(LAKEVILLE, Conn.) – On any train trip or car drive north through New York’s Harlem Valley, it is impossible to ignore the abandoned, imposing campus of the Harlem Valley Psychiatric Center in Wingdale, N.Y. Avery Danziger was the last photographer authorized to enter the site and will exhibit his photographs at The Hotchkiss School’s Tremaine Gallery from May 14, 2013, through June 16, 2013. There will be an artist’s reception on Saturday, May 25, 2013, from 4 to 6 p.m.

The  images contained in Avery Danziger – The Judicious Palette of Time: New Work from the Harlem Valley/Wingdale Project convey an environment in extreme decay, with its own bizarre grandeur and beauty. Danziger was the last photographer authorized to enter the buildings of the Harlem Valley Psychiatric Center in Wingdale, N.Y., which closed in 1994. The resulting images are investigations into the cycle of time, chaos, order, entropy, and renewal. Through Danziger’s perspective, an unexpected and paradoxical beauty emerges from these strange and toxic ruins.

Danziger wore a respirator and Hazmat suit simply to enter any structure. The air is filled with toxic mold; asbestos and lead paint cover walls and floors. Buildings are sprayed with graffiti and there is little sign of organic life save for the occasional fern poking through the foundation.  Yet in this dismal setting, Danziger reaches for the sublime. Revealing the transformation from man-made order into the beauty of natural chaos, he creates photographic works that inspire wonder and awe.

Avery Danziger is an award-winning filmmaker as well as photographer who resides in Litchfield County, Conn. His work can be found in many corporate and museum collections, including the Museum of Modern Art, National Museum of American Art, Smithsonian Institution, Corcoran Gallery of Art, and the Chicago Center for Contemporary Photography.

The Tremaine Gallery will exhibit Danziger’s prints documenting the Harlem Valley Psychiatric Center’s decay, which is bound to pose the question in viewers’ minds, what is in its future? An accompanying essay for the exhibition was written by James R. Hugunin,  photo historian and Professor at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago.

The Tremaine Gallery is a museum-quality exhibition space located in the main building of The Hotchkiss School. With education at the heart of its mission, the gallery hosts six shows a year.
The Tremaine Gallery at The Hotchkiss School
11 Interlaken Road, Lakeville, Connecticut 06039
Gallery hours: Monday through Saturday 10 – 4 ; Sunday 12 – 4
Contact Sarah Lock 860.435.4423