Jessica Lark's review of the show
Self Portraits
First I'd especially like to thank Robin, Elyse, and Rachel who are the gorgeous models in my prints, my victory that evening and all the sales of prints that are funding my charity trip in March are very much due to them and I gauge a lot of my success based on the quality of people I work with and they are definitely phenomenal people, models, and friends. I'd also like to thank the people that generously purchased my prints, traveled a good distance to see my show, and of course to Megan who I never fail to work even at social events, and Rookie who has been so essential the last few weeks. Also to Brian for playing my arm candy for the evening and serenading the masses and making me look good :)
If you've ever been to a Scott Church Gallery show... {if you havent epic fail on your part} ...you know it is always an insane event. This by far was the best I have been to, not that I would be biased since 3 of my best prints had prime real estate on the first wall you see when you enter the room
I was there with Sara and Scott helping to hang prints the day before, and as if I didnt already have a high enough opinion of Sara, it was amplified even moreso watching her work magic to take the intimidating pile of various sized prints and work some impressive talents in getting them all wired and hung in some semblance of order. Everyone that sent or dropped off prints, especially the ones that werent ready to be hung owes her a big thank you!
Scott in the meantime hung his entire room while intermittently fluctuating back and forth to see how things were shaping up in the students' room, with not a trace of doubt that Sara had it all locked down. Rookie came in and put in a lot of hours too doing heavy lifting, and I adore him for always being willing to help without any prodding, it's nice to have him around and I'm sure someday soon people will be blogging about how awesome my assistant is too... So the day of the event the prints are hung with title cards beneath and I was the first person there.
Let me tell you something about Scott. He is.
First he took the smaller gallery so that he could show off more of his students' work, he's such a charismatic blend of humble and rockstar sex appeal, and it just radiates from him and everyone around him soaks it up through osmosis and seems more confident and sexy just by association, I know it's an instant amplification for my ego. He also has the uncanny ability to make who ever he is talking to at a particular moment feel like the most important person in his world, and we all eat it up.
So Opening night comes, and I have the privilege of {for once} being early to a Scott Church Event, and setting the centerpiece around all the appetizing hors d' oeuvres I could feel the anticipation building inside me like a little kid on christmas eve. It's a swirl of crimson table cloths, bottles of wine, and silver trays of decadent appetizers in the midst of other excited students arriving early to watch with anticipation the reactions of masses to their images, and in walks Scott, with his artist tell tale ripped jeans and blazer, and that blonde hair he always lets fall in his face that just adds to the mystery and sexual allure of his enigmatic persona, and as usual flanked by his gorgeous wife Heather who always seems to glide more than walk, it's no question that with all the gorgeous women he photographs continuously, she is his muse and the foundation his empire is built on. They are a dynamic duo, and when you throw in his assistant Sara who just drips sex appeal and sensuality out of every pore in a commanding and vulnerable way simultaneously it seems most of their people dont know whether to scream like school girls at a boy band concert or hold their breath in the presence of greatness.
Now of course everyone knows if a gallery show starts at 5pm by 6 you could expect a steady stream of viewers to be passing through, meander through for an hour or so and flow out... but not at Scott's show. The doors might as well have been flood gates, instantaneously the gallery was filled in both rooms and the hall, I couldnt even find my way through the masses to friends and loved ones waving helplessly and excitedly from the other side of the crowd.
It was exhilarating and exciting and full of artistry and charisma, and fun. People that had never met each other were eating and drinking and talking like old friends. New fans of Scott's were gushing about his talents and artistry and persona, while old friends were telling them that 20 years ago he was just as amazing as he is now.
It's an amazing thing to be associated with that kind of awe and starstruck anticipation to see which pieces he choose. I realized later in the evening as the insatiable crowd of people finally ebbed a bit that in his student's gallery room were images of life. Maternity portraits, gorgeous gigantic canvas wrapped prints of landscapes, small 8x10s of body art, artistic interpretations of sexual fetishes, black and white portraits of children, sensual images of beautiful women, and artistic couture and high fashion... every area of photography that one could explore, and Scott inspires artists from each avenue.
It's not just the technical understanding of his equipment, which he always is happy to impart on both seasoned veterans and young girls that didnt know how to take the camera off auto or what an aperture was when they walked into his studio for the first time *ahem* or the tricks he knows of how to make every person look absolutely more incredible than they have ever looked before.... I am always more comfortable behind the lens and he is the only one that can coax me around to the other side of the camera and make me feel gorgeous and desirable. It's really a more soulistic primal connection. That man bleeds his soul and heart and every fiber of his creativity, every shadow of his existence into each piece of artistry he creates.
He says things in our hearts that words would only massacre and betray and that speaks to us. That is his success in his craft that many others that are renowned will not achieve.
I have said many times that each photo I create is in a way a self portrait because the images very much take on a similar persona that is dependent on my mood when I captured it, they are as much expressions of self as they are of the people who are in them. Scott Church takes it one step further, and each image becomes a universal biography that not only is an interpretation of the beauty he sees in the person he is taking the image of, but it is also sharing secrets of who he is in the most personal and intense measures of self, which we as his fans covet because their is so much allure to his mystery and celebrity persona... more than that the images speak to us, and very often every person that views it feels it was created perfectly in sync with the emotions and experiences we are currently enveloped in, and it is a wordless documentary of our own moments and passions which is very intrinsic.
We look and say if my entire life in this moment, who I am and who I want to be could be turned into color and light, that is what it would look like...his images become our self portraits, as well as his own, and that makes us feel inherently connected to him.... but it's genuine, he loves and cares for everyone in his life in such an intense way that it often leaves him tortured because he can not be all things to all people at all times, despite his best efforts, and I think perhaps he forgets that even when he is not, his images are...
That is why everyone was there at 5, and most were there more than an hour after the event ended. It was an amazing experience to be a part of, and I am so grateful for the opportunity.
For those of you that missed it, the show is hung for the month at Mulberry Art Gallery in Lancaster PA. *hint hint*
-Jessica Lark
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