Summer is finally here and with it thoughts of water, swimmers and the beauty of figures in water. Both Michael Dweck and Howard Schatz have immersed themselves in underwater photography. Dweck with Mermaids and the surfing culture and Schatz, who combines the world of dance with the weightlessness of swimmers.
Michael Dweck has recorded the surfers of Montauk, Long Island in his book The End, and in this exhibition, the mermaids and the actual surfboards are combined to extraordinary effect. Howard Schatz has captured the beauty of ballet dancers, and swirling diaphanous fabric poetically. The combination of light, color and water celebrate the human body.
Michael Dweck was raised on Long Island, and started his career in advertising, working as a Creative Director, but his profound connection to the place he grew up in inspired him to complete his first photographic work, published as a book, The End: Montauk, N.Y., an ode to the Montauk populated with fisherman and surfers. His next two books never strayed far from the water, Mermaids (2008) and Habana Libre (2011).
Howard Schatz is a prolific commercial and fine art photographer. Working with his creative partner and wife Beverly Ornstein on in-depth studies of the human form and condition, he has
accomplished many diverse projects including work on actors, boxers, and pregnancy. He has published three books on bodies in motion underwater, H2O, Water Dance and Pool Light.