image n & v. • n.1 a representation of the external form of a person or thing in sculpture, painting, etc. 2 the character or reputation of a person or thing as generally perceived. 3 an optical appearance or counterpart produced by light or refracted through a lens, etc. …. 7 a simile or metaphor. 8 a. a mental representation. b. an idea or concept. • vtr. 1 make an image of; portray 2 reflect, mirror. 3 describe or imagine vividly.

The Oxford English Reference Dictionary

The relationship between art and photography, extending back almost two hundred years, has been occasionally combative but always mutually enriching. The more specific, but less frequently explored, relationship between photography and sculpture has historically been chiefly documentary in nature. Sculpture, highly susceptible to the vagaries of ambient light, is notoriously difficult to photograph. Nevertheless, in the right hands the camera has proved admirably capable of capturing not only sculpture's curious bodily presence but also something of the singular nature of the sculptor's creative endeavour.

Sculptor Jon Buck and photographer Steve Russell have discovered many intriguing overlaps between their respective projects. For this exhibition they have chosen to present some of their shared interests under the title 'image'. This links them together under the broad rubric of 'representation' while leaving us free to explore the many delightful and often surprising juxtapositions generated by two compatible visual instincts coming together in harmony.

Steve and Jon share a love of Africa, each having independently visited the continent on a number of occasions for both work and pleasure. As the exhibition reveals, these experiences are expressed in their work in contrasting ways. In Steve's case it emerges in the form of stunning images of East Africa's landscape and native flora and fauna, while for Jon, Africa's ancient artistic traditions seep through more obliquely, nourishing his abiding interest in totemic form and the ethnographic origins of sculptural symbols.

Steve Russell now has a well-deserved reputation as a sensitive and skilful photographer of sculpture and has photographed Jon Buck's work on previous occasions. Sculptors are understandably cautious about how their work is represented by the camera but Steve has consistently proved able to tune in to each artist's highly personal needs and aspirations and for that reason his services are increasingly sought-after.

Steve recently extended his activities beyond the camera's traditional parameters and has discovered a way of transposing his photographic images onto bronze. He calls the results of this process 'Photines' to allude to their threshold status at the interstices of photography, painting and sculpture. Each photine is an intriguing laminate in which the image seems to float on the surface of the bronze plate, the patination of the metal interacting with the photographic element to add another layer of visual complexity. Some of Steve's photines have the visual delicacy of archaic wall paintings and this provides another sub textual link to Jon Buck's work.

Jon's sculpture is grounded in a life-long fascination with the natural world. Drawing on Claude Lévi-Strauss's dictum that 'animals are useful for thinking with’; he has increasingly come to focus his attention on symbolic distillations of a perceived reality. His idiosyncratic animals and figures speak to our most deeply embedded propensity to recognise subtly distorted images of the world that surrounds us.

The visual dialogue between the vibrant polychromy of Jon's sculpture and the dazzling textures of the natural world captured by Steve's camera lens out in the bush makes for a thrilling exhibition.

Tom Flynn – February 2008