Art and the Art of Shadows

Linus Gelber

Brooklyn artist Jennifer Lambert makes large collages from small bits of paper harvested from catalogs and advertising circulars. Seen close, her prints are intricate patchworks of textured scraps; from a distance they are bright patterns and bold lines.

Jen opens an exhibit of her work at the Lobo restaurant in Park Slope a few weeks ago, and today I am back with a tripod to shoot the show. This is something you don't generally want to do in front of diners eating their meals. People in restaurants get all weird about whether you're taking pictures of them, or what. "What's that guy doing?" and so forth. Not to say I blame them, mind you.

I arrive just after five, as Lobo is opening for the evening. There's no direct sunlight, but streetscape light pours in torrents through the windows up front. Reflection is the bane of shooting framed artwork, but if you can't beat it, ignore it. That's what I say.

The Tex-Mex decor casts unusual horned shadows, a pattern over patterns. Jen is always excited at the way rooms interact with her work; she sees the print on the wall as an instigation as much as the endpoint of a piece.

See more of this week's Thursday Walk project on the Utata site, or the rest of my Thursdays here on Flickr.

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