Robert Keziere

The Contemporary Gallery will present an exhibition of forty photographs by Vancouver photographer Robert Keziere. In 1987, Keziere received a Canada Council “B” Grant which enabled him to spend nine months in Italy, making photographs in Rome and Florence. The photographs were made using an 11 by 14 inch Deardorff wooden field camera. The large format made transporting and setting up the camera difficult. Also, acquiring permission from the various government and museum bodies was a challenge in itself. But the 11 by 14 inch contact prints yield an exquisite amount of detail. Keziere is well known for his technical skill and the prints reflect his abilities. Keziere's intention was not to simply document historic sites, but rather, he approached his subject on a personal and experiential level.

"I am interested in architecture and its evolution. But more so in the ineffable, the private corners and eloquent stairways, the windowed rooms which seem to resonate, images of continuance and change. It is a task which is explorative, intuitive and contemplative."

While in Rome, Keziere began to photograph early scientific equipment and related materials. As this process evolved, relationships between the architectural images and the scientific images became apparent. An image from a building by Brunelleschi and a wax anatomical study of a chicken seemed to embody similar ideas. The photographs are about knowledge and belief, about discovery and understanding; about reason.

This exhibition toured at the Art Gallery of Windsor in 1990.

Guest curated by Greg Bellerby