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Holga Polka Invitational

January 9 - February 22, 2009

Opening Reception: Friday, January 9 l 5:30 to 7:30 PM

Gallery Talk: Wednesday, January 28, 2009; Reception 6:30 p.m., Talk 7 p.m.

Curator: Mark Fischer

Artists: more than 40 artists

In the age of digital photography, forty-two local artists will take the Holga challenge. Forget about using expensive, technology-laden cameras. The Holga, categorized as a toy camera because it is made of plastic, doesn't have any bells and whistles. Yet, the Holga has a loyal following dedicated to its signature style of shocking simplicity and unpredictable results.

"The Holga only has one f-stop," explained Mark A. Fisher, photographer and curator of the Holga Polka Invitational. "The back of the camera might fall off if you don't tape it on. You'll get double exposures, if you don't advance the film. Little about the Holga says it's a camera, but people are still using it as another tool to create stunning work."

To celebrate creative Holga photography in a contemporary assortment of media types and styles, the Regional Arts Commission (RAC), located at 6128 Delmar, will host the Holga Polka Invitational from January 9, 2009 - February 22, 2009. Each of the forty-two participating artists will display alternate approaches to their own primary medium based on their Holga images. The variety of art includes ceramics, hand-made books, alternative photographic processes, printmaking, mixed media, and of course, photographs. The opening reception will be held on January 9th from 5:30 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. and will feature a live polka band to help set the quirky atmosphere.

A handful of writers from local publications have also been invited to try their luck with the mysterious Holga. Stefene Russell of St. Louis Magazine, Alison Sieloff of the Riverfront Times, and Byron Kerman of Playback St. Louis will each take photos with a Holga for two weeks. Their results will be displayed at the Holga Polka Invitational and their experiment chronicled in their respective publications.

Holga Polka Invitational participant Tony Schanuel has been a photographer since the 1970s, but he didn't begin using the Holga until Fisher gave him one in 2006. "I hadn't shot film in some time," recalled Schanuel. "I'd been using digital cameras. I have some very expensive film cameras that have been sitting on the shelf for the past seven years, and then Mark gives me this twenty-dollar plastic camera that has the lens quality of a cataract. It's very limited in what it can do. You don't have an incredible amount of control. Consequently, it's a risky camera to work with."

Despite the Holga's flaws, or maybe because of them, Schanuel couldn't put down his Holga. The Holga is known for producing soft-focus images, leaking light spontaneously into pictures, and casting a hazy vignette around the image without a definitive foreground or background. "It's a strange camera and in my case it was kind of like an odd magnet," said Schanuel, who described the camera as "fun" and "wacky."

Schanuel said the Holga encouraged him to go back to his roots as a photographer. He found liberation in the lack of control and began to rethink subject matter. "The Holga is the perfect camera for quirky subject matter like six-foot lawn bunnies," said Schanuel.

The possibilities are endless for the results of the 2009 Holga Polka Invitational. Since the Holga's birth as a kitschy, mass-produced camera in Hong Kong in the 1980s, the Holga has become well-loved and even produced award-winning photographs. Photographer David Burnett won a top prize at the 2001 White House News Photographers' Association's Eyes of History contest for a photo he took with a Holga of Al Gore on the campaign trail in 2000.

Still, the Holga remains stubbornly itself. "It's a Holga- you're always going to have problems," Fisher said. "If there's nothing falling off, it's not a Holga. But they are marvelous instruments for the pure purpose of seeing."

List of Holga Polka Participants: David Angell - Photographer Tom Bremer - Photographer Jim Brooks - Photographer Paul Callaway - Photographer John Cross - Painter/ Sculptor John Dean - Landscape Painter Valerie Dratwick - Photographer Doug Gaubatz - Photographer M.J. Goerke - Hand Made Books/Mixed Media Benjamin Guffee - Painter/Photographer David Hanlon - Photographer Robin Hirsch - Photographer Hilary Hitchcock - Photographer Noah Kirby - Sculptor Bob Kitt - Photographer Robert Langnas - Printmaker Jane Linders - Photographer Donna Lochmann - Photographer Don McKenna - Photographer Bill Meeks - Ceramist Janice Nesser - Mixed Media/Photographer Marion Noll - Photographer Alison Ouellette-Kirby - Photographer, Sculptor, Metal Arts Marianne Pepper - Photographer Joan Proffer - Painter/Photographer Ruth Reese - Ceramics Garrett Roberts - Photographer Russ Rosener - Photographer Jan Sago - Photographer Kathleen Sanker - Photographer Tony Schanuel - Photographer/Digital Artist Jami Schoenewies - Painter Michael Schoenewies - Mixed Media Eric Shultis - Painter/Mixed Media/Photographer Jennifer Silverberg - Photographer Megan Singleton - Photographer, Hand Made Paper Brian D. Smith - Painter Susan Hacker Stang - Photographer Maria Sweney - Photographer Robert M. Witte - Photographer Kay Wood - Photographer Barbara Zucker - Photographer

 

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