An abbreviated look at a man’s photographic life.
Photographer Ray Carofano’s career has spanned more than 50 years, first as a hobby, then a passion, and finally, a profession. Chronicles: The Photography of Ray Carofano at the Palos Verdes Art Center offers a deep exploration of the artist’s evocative photographic suites, showcasing the depth, nuance and emotional resonance of his work.
Curated by friend and artist Ron Linden, this long-awaited exhibition charts the career of the revered San Pedro artist from the painterly rendered riverrun views of the Los Angeles River (the only series in which Carofano uses color), to his hauntingly decaying landscapes in Broken Dreams, Carofano takes us on a not-so-sentimental journey, guided by a discerning eye and keen aesthetic. Whether the subject is abandoned and forgotten or functioning in isolation, these images trace society’s impact on open space like punctuation marks on a blank page.
His series Broken Dreams is comprised of images of “outsiders,” objects and scenes in the Mojave Desert. In Carofano’s words, it’s “a place where everything seems a little out of alignment.” Salton Sea Beach #24 presents a moody sky where the space between the clouds resembles energetic beings. In the center of a chasmic expanse of water, an industrial-type structure sits alone, as if guarding this space. As the sky transfigures into a mesmerizing (and “sultry” per Linden) sea, it renders an undefined, illuminated horizon. This masterful Beach is visually intoxicating.
Broken Dreams provides moments of lightness among the fractured dreams. One of these, Niland (near the Salton Sea), could charm anyone, even the “radical” outsiders of the Mojave. The scene of cracked earth, tumbleweed and stormy-looking skies reveals two isolated, dilapidated buses from the rear, sitting beside each other. One, tilted slightly askew, leans on the other, supported by its friend in this deserted landscape.
Linden noted that Carofano earned a reputation as a “dark room genius,” who mastered techniques such as split-printing and split-toning. The artist’s genius is abundantly highlighted through his longtime compadre’s curation of this exhibition, which Linden calls an abbreviated look at a man’s photographic life.
It’s certain that viewers will wonder what the story is behind each one of Carofano’s photographic images. L.A. River #62 from the riverrun series, and poster art for this show, is a sleek composition of shadows, lines, color and reflection. This piece plays tricks with what you think you see. Particularly through its singular, refracted ‘X’, as it marks the scene, revealing itself both above and below water. With its simultaneously subtle and bold presence, riverrun portrays seldom seen images of the 51-mile storm drain that is still flatteringly called the Los Angeles River, Linden wrote of this series in its companion book, RIVERRUN.
Slab Dwellers and Faces of Pedro reveal this singular photographer’s deep love of humanity and commitment to building community through his art. In these two suites, Carofano turns his unflinching lens on an eccentric community of desert outsiders as well as locals in his own backyard, all of them becoming characters in a complex narrative that both reveals and expands the margins of society. In Slab Dwellers’, Cornelius (the library manager), a blondeish, dreadlocked woman wearing a flannel shirt, sits at a counter, a quarter-full clear bottle, shot glass and Coke before her as her gaze averts the camera. The library shelves behind her contain all sorts of ephemera. In addition to books, there are dolls and doll heads, which resemble Cornelius in her stillness. The curious story behind this image conveys just another day in Slab City.
Carofano’s Faces of Pedro series is a more than two-decade, breathtaking documentary project. His book on this project, of the same name, consists of 56 black and white photographic portraits of San Pedro residents, past and present. They are each breathtaking for Carofano’s striking photographic skills and the subjects’ expressions, a few of which are confrontational. Through a dance of give and take between photographer and subject, the resulting portraits, some shocking at first glance, are empathetic in Carofano’s hands, and viewers soon understand the vulnerability and complex systems and events that brought these individuals to their circumstances. These Faces with monikers like Jiminy Cricket, New York Pete, Montana, et al, capture the depth of these souls and envisage the stories each could tell.
Throughout Chronicles, via Carofano’s lens, forms display personality, desert scenes arrest your mind’s eye and human subjects reach your heart.
“Much has been written about this New Haven native’s exodus to southern California where he transitioned from a highly successful career in commercial photography to launch his life-long passion as a fine arts photographer. Driven by intense curiosity and armed with virtuosic technical skills, Carofano has amassed a remarkable archive chronicling our physical, social, and environmental surroundings. I’ve been privileged to share more than three decades of friendship and collaboration with Ray and his wife, Arnée. Chronicles is but a brief synopsis of a remarkable, wide- ranging, career.” — Ron Linden
Born in 1942 in New Haven, Connecticut, Carofano studied at Quinnipiac College, Southern Connecticut State College and Paier School of Art. Largely self-taught, his passion for photography began at an early age when his parents gifted him a complete set of The Encyclopedia of Photography.
Ray Carofano’s work can be found in the permanent collections of the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, Texas; University of Texas, Gernsheim Collection, Austin, Texas; Santa Barbara Museum of Art, Santa Barbara, California; Museum of Photographic Arts, San Diego, California; Galera de Arde Fotografo, San Miguel Allende, Mexico; Fototeca de Cuba, Havana, Cuba, and many private and corporate collections here and abroad.
Time: 6 to 9 p.m., artist reception, June 7. Chronicles runs to July 5
Cost: Free
Details: pvartcenter.org
Venue: Palos Verdes Art Center, 5504 Crestridge Road, Rancho Palos Verdes