Down on the Farm - Art Gallery of Alberta

The Alberta Foundation for the Arts Travelling Exhibition ProgramArtist Biographies/StatementsAaron FalkenbergThe Photographer:Aaron Falkenberg is a photographer with numerous influences shaping his growth and vision.Inspired by the works of masters like Ansel Adams and Edward Weston, Aaron brings to thetradition his own unique and powerful renderings of the luminosity of place. Simple form andsubtle tonality complement intricate compositions. Aaron is immediately drawn to bold patternsand the rhythms of the spaces that surround him. Feeling a deep resonance with thetopography, Aaron scouts locales, revisiting some frequently, watching and waiting for theconditions and the elements to come together in just the right way.Statement:My first real strides towards an artistic understanding of my work and what I feel the landscapesaround me express came after reading Margaret Atwood’s Survival. Many representations ofthe Canadian landscape are either ridiculously bleak, or holdovers of a Romantic perspective,neither of which correlated with my experiences and perceptions of it. Growing up on a farmduring my formative years gave me a unique perspective that is neither naïvely romantic, norlimited entirely by the necessities of the everyday. Conveyed through the lens of a camera, Ihope to express a beauty that is neither pristine nature, nor the utility of traditional humanincursions, but rather the space between the two: the rural. In highlighting these landscapes, myphotography can be construed as a means of displaying nature’s beauty as it continually existsalong side us. Though we may shape the land and indeed change the very essences of a placeitself, nature is always ready to reclaim.Aaron FalkenbergAFA Travelling Exhibition Program, Edmonton, AB. Ph: 780.428.3830 Fax: 780.421.0479youraga.ca