Lee SaloutosPhotography

Corroded Vehicle, Rachel, NV, #17 (Navy), 2013, archival digital pigment print, 20 x 25 inches

Rusted Truck Lake County, OR, #23 201420172Archival digital pigment print 20 x 25 inches

Rusted Truck Lake County, OR, #27 2014Archival digital pigment print 20 x 25 inches

Rail Car Portola, CA, #31 (Open This)2013Archival digital pigment print 20 x 25 inches

Rail Car Portola, CA, #10 (Door First) 2013Archival digital pigment print 20 x 25 inches

Rail Car Portola, CA, #42 2013Archival digital pigment print 20 x 25 inches

Rail Car Portola, CA, #5 (12-51) 2013Archival digital pigment print 20 x 25 inches

Rail Car Portola, CA, #21 (Numbers) 2013Archival digital pigment print 20 x 25 inches

Rail Car Portola, CA, #26 (BLT. 10-16) 2013Archival digital pigment print 20 x 25 inches

Rail Car Portola, CA, #30 (Go Away) 2013Archival digital pigment print 20 x 25 inches

Rusted Truck Modoc County, CA, #9 (24) 2013Archival digital pigment print 20 x 25 inches

Rusted Truck Modoc County, CA, #15 (Diesel) 2013Archival digital pigment print 20 x 25 inches

Rail Car Portola, CA, #34 2013Archival digital pigment print 20 x 25 inches

Rail Car Portola, CA, #46 2013Archival digital pigment print 20 x 25 inches

Rail Car, Portola, CA, #28 (Repairs) 2013Archival digital pigment print 20 x 25 inches

Corrosion Warm Springs NV, #3 2005Archival digital pigment print 20 x 25 inches

Shot Up Car Black Rock UT, #5 2005Archival digital pigment print 20 x 25 inches

Shot Up Car Black Rock UT, #2 2005Archival digital pigment print 20 x 25 inches

Shot Up Car Black Rock UT, #8 2005 Archival digital pigment print 20 x 25 inches

Shot Up Car Denay Valley, NV, #6 2012Archival digital pigment print 20 x 25 inches

Shot Up Car Denay Valley, NV, #2 2012 Archival digital pigment print 20 x 25 inches

Shot Up Car Denay Valley, NV, #15 2012Archival digital pigment print 20 x 25 inches

Rusting Shack Goldfield, NV, #4 2005 Archival digital pigment print 20 x 25 inches

Sheet Metal Smoke Creek Desert NV 2003Archival digital pigment print 20 x 25 inches

Scap Tonopah NV, #2 2005 Archival digital pigment print 20 x 25 inches

Rusted Vehicle Diamond Valley, NV, #14 2017Archival digital pigment print 20 x 25 inches

Rusted Vehicle Diamond Valley, NV, #16 2017 Archival digital pigment print 20 x 25 inches

Gouges, Rusted Vehicle Diamond Valley, NV, #1 2017Archival digital pigment print 20 x 25 inches

Corroded Vehicle Rachel, NV, #3 2013 Archival digital pigment print 20 x 25 inches

Corroded Vehicle Rachel, NV, #7 2013Archival digital pigment print 20 x 25 inches

Rail Yard Ely NV, #1 2010 Archival digital pigment print 20 x 25 inches

Rail Car Portola, CA, #25 2013Archival digital pigment print 20 x 25 inches

Rusted TruckLake County, OR, #32 2014 Archival digital pigment print 20 x 25 inches

Rusted Vehicle Diamond Valley, NV, #2 2017Archival digital pigment print 20 x 25 inches

Shot Up Car Dixie Valley NV, #3 2004 Archival digital pigment print 20 x 25 inches

Sand, Death Valley, CA, #1 2001Archival digital pigment print 20 x 25 inches

Corroded Vehicle Rachel, NV, #1 2013 Archival digital pigment print 20 x 25 inches

Commentary

There’s a perverse attraction to abandoned sites and tumbledown buildings that has long made them a favorite subject for artists. From the melancholic vistas of eighteenth-century printmaker Giovanni Piranesi to the haunting non-buildings of contemporary sculptor Rachel Whiteread, ruins have frequently appeared as allegories for human instability, loss, and the inexorable passage of time. It doesn’t hurt that the subject also tends to offer up unexpected colors and textures, as the operation of damage and decay reveals aspects of their makeup that are ordinarily hidden from view.

In the photographs of Lee Saloutos, the visual and symbolic power of such places is further enhanced by the artist’s ability to foreground striking contrasts between the quality of light within a given space and what we know of its history. Saloutos’s shots of abandoned prisons, for example, show how in these desolate sites, the darkest of human stories are combined with formal beauty. They also detail the tendency of the earth to reclaim its territory. Bringing a photojournalist’s approach to bear on such projects—he undertakes lengthy shoots requiring difficult access—Saloutos builds an ongoing, open-ended narrative around architecture, society, and the natural world.

In other work, Saloutos adopts a tighter focus, directing his attention at surfaces—most often artificial ones—in luscious close-up shots that keep their subjects sources and contexts under wraps. In these photographs’ concentration on vivid color, rich texture, and occasional fragments of text, there are hints of modernist abstract painting; there are echoes too of projects like the Boyle Family’s “Journey to the Surface of the Earth” and great photographic series such as Brassaï’s mid-century “Graffiti.” In thus varying his perspective, Saloutos conjures an affecting composite portrait of the American nation in context, and a panorama of a world that is always interlinked in time and space.

Lee Saloutos

Biography

Photographer Lee Saloutos specializes in landscape and architectural imagery, also focusing on the richly colored and textured surfaces that result from the gradual weathering of man-made structures and forms. Claiming no political or conceptual agenda, his immersion in locations and subjects over the course of dedicated weeks-long shoots results nonetheless in sequences of images that share a documentary or investigative quality, and which resonate in particular with the decline of American manufacturing industry, for example, or the crisis in incarceration.

In 1977, having spent three years in the Fine Arts program at the University of Wisconsin Madison, Saloutos graduated with a BS in electrical engineering but continued to take photographs while working in technology. He favors traditional photographic film and performs his own scanning and printing, employs a limited amount of image manipulation. In spite of his scientific background, Saloutos takes little interest in photographic technology for its own sake, and looks to abstract paint-ers as much as to other photographers for inspiration.

Saloutos has travelled to such locations at the Smoke Creek and Black Rock deserts in northwestern Nevada, the Wonder Valley House in Southern California’s Mojave Desert, and the the Salton Sea in Colorado to research and photograph his striking images. He has been the subject of solo exhibitions at venues including Artspace Gallery, Richmond, VA (2003 and 2007); Page Bond Gallery, Richmond, VA (2010 and 2014); Nicoalysen Art Museum, Casper, WY (2012); Saint Mary’s College Museum of Art, Moraga, CA (2013); and the Public Policy Institute of California, San Francisco, CA (2018). His work has also been included in numerous group exhibitions at venues including Artspace Gallery, Page Bond Gallery, and 1212 Gallery (all Richmond, VA); Louisville Center for the Arts, Louisville, CO; Martin Museum of Art, Waco, TX; Griffin Museum of Photography, Winchester, MA; and Midwest Center for Photography, Wichita, KS.

Saloutos’s work is included in numerous collections including those of the Department of State, Washington, D. C.; Churchill Art Center, Fallon, NV; and Nicolaysen Art Museum, Casper, WY; as well as in several based in Richmond, VA, including the Federal Reserve Bank, American Infrastructure, and Hourigan Construction. Saloutos is also the winner of awards including second place in the National Juried Photography Exhibition at 1212 Gallery, Richmond, VA; first place in the architecture category at the 5th Annual Pollux Awards, WPGA, York, UK (2014); and silver in architecture and industrial at the Moscow International Foto Awards (2019). His work has been published and written about in print and online journals including B&W + Color, The Photo Review, SHOTS, eXel, and Lenscratch.

Lee Saloutos

Artist Statement

Lee Saloutos makes lush, detailed, and highly atmospheric images that reflect on the ways in which human interaction with the natural world is colored by the processes of industry and commerce. In selecting subjects for his series, the photographer sidesteps accepted popular notions of the picturesque to focus on interiors, landscapes, and surfaces that reveal our use and abuse of environ-mental resources alongside nature’s entropic ‘revenge’ for such ongoing exploitation. Yet spite of his considerable scientific knowledge—he has had a long career as an engineer—Saloutos is relatively unconcerned with exploiting recent technical developments in his creative field, preferring traditional film and a bare minimum of digital image manipulation.

In photographing interiors, Saloutos identifies affecting contrasts between the quality of light within a given space and its established function or history. His shots of abandoned prisons and mines, for example, reveal how even these forbidding, isolated sites accrue a harsh beauty not only through their stories and settings, but also in their poignant revelation of the irresistible effects of time. Saloutos’s landscapes too show how the earth tends to assert itself—often through sheer scale—over our attempts to mark it with a permanent impression. And in his close-up shots of surfaces, he mirrors the approach of modernist abstract painters like Morris Louis, Clyfford Still, and Frank Stella by concentrating on color and texture, minimizing ‘clues’ to the works’ original sources and con-texts. In making “something out of nothing,” he uncovers a compelling crossover between social and natural histories.

Lee Saloutos

Resume (Selected) For complete resumé see: http://leesaloutos.com/Resume.pdf Solo Exhibitions2018 Public Policy Institute of California, San Francisco CA, “The Salton Sea”2014 Richmond Public Library, Richmond VA, “Mojave Houses” + “Abandoned Prisons” (August)2014 Page Bond Gallery, Richmond VA, “Surfaces” (September)2013 Saint Mary’s College Museum of Art, Moraga, CA, “Surfaces”2013 Churchill Art Center, Fallon NV, “Nevada Mines: Small Spaces”2012 Nicolaysen Art Museum, Casper WY, “Nevada Mines”2010 Page Bond Gallery, Richmond VA, “The Salton Sea”2007 Curated Culture Gallery, Richmond VA, “Wyoming Frontier Prison Images”2007 Artspace Gallery, Richmond VA, “Western Interiors”2003 Artspace Gallery, Richmond VA, “New Work 2001 - 2003”2001 Lazzaro Signature Gallery, Stoughton WI, Landscape Work2000 Medical College of Virginia, Richmond VA, “Arts in the Hospital”1999 St. Mary’s Hospital, Richmond VA Group Exhibitions2019 Blank Wall Gallery, Athens, Greece, “Abandoned Buildings”2019 Southeast Center for Photography, Greenville, SC, “Light”, Juried by Richard McCabe2019 Page Bond Gallery, Richmond VA, Group Photography Show, “VIEWFIND”2018 Midwest Center for Photography, Wichita, KS, Juried Exhibition2017 Center for Fine Art Photography, Fort Collins, CO, “Water”, Juried by Jennifer Murray2016 Griffin Museum of Photography, Winchester, MA, “The 22 Juried Show: Peter Urban Legacy Exhibition”, Juried by Elizabeth Avedon2015 Fotoloft Gallery, Moscow, Moscow International Foto Awards Exhibit2015 Luther W. Brady Art Gallery, The George Washington University, Washington, DC, “Absence/Presence: Selected Contemporary Photography”2015 Philadelphia Photo Arts Center, Philadelphia, PA, “6th Annual Competition and Exhibition”2015 Center for Fine Art Photography, Fort Collins, CO, “Landscape”, Juried by Chantel Paul2014 Rayko Photo Center, San Francisco CA, “Marketplace Artists” 2014 Gallery 1401, Philadelphia PA, The Photo Review, Best of Show, Juried by Jennifer Blessing2014 Richmond Public Library, Richmond VA, “HERALD2 Invitational” (October)2014 Municipal Heritage Museum, Malaga, Spain, “3rd International Biennial of Fine Art and Documentary Photography”2014 Spiva Center for the Arts, Joplin MO, 2014 Photo Spiva Juried Exhibition2013 A Smith Gallery, Johnson City TX, Texas Photographic Society 22nd International Juried Competition2013 Spiva Center for the Arts, Joplin MO, 2013 Photo Spiva Juried Exhibition2013 Page Bond Gallery, Richmond VA, Group Photography Show, “VIEWFIND”2012 Academy of Fine Arts, Lynchburg VA, 2012 National Juried Photography Exhibition2012 Spiva Center for the Arts, Joplin MO, 2012 Photo Spiva Juried Exhibition2012 Page Bond Gallery, Richmond VA, Group Photography Show, “View Find”2012 Washington Project for the Arts, Washington DC, Select 2012: Juried Photography Exhibit2012 Palais de Glace, Buenos Aries, Argentina, “Worldwide Photography Biennial Exhibition”2011 Spiva Center for the Arts, Joplin MO, 2011 Photo Spiva Juried Exhibition2010 A Smith Gallery, Johnson City TX, Texas Photographic Society 19th International Juried Competition2010 Art of Photography Show, San Diego, International Juried Exhibition2010 Griffin Museum, Winchester MA, 16th Juried Exhibition

Lee Saloutos

Exhibition Fact SheetLee Saloutos

Lee Saloutos’s landscape, interior, and close-up surface images are highly detailed and richly atmospheric. These are works that transport the viewer to locations that, while usually unidentified, evoke nonetheless the unending action of the elements and the inexorable passage of time. Even more than this, they hint at a narrative of national decline, the gradual weathering of man-made structures and forms seeming to resonate with the collapse of manufacturing industry. In choosing his subjects, Saloutos also offers a commentary on the state of the nation, linking abstract tone and texture to narratives of social and economic dissolution.

In his close-up shots of surfaces, Saloutos mirrors the approach of modernist abstract painters such as Morris Louis, Frank Stella, and Clyfford Still via intense concentration on color and texture. Saloutos minimizes ‘clues’ to these images’ sources and contexts; there are no horizons or edges here, just granular detail. Only occasional fragments of signage and lettering stenciled onto rusty metal or splintered wood offer any reminder of the wider, or, rather, manufactured world. Having begun the series accidentally in the course of another shoot, Saloutos uncovers an unexpectedly compelling crossover between our social and natural histories.

NUMBER OF OBJECTS:

SPACE REQUIREMENTS:

PARTICIPATION FEE:

INSTALLATION:

TRANSPORTATION:

COMPLEMENTARY SUPPORT MATERIALS:

37 available photographs. Sizes, dates and media are featured on pdf presentation (www.ktcassoc.com, Curators, Artists’ PDFs).

200-250 running feet depending on installation and selection.

Round-trip shipping, wall-to-wall insurance of 50% of retail value, in-transit and on-premises.

Work will be sent ready to hang; standard 2D wall hanging apparatus required.

The exhibiting institution will provide all shipping and insurance for the exhibition and cover all re-lated costs. This will include full responsibility for delivery to venue following and return to artist at the conclusion of the exhibition. Work must be fully insured during transport and on premises.

Katharine T. Carter & Associates will provide a $200 credit towards the production of a color an-nouncement card, 200 complementary catalogues, and museum wall text. All pre-written press materials, to include biographical summary, artist statement, petite essay, press releases, media re-leases, pitch letters and radio/television spots, to be provided by Katharine T. Carter & Associates.

CONDITIONS:

CANCELLATION:

1. Exhibiting institution must provide object insurance to cover replacement costs should items be damaged or stolen while on premises. Minimum insurance required: 50% retail value. Should loss, damage or deterioration be noted at the time of delivery of the exhibition, the artist shall be notified imediately. If any damage appears to have taken place during the exhibi-tion, the artist shall be informed immediately. 2. Security: Objects must be maintained in a fireproof building under 24-hour security. 3. All packing and unpacking instructions sent by (artist) shall be followed explicitly by competent packers. Each object shall be handled with special care at all times to ensure against damage or deterioration. 4. As stated above (see space requirements), the number of works to be exhibited can be dictated by the space and needs of the exhibiting institution. 5. Exhibitors may permit photographs of the exhibition and its contents for routine publicity and educational purposes only.Exceptions may be made pending discussion with the artist.

Any cancellation of this exhibition by the hosting institution, not caused by the actions of the artist, shall entitle Katharine T. Carter and Associates to an award of liquidated damages of $3750.00. The hosting institution further agrees that any suit brought to recover said damages may only be brought in Columbia County, New York.

Contact and additional information:

Katharine T. CarterKatharine T. Carter & Associates518-758-8130 fax 518-758-8133ktc@ktcassoc.com

P. O. Box 609Kinderhook, NY 12106-0609

Exhibition Fact SheetLee Saloutos

For exhibition inquiries contact Katharine T. Carter & Associates

Email: ktc@ktcassoc.com

Phone: 518-758-8130

Fax: 518-758-8133 Mailing Address:

Post Office Box 609Kinderhook, NY 12106-0609

Website: http://www.ktcassoc.com