Basement Gallery Photo Show

The Basement door

This is the second show at The Basement Gallery. Situated at 1000 Central, right behind that inoccuous white CPA building, barely visible from Central, it is a great, spacious venue for art. Owned and run by Nicki Odato and Sam Renick, the place is finding its identity through these initial shows. This one, a Photography show, included Missy Roll, Brian Leighty , Deidra Kriner, and Ren Photography. The owners secured sponsors for this show, including Tapas and Wine courtesy of Taps and Tequila, Sotted design and Cafe Alma.





The Basement is rather cavernous, more than enough to hold an art show and music, or a cafe. The walls are not interrupted by lots of windows, and all that wall space takes a lot of art to fill. This show looked a little lost in the space, but no matter.

Missy Roll, "Will at the Window"

Missy Roll is a renowned photographer based in St. Pete who has shown conceptual portrait photography in a deadpan style. I believe I had seen these prints in another show a while back, but it was good seeing them again.

Brian Leighty, "Ms. Lytle"

Brian Leighty is a portraitist with a strong fashion sense. The images look like outtakes from fashion shoots. Beautifully lit and stylishly posed in a very contemporary manner, with very close attention to accessories, form and color.

Debra Kriner, "Piano"

Deidra Kriner is a self-taught Bay Area photographer into decaying buildings, what photographers unceremoniously refer to as "ruin porn", but she introduces the human element, not as so many do with simple Westonesque nudes draped over rubble, but with couples kinetically interacting in theatrical compositions, shifting the equation considerably, putting the ruin aspect more as contex. On the left is an atypical one, a piano.




 

Sam (Renick?) from Ren Photography had these stylish, beautiful, stereotypically close-to-perfect semi-nudes with oily or tar-like smears on their bodies, perhaps metaphors for the BP spill, or the imperfections life interactions heap upon us.








Congratulations to all the artists and The Basement owners for a good 2nd show. I look forward to more, bigger and better in 2013.

Nicki Odato & Sam Renick

--- Luis