The Carlos Reid Gallery

Photography

​Dolores Kiriacon

Palm Beach Gardens, FL, United States

Artist Statement

My photographs are portraits/still lifes of nature's forms, from flowers, dried leaves, twigs, to the bark of trees in their various stages of growth and natural decline.

The Lily Portfolio is a series of lily portraits that celebrate the life cycle of a plant's life from its beginning bloom to its final stage of being wilted. I took hundreds of photographs of the lilies in all their stages of growth during a period of months. They bloom each day, wilt fairly quickly and become wilted. When selecting and editing the lilies I begin by isolating the lily eliminating all unnecessary elements. This leaves a beautiful flower with all its details isolated in a black background. Unlike the blooming and wilting lilies, the wilted lilies took on a new shape of their own as I created negative and positive space around them, looking more like a piece of sculpture in its final stage of life.

I discovered a dried orchid that had fallen from its stem creating a new shape, color and dryness, very different when in full bloom. This same occurrence takes place with flowers, leaves, twigs, branches, and the bark of trees.

I have become a collector of nature's forms that have fallen to the ground and dried. Though I have no immediate plan when they are collected, I place them on sheets of white paper to be later assembled and photographed. These collections are photographed indoors, placed on a reflective surface using natural light. I create still life compositions recomposing them many times until a relationship of shapes, colors, lines, and spaces, pleases my eye and the lighting is right. I manipulate the compositions of forms to create unique and interesting shapes of movement, color and texture, so that the viewer's attention is drawn to the similarities or differences between the various elements. When these photographs are edited with today's technology, the colors, shapes and textures become vibrant. The reflective surface created another compositional element making the images mysterious as to where they were.

What I am trying to do with these natural forms that I collect is to show their beauty in a new and different way. They created a new life of their own through the lens of my camera. The camera brings out qualities that one cannot see with the naked eye when they are on the ground. I am not interested in taking an exact representation, but more of an artistic impression and interpretation that I want to convey when one looks at the final images. They created a beauty, although different, as when they were in full bloom that was equal to their original beginning, allowing the viewer to appreciate them in a new and different way. It's about seeing things - seeing things like they have not been seen before. My work reflects the way I see and feel about these natural forms that arouse my curiosity and imagination. I am always looking for that “special something” in an image to entice the viewer’s imagination.

My photographs are printed on archival smooth cotton paper which absorbs the inks and brings out the rich deep colors looking more like fine art prints than glossy photographs. They are signed, numbered and printed in limited editions.

Exhibitions

Solo Exhibition

The Cultural Council Of Palm Beach County, Lake Worth, FL - Fine Art Photographic Prints

Lily Portfolio & Dried Leaves - Oct. 18 - Nov. 15, 2014

Juried Online Exhibitions

Exhibeo - Art-Competition-Magazine

Summer Palette - August 2015 Top Tier Award - Flamboyant 3

Rebirth and Renewal - June 2015 Top Tier Award - Dried Same Leaves

Memory - April 2015 Top Tier Award - Dried Philodendron Leaf

Time and Seasons - March 2015 2nd Place Winner - Dried Leaves

Interview with Jonathan Raddatz

Exhibitions Without Walls - International Competition- for Photographers and Digital Artists

Patterns Created or Observed - August 4, 2105

3rd Place Winner - Curling Leaves and Award of Excellence - Curving Leaves

Linus Galleries - Art Competition-Long Beach/Pasadena, Calif.

Still Life Juried Exhibition - online video August, 2015 - One of 20 artists accepted - 2 photographs

Chromatic Juried Exhibition - online video July, 2015 - One of 26 artists accepted - 3 photographs

Works will be for sale at the gallery - Contact Linus Galleries

Manhattan Arts International - Art Competition

"Hot Topics" - Bold Expressions in Nature & Human Nature

August17 - October 15, 2015 - Award of Merit - Flamboyant 1

"The Healing Power of Art" - April 30-June 30, 2015, One of 43 finalists Won a Manhattan Arts International Artist Showcase Award, 3 Lily photographs

The Artist Showcase Award will be on their website for one year.

Art-Competition.net - International Fine Art Competition

Gallery G25N & Art-Competition.net -Semi-Annual Open II - Sept. 2015 - One of 10 artists –

3 photographs selected

Gallery G25N & Art-Competition.net - Pets We Love- online video July 2015- One of 11 artists -3 photographs selected

Still Life II -July 2015 - Honorable Mention - Palm Frond, Pod, Leaf

Emotion & Energy of Color II - April 2015 - Honorable Mention - Dried Similar Leaves

Black & White Photography - February 2015 - Honorable Mention - Wilted Lily III

Light Space & Time Art Gallery

In 9 online competitions, 11 various Honorable Mention, Special Recognition and Special Merit Awards 2014-2015

The Foundation for Photo/Art in Hospitals

"Contributing Photographer, Foundation for Photo Art" - Sea Shells, Photograph will be on their site for one year from April 2015 - 2016

This photograph was framed in Italy and is hanging in the Careggi Hospital in Florence, Italy

Juried Exhibitions

The Naples Art Association at The Von Liebig Art Center, Naples, FL

National Art Encounter Competition 2015- March 15 to April 18, 2015

Wilting Lily - Exhibition Juror and Awards Judge, Dr. Carol Damian, Florida International University Professor, Art Scholar and Past Director of the Patricia & Philip Frost Art Museum

Lighthouse Art Center Museum, Tequesta, FL, Jan. 15 to March 7, 2015 Contempo 2015-pushing the limit on art - Wilting Lily -Awards Judge, Elayne Mordes, White Space Gallery

Jonathan Dickinson State Park, Hobe Sound, FL, Elsa Kimbell Enviornmental Ed. and Research Center - March-April 2014 - Floral Fusion - Orchid Photographs - Awards Judge, Greg Allikas

See.Me - SeeMe Exhibition Space at Art Takes Miami Exhibition Dec. 2014 - SCOPE Art Booth - photograph in special digial exhibition on Dec. 7 of all Art Takes Miami entrants.

Cultural Council of Palm Beach County, Lake Worth, FL,

May 16 - August 29, 2015 Cultural Council Biennial, 2015 - Wilting Lily-Juror, Elisabeth Sobieski

Palm Beach Photographic Centre, West Palm Beach, FL,

19th Annual Members' Juried Exhibition 2015 - Wilting Lily II - Juror, Scott McKiernan

18th Annual Members' Juried Exhibition 2014 - Wilting Lily I - Juror, Vincent Versace

17th Annual Members’Juried Exhibition 2013 - Ficus Magnofilia - Juror, Raymond Gehman

City of West Palm Beach and Palm Beach Photographic Centre's - Third Annual Grassy Waters Preserve 2013 Photography Contest – Honorable Mention -Grassy Waters Restoration Area - Awards Judge, Steven Nestler

Publications

See.Me - The Exposure Award 2015 - Photography - The Exposure Award Books - The Microphotography Collection- hardcover book - Blooming Lily, one of 135 artists selected

Exhibeo Art Competition Magazine- Time and Seasons - 2nd Place Winner, Dried Leaves -Interview with Jonathan Raddatz, Editor, Art Critic & Juror - Dolores Kiriacon: Pretty Dead Things-March 2015

Women in Art 278 Magazine - Jan.-March 2015

Women in Art 278 Magazine - Oct.-Dec. 2014

Embler Art Gallery - The Club Collection - Summer 2014 - Catalog of fine art featured inside the American Airlines Admirals Club lounges -New York, Miami, Sao Paulo

Lily Portfolio

This series of lily portraits celebrate the life cycle of a plant’s life from its beginning bloom to its final stage of being wilted. I took hundreds of photographs of the lilies in all their stages of growth during a period of months. They bloom each day, wilt fairly quickly, and become wilted.

When editing and selecting the lilies I begin by isolating the lily eliminating all unnecessary elements. This leaves a beautiful flower with all its details isolated in a black background. The wilted lilies took on a new shape of their own as I created negative and positive space around them, looking more like a piece of sculpture in its final stage of life.

When these photographs are edited with today's technology, the colors, shapes and textures become vibrant, allowing the viewer to appreciate them in a new and different way.

THE CARLOS REID GALLERY

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