Gary Grenell

Green Lake Biodiversity

On view: March 3 – 30, 2000

Artist’s Reception: Friday, March 3 6:00 – 8:00 PM

The Photographic Center Northwest is proud to feature Green Lake – Biodiversity by photographer Gary Grenell. As a resident of Green Lake, Grenell has spent the last eight years wandering through his neighborhood, and the two-mile path around Green Lake, Washington’s most widely used park, with his camera in hand. Biodiversity refers to the variety of life forms; the different plants, animals and microorganisms, the genes they contain, and the ecosystems they form. The idea emphasizes the interrelated nature of the living world and its processes. Globally, biodiversity is under attack. Paving and populating, consuming and polluting, humans are causing species to vanish at a rapid rate. Time spent in the unsealed, fluid environment of Green Lake reveals a cast of characters that is as unique, yet interrelated as that found on the ocean floor. Grenell’s awareness of the familiar enables him to detect subtle variations from the ordinary.

Drawing from the traditions of environmental portraiture and street photography, Grenell responds to the homogenization of culture, and the group psychology of sameness that insidiously permeates society. Grenell’s black and white photographs portray qualities of individuality, dignity, humor, and humanity. By use of a medium sized format camera as well as a 35mm, Grenell’s photographs are technically impressive and crystal clear.

Grenell recently received Honorable Mention for this body of work in the Santa Fe Center for Visual Arts: Vision 2000 – Project Competition. He has exhibited in several galleries including Benham Gallery, Fotocircle, Art Space, Bumbershoot Fair, Summer Song Gallery, Jonsson Comprehensive Cancer Center; UCLA, and Phinney Center Gallery. Grenell is a self taught photographer and has been shooting and exhibiting since the 1970’s. Grenell was a co-founder of Fotocircle Gallery.