RSU Art Exhibit To Feature Black and White Photography

Black and white photographs depicting dilapidated buildings and decaying life forms on the rural landscape by Tulsa photographer David Blust will be exhibited Sept. 25 through Oct. 15 at Rogers State University.

The exhibition, titled “Fragile Landscapes: A Photographic Exploration,” will be held at Foundations Gallery in Baird Hall on the RSU campus in Claremore. An opening reception will be held from 5-7 p.m. Thursday, Sept. 25, at the gallery.

According to a review of the exhibition in the July-August issue of Cross Currents of Oklahoma, a bimonthly publication of the Oklahoma Visual Arts Coalition, Blust’s photographs “call into question the very meaning of the contrast between what is transitory and what is permanent.”

The subjects of the photographs include an empty wooden bench, lonely trees misshapen by the prairie winds and the remnants of an old farmhouse — a wooden window frame, crumbling stonewall, and foundation sinking into the earth.

According to Cross Currents, the photographs “reveal a glimpse at a fleeting moment, coupled with a Zen-like awareness of (their momentary nature.)”

Blust is a professional photographer, educator and master printer. He served as photographic printer for New York photographer Marilyn Bridges with a grant from the Eastman Kodak Co. He has taught as an adjunct instructor at RSU, and at the Tulsa School of Arts and Sciences, Oklahoma Arts Institute and Broken Arrow Public Schools. He also has served as director of photography education at Holland Hall School and the Tulsa Center for Contemporary Art.

His work has been featured in solo exhibitions as well as group exhibitions across the nation, and appears in several private collections.

RSU Foundations Gallery hours are 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday. For more information, call (918) 343-7740.