Despite the rainy weather and grey clouds cast over the city for the opening reception Saturday evening, the CEPA Gallery brought in a bright atmosphere with a lively crowd of admirers.
The current exhibition is composed of three separate galleries, ":18 Project," "Member's Exhibition" and "Underground Video." The current works on display provide a delicate balance of photography and videos to invoke anyone's curiosity.
The ":18 Project" by Christine Gatti is a collection of photos that have been captured for the past 12 months. For every 18th minute of every hour of every day from August 2004 to July 2005, Gatti took two pictures: one of herself and another of her surroundings.
Her perspective varied: a downward gaze at a white paper plate dotted with crumbs and uneaten pizza crust, a teary-eyed friend laughing uncontrollably, a bird's-eye view of a half-empty coffee mug on top of a neon pink Post-It note.
Gatti explained that because her birthday falls on Nov. 18, she has always noticed "11:18" on her digital alarm clock.
"Each time I see it, it feels like a strange coincidence," she said.
By taking pictures of her surroundings, Gatti said that she is able to organize the overwhelming pictures that are stored in one's memory.
"It shows just how fast life really goes, like current events," said Gatti's friend Michelle about the video slideshow, in which small situations, normally ignored in photography, flashed rapidly on TV screens.
Observers could be heard mumbling about Gatti's dedication as they peered in awe at the wall filled with collages of miniatures of all the photos.
"I would love to have done it for 10 years," she said.
Her project currently stands 18 consecutive months, and she is keeping the project alive by taking two pictures every 18th day of the month.
"This way," she said, "I will be able to see my own growth."
The upper floor of CEPA is currently exhibiting the "Member's Exhibition," a collection of entries from the Exhibition Awards. Black-and-white pictures of the surrounding Buffalo and Niagara Falls regions, and color inkjet photos of visually modified people and places comprised a beautiful blend as ideas.
CEPA also presented the "Underground Video" exhibition in a small outdoor walkway barricaded by black glossy walls. The only source of color in the area glowed from four television screens displayed through four separate windows.
Compared to an eye-level view of life in ":18 Project," "Underground Video," filmed by rising Buffalo artists Robin Brasington, Soyeon Jung, Elizabeth Knipe, Arzu Ozkai Telhan and Julie Perini, gives a foot's-eye view.
Footsteps of a stranger wearing white Nikes walking down a Buffalo street, a rink filled with people skating, a shot of a park littered with golden brown leaves, were all explored from a low angle. In each segment, a pair of legs jumps into the camera screen in knee-high black boots and begins to skip about merrily.
CEPA is located on 617 Main St. and is open Mon. thru Fri., 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., and Sat., noon to 4 p.m. All exhibitions are free to the public and will run through March 18.
Photo: Courtesy of Matthew Messina, from the RMBERS' Instagram page
