January 18, 2007
Thru May 31: Photographer Gary Tepfer’s all-Oregon exhibit now showing at the law school
Photographer Gary Tepfer puts together an all-Oregon show for the first time in 20 years
Thirty-two photographs taken between 1985 and 2006 are on display at the Knight Law Center’s second floor gallery, 1515 Agate Street in Eugene. Law professor Dominick Vetri, who chairs the art committee at the law school, said, “The exhibit tempts us to get outside and see the Oregon that lies beyond the urban core and comfort of a Starbucks shop.”
“After more than 30 years of photographing the Oregon landscape, I still find it challenging to work here,” Tepfer said. “I am drawn to two primary aspects of landscape. I seek to capture the thin traces of human existence from a time when people lived lightly on the land.
“On the other hand, I want to express that aspect of the natural world which stands apart from our existence.”
Two exhibit photos illustrate that tension – both show the lush, brilliantly green undergrowth of Oregon’s Coast Range. And both feature man-made objects – an old stake truck in one, an abandoned farmhouse in the other – that have nearly been transformed into natural features in the landscape.
The exhibit includes photos from most regions of the state, but it concentrates on photos taken in the Pacific rain forest of western Oregon.
Tepfer says he likes to return again and again to some of the same places, and the exhibit shows the low elevation forest near Eugene in every season – towering firs with a dusting of snow, brilliant red vine maple in fall, quiet summer creeks. “I thought about taking some new photos for the exhibit but that spot is just too ugly now. I couldn’t do it, ” Tepfer said.
