Our Language – Creative Photography by Jürgen Dopatka, Elena Ganusova, Andreas Koschan

November 6-24, 2020
Our Language – Creative Photography by Jürgen Dopatka, Elena Ganusova, Andreas Koschan
Opening reception: Friday, November 6, 5:00-8:00 PM
Gallery hours: Monday-Friday 9 AM – 5 PM
Please note, the Emporium will be closed Wed-Fri Nov 25-27 for the holidays.

These artists present three exhibitions with the overarching theme of Creative Photography. They each use creative photography as their language to tell stories about the world in which we live. Dopatka, Ganusova and Koschan all immigrated from Europe to Knoxville decades ago, and although they have different scientific backgrounds in chemical engineering, microbiology, and computer science, they share their love for photography. As their scientific backgrounds are different, so are their creative approaches to photography as can be seen in this exhibition.

Jürgen Dopatka – 40 Years in Black & White
The photographs in this show encompass the range of four decades of pursuing photography as a serious hobby, showing Jürgen Dopatka’s evolving subjects, vision, and technique. The focus of his work has always been black and white images due to its potential for artistic expression, all the way to the abstract. Starting out with documenting “vanishing breeds”/professions in his native Germany, he quickly developed an interest for modern architecture, discovering patterns, repetitions, curves, light and shadows, which then spilled into nature and other subjects as well. The images in this show highlight this continuous journey of discovery and progression. Starting out with images taken on negative film and printed in the chemical darkroom, more recent images were taken on negative film or digitally, and printed digitally, while always aiming to achieve the very highest standards of quality craftsmanship – the archival museum-quality print for art collectors.

Jürgen Dopatka’s interest in photography goes back to his first darkroom work in his early teens. During his 20s Jürgen drifted towards a very strong focus on black & white photography due to its unique possibilities of artistic expression. It evokes curiosity how he discovers shapes, surface, contour, lighting, reflection and texture in a variety of seemingly mundane subjects that would elude most casual observers. His imagination thrives on subjects involving graphical elements, patterns and repetitions, such as in modern architecture and nature. Jürgen wants to share his vision and emotions felt when he captured the image with the viewers. His archival prints are limited to editions of 50.

Jürgen Dopatka was born and raised in Germany. While he is a chemical engineer by education, he is mostly an autodidact when it comes to his photographic skills, starting intensely around age 19. He has been living in Knoxville, TN since 1996. Early subjects were nature and people, followed by “vanishing breeds”. At age 23, his love for graphical elements in architecture and nature evolved as a specialization that continues until this day. Jürgen has participated in regional art shows from his early 20’s. He had his first solo show in the city hall of Kirchheim/Teck, Germany at age 26, and has participated in numerous art shows in Germany, Alabama, and Tennessee since. His art work has been represented by Bennett Galleries in Knoxville, TN, since 1998, selling his art to many individual collectors and businesses. In East Tennessee, he participated in and collected numerous ribbons at art shows, including annual shows of “The Dogwoods Arts Festival”, the “Camera Club of Oak Ridge”, numerous shows by the Arts and Culture Alliance of Knoxville (Annual Photo show, Arts in the Airport, members show, Arts in the Mayors’ office), HoLa and the Knoxville Museum of Art. Additionally, Jürgen has been participating in numerous national and international photo competitions over the decades, and received awards and/or had his work exhibited or published in various magazines, photo journals, calendars and newspapers, including 3M company, photokina ’92, Kodak Special Merit award with exhibition at National Geographic Society and Epcot Center, PHOTOgraphic magazine/ILFORD Photo, Photo Hobby Lab, Leica Special Award, Austrian Super Circuit, and Black and White magazine. Learn more:
www.facebook.com/DopatkaPhotography
Instagram @JurgenDopatkaPhoto
www.Dopatka.com

Elena Ganusova was born and raised in Siberia. She is a microbiology and biophysics major (PhD) and has worked in research labs for her entire life. She fell in love with photography as a young child when her father introduced her to the magic of black and white photography. Her interest in photography grew stronger until she eventually received a certification from the University of Tennessee. Her work has been accepted in various local, state, national and international competitions and exhibited in numerous Knoxville galleries. Her photography services also include family portraiture, senior and children portraiture, lifestyle and environmental portraiture, engagement and weddings, and photo restoration. Learn more: https://www.eganusovaphotography.com/

Andreas Koschan
Andreas Koschan grew up in the divided city of Berlin, Germany but has spent the last 20 years in East Tennessee; these differing life experiences have contributed to his unique view of the world. He is an engineer and scientist who, over the course of his career, taught and conducted research at both the Technical University Berlin, Germany and the University of Tennessee, during which time he coauthored 5 books and more than 100 conference papers on digital image processing and image analysis. Recently he became interested in adding an artistic component to his technical background. His current interests include using photographic imagery to tell stories about the world we live in. Learn more: www.koschan.com

Daily life provides us with many varying impressions which we each perceive differently, based on our individual life experience. Our “interpretation” of what we are seeing (or photographing) is based on the context in which we are seeing it. This is especially true when traveling or exploring. Just as exploring a different culture can lead to new insights about your own, the use of photography to explore a subject from various points of view can lead to new insights about the world we live in. This exhibition includes recent photographs I took while travelling, both in the US and abroad, and experiencing different cultures and different ways of life. These images capture what I felt and perceived in the moment. What do you feel and perceive when you see them?