THOMAS HARGIS: UTOPIA MISPLACED

OPENING RECEPTION: SATURDAY DECEMBER 6, 2008, 7 - 10 PM

EXHIBIT DATES: December 6 - December 27, 2008

HOURS: 12-6 PM, Tuesday - Saturday, and by appointment

Utopia Misplaced, the current photographic images by Thomas Hargis suggests an ideal place or state that has been forgotten or abandoned. Utopia has never existed in the real world, yet often when we think of the past, we tend to remember it as a more perfect time, as if there was a utopia that once existed, but now has disappeared.

Hargis is attracted to HDR (High Dynamic Range) photography because of the sense of hyper reality it conveys. This technique involves taking multiple exposures of the same image and layering them to create a composite with a tonal range greater than conventional photography. This creates an effect as close to painting as it is to photography, and allows him to play with color and light in a way that he describes "dances around the edge of realism." Though one could argue that HDR photography distorts 'reality,' Hargis feels it is closer to the way we experience what we see, as a picture on top of a picture. He states, "It's like me, a Midwesterner in Los Angeles, dressed in a tailored suit with matching fedora - lost in nostalgia for a fictional past, yet with a child's optimism about the future."

Born and raised in Indiana, Thomas Hargis is an active cinematographer and still photographer. He is a graduate of the University of Southern California School of Cinema/Television and has served as Director of Photography on numerous feature films, short films and commercials. He has received several cinematography awards, including for his work on "The Book and the Rose," which was shortlisted for the 2003 Academy Award for Best Short - Live Action. Hargis lives in Los Angeles where he continues to roam the Southern California landscape with his camera. This is his first public gallery exhibition.