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(L-R ): "Snowstorm, Roslyn, Long Island, New York, December 2000" & "Maintenance Buildings and Winter Ground Fog, Napa State Hospital 1965," (details). Side by Side Stephen A. Fisher at the Photolab in Berkeley By Aimee Le Duc If Stephen Fisher's life story were told using photographs, all you would need is one picture of his life taken over and over again in different places at different times to tell the whole thing. Fisher is a practicing psychiatrist and long-time photographer. His influences -- fine art, philosophy, institutional mental care, and life itself -- show through in his photographs of captured moments and locations arranged in intentional combinations. Images in Juxtaposition: Recurring Compositions in Photographs of Landscapes, Cities, People (1950 - 2001), a sampling of Fisher's body of work, which spans over 50 years, is on exhibit at the Photolab Gallery through June 8. When he first brought his portfolio into Photolab to show to staff member and exhibit curator Andrea McLaughlin, Fisher wasn't entirely sure how to pull together his landscapes, intimate portraits, and urban views. But, after reliving the last half-century through the simple and sentimental work, they both decided to hang the photos in pairs -- to juxtapose them as a way of assigning them new meaning. Fisher explains his practice in his artist statement, "I like photographs that show more than just a single subject, where the photograph has something important going on in both the foreground and background. Sometimes, I deliberately repeat pictorial ideas I have used before in a different setting." The strategy works. Viewing the pieces in pairs, grouped by formal similarities or contextual parallels, allows you to notice elements of one photo by seeing how it is different from its partner. There is something powerful in understanding what is present through absence. Fisher's work gives us an opportunity to this: and rearrange our gaze into his views of the Bay Area, Hawaii, Europe, and even his own family. One of the strongest pairs depicts two street scenes. The first photo, "Maintenance Buildings and Winter Ground Fog, Napa State Hospital 1965," is a misty, almost lyrical image of patients walking the hospital grounds. To Fisher's own admission, the fog has an optimistic quality to it. The piece juxtaposed to it in both composition and content is another black and white picture. "Snowstorm, Roslyn, Long Island, New York, December 2000" reveals the private moment of a man walking alone on city streets burdened by the heavy snow. Both images have similar perspective lines and a longing sense of solace, but not without a feeling of hope. There are places, multiple places in Fisher's photographs, to find this type of meaning. Seeing this show in the Photolab Gallery offers up another kind of juxtaposition. The gallery walls line a working photo processing and developing studio. There isn't much space to look at the exhibit, at times, equipment even stands between you and the work. However, McLaughlin has created a space for both new and well-established photographers to display their work in an intimate and potentially exciting setting. Overall, Photolab is using as much of their space for as many uses as they are able. It is a needed contribution to the East Bay and a gallery to keep your eye on in the future. When the mood strikes her, Aimee Le Duc is a writing and visual criticism student at CCAC. [ East Bay | Metroactive | Archives ]