Essay - Mike Williams: Elevated Images

One hundred fifty years ago, it was a fight. Gloves were off and it was not very pretty. The returning defender was painting; the challenger was that new technology, photography. In many ways, it seems like such a silly issue now. Choose sides - which one is an art? Of course today we’d easily say that both are. From aesthetic and financial considerations, it’s not an either-or proposition. They both exist, actually comfortably, today. The medium is not sacred; good art and bad art are easily produced in any medium.

In Mike Williams: Elevated Images, technology once again flavors fine arts. In this case, Williams is a master of landscape photography and drone manipulation. In the 36 large scale photos that make up the show, viewers hover over mostly familiar terrain. But we do it at 100 – 500 feet above ground. Hello vertigo.

And that, of course, is what photography has always done. As an art form, it has forced us to stop for a moment and examine the world from a slightly different angle. Williams has been honing his photography skills since high school and now owns Elevated Images, a photo studio in Dubuque. We thought that was good enough as well for the title of this show.

The show opens February 1 and continues to February 25. There will be a reception with the artist on Friday, February 11, from 6-7:30pm. The public is invited.

Many thanks to Noah Bullock, Coordinator of the Bisignano Art Gallery, who curated and hung the exhibit with Museum Studies docent Seth Orr.

Alan Garfield
Director, Bisignano Art Gallery