and find that the camera is extremely honest.
“Being connected to the world in this way is an incredible feeling.”
With the exhibition underway and scheduled to run through Jan. 17, Gohlke said he is hoping that the guests and arts patrons gain a new perspective on the world around them.
“I don’t think I’d make photographs that are obscure intentionally, but I certainly am aware that there are plenty of people who kind of scratch their heads when they look at what I do or what Jason does,” he said. “I would hope that when someone leaves that exhibit, having looked at my photographs and Jason Lee’s photographs, they will have some understanding of ways in which the world can be interesting that they didn’t have before.”