This past month, professional artist Mitch Weiss displayed an exciting new show labeled The Analog Automobile: Photographs by Mitch Weiss. The show, which featured a series of black and white photos of cars in varying settings, had its opening on May 3rd. At the event, Weiss discussed his art in more depth. According to Mr. Duarte, who was present at the opening, said, “This show is a must-see if you are a car enthusiast.”
In the gallery, the artist focused on old-fashioned and antique cars secluded in a wide variety of backgrounds of nature. One piece featured a Porsche from the 1950s buried underneath a pile of snow on a trail, while another photograph revealed the dark interior of a car through its opened butterfly doors that contrast with a bright, glowing sunset. When asked about his personal process of capturing certain photos, Weiss remarked, “I try to capture the energy of cars by matching them with their surrounding environments.” His photos, which highlight a clash between modern technology and the natural world, additionally suggest that both the beauty of technology and an appreciation for nature can be embraced simultaneously. His artwork provides an understanding of how the two may coexist together in harmony.
Weiss himself is an accomplished visual artist and American photographer in the Boston area, with a fruitful career that includes editorial photography for the Boston Globe, portraiture for national advertising campaigns, and art installations at corporate functions. Weiss’s photography reflects the heritage of 17th-century tenebrism – a form of art that uses extreme contrasts of light and dark to heighten dramatic effect; he also commonly pairs such methods with the techniques of mid-20th century large-format film photography. His biography on his webpage states, “The setting of subjects against his signature dark field creates a meditative atmosphere that suspends time and focuses the viewer on the quintessence of each subject, stripping the celebrity from the famous and the mundane from the ubiquitous.”
While the art show has since closed, students can still check out his work online on his personal website.
