Kentucky Hedge Apple Assembled C-prints 16" x 20" x 3"

Clivia III Assembled C-prints 11" x 14" x 2"

Lotus Past and Present Assembled C-prints 14" x 14" x 2"

Iris Assembled C-prints 16" x 20" x 2"

Pomegranate Assembled C-prints 11" x 14" x 2"

Applegourd Assembled C-prints 16" x 20" x 3"

Bromeliad III Assembled C-prints 16" x 20" x 3"

Commissions for the University of Kentucky
Lucille Little Fine Arts Library

French Horn Assembled C-prints 24" x 32" x 5" NFS

Cello Assembled C-prints 32" x 24" x 5" NFS

About the Artist

Mary Rezny earned her Bachelor of Arts from Beloit College in Beloit, WI and pursued graduate studies at Oklahoma State University in Mass Communications and at Michigan State University in Graphic Arts. She also received a scholarship to attend the Summer Institute at the University Film Study Center in Boston, MA. Since 1976, Rezny has owned M.S. Rezny, Photography Inc., which is a commercial photography studio in Lexington, KY that specializes in architecture and artists' slides. Her work has appeared in many local and international invitational and juried shows.

Artist's Statement

I enjoy taking a simple subject, "de-constructing" the image with my camera and changing it into something rather extraordinary to look at. The works you are viewing were created with a 120mm camera utilizing a square format. Each frame is a close-up of the subject shot in sequence, moving the camera either in a horizontal or vertical direction. The images are then printed as chromogenic "C" contact sheets or 5"x5" chromogenic "C" prints and re-assembled to change the actual perspective of the subject. The prints are layered to varying heights to "pull" the object off the picture plane and to make the object more three dimensional. Some of the recent assemblages are as much as three inches deep in their varying layers, making the result almost sculptural.

The segmenting of images is something that I have explored for years motivated by my research of the early photography of Ray Metzker. The photographic fragmentation and reassembly is reminiscent of David Hockney's images, but the depth that my pieces achieve is unique. Much of my imagery is about simple, organic forms found in nature. I choose an object for its elegant shape and color and use studio lighting to bring out the subtle, beautiful color and rich textures, or I photograph "in situ" and follow the object as it is lit by the sun. I also enjoy photographing the "hidden" side of the object and working this view into the finished composition. Addressing these formalistic elements is a hold-over of the Cubism art movement and the formalistic concerns I absorbed being educated in the 1960's and 1970's. I am also aware that I have a penchant for clean structure and the idea that "less is more."

Mary Rezny, 2004