SU’s Bob Gates mounts photography exhibit at Le Moyne College, Jan. 26-Feb. 20

Friday, January 16, 2009, By News Staff

SU’s Bob Gates mounts photography exhibit at Le Moyne College, Jan. 26-Feb. 20January 16, 2009Rob Enslinrmenslin@syr.edu

Bob Gates, associate professor of English in Syracuse University’s College of Arts and Sciences, is mounting a photography exhibit at Le Moyne College titled “Encounters With(in) Images.” The show, which is free and open to the public, runs Jan. 26-Feb. 20 in the Wilson Art Gallery of Le Moyne’s Noreen Reale Falcone Library (1419 Salt Springs Road, Syracuse).

“Encounters With(in) Images” captures interactions between Gates and his subjects, as well as among his various subjects. Gates says that he was drawn to the idea because of the impact of today’s media-saturated environment on human encounters and interactions. “It’s a continuous source of mystery and speculation,” he says of this interplay. “I am particularly interested in enticing the viewer to contemplate encounters between my subjects and the images that flood our culture and carry layers of meaning, of which the subjects, themselves, sometimes remain blissfully unaware.”

The gallery is open during library hours: Monday-Thursday, 8:30 a.m.-midnight; Friday, 8:30 a.m.-8 p.m.; Saturday, 9 a.m.-8 p.m.; and Sunday, noon-midnight. For more information, call (315) 445-4323.

An opening reception with Gates will be held in the gallery Friday, Jan. 30, from 4-6 p.m. It is free and open to the public.

Gates studied photography at the University of Iowa while completing his Ph.D. in English. After joining SU’s English department faculty in 1967, he began pursuing photography on the side. His work has gone on to win regional and national contests; appear in group, individual and juried exhibitions; and been published in magazines worldwide, including PhotoLife (Canada), MaVista (United Kingdom), National Geographic Traveler, The Photo Review, Photographic, Shutterbug, Outdoor Photographer, The Best of Photography Annual, f-stop and Popular Photography.

“Photography encourages us to contemplate our own encounters with otherness, the way we look at and are looked at when the camera is present, or the way the camera makes those unaware of our looking. It reveals subjects in new and unexpected ways,” he says.

The English department is part of SU’s College of Arts and Sciences. More information is available at http://thecollege.syr.edu/.