REVELATION by Gene Markowski

Recent black and white still photographs by Gene Markowski

April 12 - May 31, 2008

Opening Reception
Saturday April 12, 5 to 8 pm

Gene Markowski's, "Revelation" at District Fine Arts uses the Roman Catholic Church as the springboard into his personal (he is a practicing Roman Catholic) revelations about the church and its rigid stance on such topics as abortion, gay rights, priestly sexual abuse and entitlement, the exclusion of women, and saintly myths. He approaches his subject with a sense of humor without losing the importance of the issues, or that the images are primarily works of art. Without question, his poetic side manages to shine through the issues he touches on, which keep the series engaging. However, the key to fully appreciate the exhibition are the titles of the photographs which are often with a double amusing meaning.

Still/life, the human figure, and self-portraits form an enigmatic series of images that consistently underscore such psychological states as eroticism, ecstasy, revenge, and rejection. The images are intentionally without photographic refinement, but carry a deeply expressive and vital energy that conjures Markowski's personal journey into a visual representation of some of the troubling aspects of the contemporary church today. The human condition which is so deeply wound around these photographs can be read entirely separate from the Catholic question, revealing our own inner lives, shaped by the complicated world we live in. The moral and intellectual questions Markowski poses are the core of the exhibition, and he gives the entire show the lift it needs through his sensibility and salient humor.

Markowski is a Professor of Art at Trinity University where he has taught studio courses for the past twenty years. He is an active artist with many one man and group exhibitions in his extensive career. His work is represented in many private, corporate, and museum collections throughout the United States and Europe.

District Fine Arts
1639 Wisconsin Avenue N.W.
Washington, D.C. 20007
202-328-9100