Barclay Hughes (MFA Yale 2000) and Matthew O’Shea (MFA Washington University 2007) share a working method and a theme in their new photographic works.

Both are photographers, fully embracing mainstream technologies to mold photographic information to their unique visual vocabularies.  Freed from the constraints of chemical based photography, Hughes and O’Shea’s work take the digital information of their images into their own hands. Both artists stitch, shape, rearrange, scale and blend what is normally thought of as “truthful” photographic imagery of the real world into imagined scenes that reflect more specific and personal narratives.

The themes of dislocation and disconnection are the shared stories in Hughes and O’Shea’s work. Made more “real” by being photographic, both artists’ work depicts moments of transient isolation in plaintively beautiful locations. Although the two artists, theme is similar, their works look very different, highlighting the individual visual language each has invented.

“Where Are You Now?” is the product of two St. Louis artists collaborating in the brave, new world of fine art digital photography. By leaving behind the sentimental attachments of film emulsion and silver halide chemistry, Hughes and O’Shea demonstrate the power of new technologies to birth new forms of expression.