ROBERT OEHL
Distressed Ziatype Self-Portraits
Chrysalis
Date Night
King of Fools
My art is very personal. I’ve tried to put aside vanity and intent, and let the photographs create their own subject and narrative. My self portraits are self- deprecating, vulnerable, raw, humorous, and histrionic; they are, for me, self examinations of identity, as well as raw material for a personal mythology.I am process oriented photographer using a variety of rudimentary tools. I use simple pinhole and zone plate cameras requiring long exposures. Images produced with these cameras are characteristically dreamlike, dark, softly focused (grainy), and seem better suited to a past era. In a predominantly digital world, my process is totally analog, employing film, paper, and chemical manipulation.
ROBERT OEHL was born in Detroit, Michigan. After graduating from Michigan State University, he moved to New York City, eventually receiving his MFA in Photography and Printmaking from Pratt Institute. Robert has shown his work in numerous group and solo exhibitions at venues including The John Davis Gallery, Hudson, NY; The National Science and Media Museum in Bradford, UK; New Mexico History Museum, Santa Fe, New Mexico; The Holland Tunnel Gallery, Brooklyn, NY; The Visual Studies Workshop, Rochester NY; LABspace, Hillsdale, NY; The Woodstock Artists Association and Museum, Woodstock, NY; The Ely Center of Contemporary Art, New Haven, CT, and The Gallery at Marygrove College, Detroit MI. Robert is based in Hudson, New York.