NEW YORK, NY.- Temporary Presences, a solo exhibition of hand-colored photographs by Helen Glazer, will be on view at the Nailya Alexander Gallery at 41 East 57th Street from June 14 through July 20, 2012. The exhibition, the artist’s first solo show in New York City, will feature 13 archival prints that investigate the ephemeral phenomenon of cloud patterns. An opening reception for the artist will be held on June 14, 5:30-7:30 p.m.

Glazer’s work is influenced by ideas of chaos and complexity, theories that look at the diverse patterns in nature, such as the shape of coastlines, the growth of tree limbs or the movement of fluids. The intricacy of cloud formations arises from an infinitely detailed system in which each tiny element reflects the pattern of the whole. With study, these patterns are recognizable, yet never entirely predictable.

Glazer intensifies her prints with pastel pencils to bring out these temporary presences, heightening and deepening the colors and tones. The resulting works -- printed up to 40 inches long -- reveal nuances that the camera captures, but the naked eye fails to see, and conventional image processing does not show. Though these works read mainly as abstractions, the representational force of photography is integral to the experience. That they are not inventions, but records of actual moments in time, is a reminder that stability is an illusion and that the reality we live in is being replaced moment by moment.

“Cloud formations are ephemeral, transforming and decaying as they move through the vast space of the sky," Glazer notes. "When I stop the action with my camera and mine the information recorded there, clouds reveal themselves as intricately textured forms that gesture and take on a poetic resonance. They inspire wonder and feelings of transcendence. They morph into unexpected, almost otherworldly forms that would be difficult to invent–the human brain works too schematically for that."

Helen Glazer (b. 1955, Bronx, NY) lives in Baltimore. She received her BA in art from Yale University and her MFA from Maryland Institute College of Art. Her work has been exhibited widely in the U.S. in New York, Baltimore, Washington, D.C., and Miami. Two works are currently on loan to the American Embassy in Lima, Peru, through the Arts-in-Embassies Program of the U.S. State Department. Her hand-colored cloud photographs have been shown at the New York Hall of Science and will be included in an exhibition celebrating the 100th anniversary of the Delaware Art Museum in the fall.