Irene Riegner “Lilly Pond” photograph

DEEP BLACKS Form: A play of deep black shadows against light and intermediate tones. (The juxtaposition of colors also creates form.) This thick, dark pudding of black swallows form and suppresses secrets, the opposite of clarity. Or does deep black signify emptiness?Shadows point to vague forms and impressions obscuring the actual. Insubstantial. Transparent. Diaphanous. Shad-ows come in many colors. The Impressionists used purples and blues for shadows, exorcising grays and blacks from their palette. Bordered by black or adjacent to color, white light also becomes a “shadow,” and like black, it obscures, melting form until it dissolves into an impenetrable whiteness. These photos explore several of these aspects.