Tom Zuk – “Rear Window”
April 15 – May 27, 2018.
Tom Zuk has made photographic art from the rough materials of the urban cityscape outside his Hoboken apartment window. A wall of crumbling masonry, a clothesline with pulley, a patio, a street corner, a church with steeple, hi-rise apartment, just the sky filling the window from edge to edge: Each scene is interpreted by a photographer steeped in all aspects of the medium, from the studied attention to light and shadow in shooting a still life or landscape to the split-second instincts of a street photographer. Working within the self-imposed constraints of shooting from his apartment, Zuk didn’t set out with a particular objective, but he describes the resulting series as “a hybrid of the Romantic and Existential, recording the particular species of mankind’s solitude unique to dense, old cities.”
The image used in the poster, for example, was inspired by the effect of the city at night, “painted with artificial lights that haphazardly––beautifully, to my eye––mix color temperatures, and serve up a chiaroscuro dreamscape that I find compelling.” The photograph is just one in a very varied tableau of Zuk’s corner of Hoboken. See the rest in the exhibit, “Rear Window: Photographs by Tom Zuk,” which opens Sunday, April 15, with an opening reception from 2 – 5 pm, and an artist’s talk at 4 pm.
His first love was painting and drawing, but he wasn’t satisfied with his efforts. As did Man Ray and Irving Penn, photographers who started out as painters only to find that they’re more adept with a camera than with a brush, Zuk turned to photography as an alternative means of visual expression. He trained himself by walking the streets of New York, shooting and learning from his mistakes. He apprenticed with established photographers and took photos for his own portfolio, spending hundreds of hours in darkrooms mastering black and white photography. He works in the digital medium today, but credits his early experience in the darkroom for his ability to pull off a striking black and white photograph even with digital tools.
“Of all the work I did as a commercial photographer, the least remunerative but most gratifying assignments were editorial jobs and travel features, many of the latter for a New York newspaper,” Zuk says. “I liked being on the loose in a foreign country, meeting strangers, struggling to communicate, and coming home with good film. The rewards were directly proportional to the risks.”
He adds, “Another, quieter current in my work is still lifes. I enjoy taking an unusual household object––a bouquet of dead flowers, for instance, or an espresso pot or toy car––arranging it in front of the camera, and seeing if I can extract an unsettling mood from the composition.”
Zuk admits that “Hoboken isn’t Yosemite or the Grand Canyon,” but he enjoyed the challenge of capturing strong images in this variation on street photography. “The views don’t surrender themselves easily.”
Zuk has seen the city change a lot in the 35 years since he and his wife moved here. He spent his early years in Buffalo, NY. “It was a working-class city when I lived there, and often came to mind when my wife and I moved to Hoboken,” he says. “But change is the only constant, and Hoboken is no longer blue collar. I have to catch myself when drifting into nostalgia because I’m suspicious of its potential for dishonesty,” he concludes.
Explore more of Zuk’s work on Instagram. The exhibit will remain on view through May 27.
The exhibit is supported by a block grant from the State/County Partnership program for the Arts, administered by the Hudson County Division of Cultural and Heritage Affairs.