NOT JUST STRAIGHT BLACK AND WHITE: JURIED ART SHOW ATTRACTS PHOTOGRAPHIC ENTRIES FROM 27 STATES

A New York City photographer's eerily diffused print of a tropical fish swimming against the backdrop of a coral reef has won first place in the Photo '93 National Juried Photography Exhibition now on display at Gallery 100.

Charles Swedlund, the exhibition juror, chose "Sun Trail" from among 264 entries by 84 photographers in 27 states.

Photographer David Sailors, whose print was made using a new patented carbon pigment on paper process, will receive $500. Another $500 in prize money was awarded to second- and third-place photographs and four honorable mentions.

Swedlund, a professor of photography at SIU-Carbondale, said he was glad to see the high quality of the entries. "It makes me feel good that people are taking photography seriously."

Swedlund, a writer of photography texts whose work is on display at the Art Institute of Chicago and The Smithsonian, attended Sunday's reception for the show. The exhibit will continue through May 28.

He compared such a national photography show to "beating a bush to see what's going on," and described the entrants as mostly young or up-and-coming photographers making their marks.

The show demonstrates the array of techniques and media artist-photographers are using these days. "It's no longer just a straight black and white print," Swedlund said.

Collage, hand-tinting and dye augmenting are among the methods used by the exhibitors, whose subjects range from empty rooms to ancient pictures on canyon walls, from reservation children to a tattooed back.

Sailors' winning entry employs a process that makes color prints more or less permanent.

"It has a strange kind of color, sinister and moody," Swedlund said of the winning photograph. "Yet it's not a preying kind of fish."

Swedlund said the photograph illustrates the search for essence both the subject's and the photographer's he looks for as a juror.

"It's not the kind of picture you see in National Geographic," he said.

On the other hand, the second-place photograph, "Spirits of the Canyon," is a straightforward photograph on a subject that particularly appeals to Swedlund Native American spirituality.

The dramatic photograph shows petroglyphs etched inexplicably high on a canyon wall.

The only local work chosen for the show is an acrylic and photo collage titled "At Uncle Matt's Pond" by Aaron Horrell of Chaffee.

Carbondale photographer Richard A. Lawson's "El Train" also is displayed.

Jan Chamberlain, who was chairwoman of the Photo '93 committee, said the show has grown in both size and stature in only its fourth year. One hundred more entries were received this year than last. The $1,000 in prize money, all from entry fees, is a respectable amount for a photography show, she said.

Having jurors of Swedlund's reputation has been key, she added.

"The way we built up the show is having good jurors. Good jurors attract people."

The exhibit is sponsored by the Southeast Missouri Council on the Arts.