Is going back to your artistic roots a sign of confidence, or a lack of it? Terri Weifenbach’s solo exhibit at D.C.’s Leica store poses this thorny question.
In the Leica exhibit, Weifenbach showcases works that echo her circa-2001 technique of photographing natural scenes in bright, spring-like colors and—-most notably—-her creative use of focus.
I loved her early images when they first appeared and was half-disappointed when, in the intervening years, Weifenbach turned to more muted, green-and-beige-dominated photographs of woodsy settings in fall and winter.
Then, a year ago, Weifenbach changed course again, producing a memorable piece of video art in which she focused on a puddle, gently shifting the plane of focus in and out. But after that welcome burst of
The flatness of fences and building facades provide less material for her focus-shifting style to work with (top), but Weifenbach’s purely natural scenes are impressive—-a tree with a circular crown of reddish leaves (bottom), for instance, and a luxuriant vortex of foliage focusing on a blue lawn chair in the distance (second from bottom).
The exhibit makes me ambivalent: Seeing Weifenbach’s newest exhibit brings back pleasant memories, but with a tinge of wistfulness about more innovative paths she hasn’t taken, at least not yet.
Due to a reporting error, the original version of this blog post misidentified the years of Weifenbach’s series “Between Maple and Chestnut.”
The show is on view daily at the Leica store, 977 F St. NW.
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