Fringe Gallery presents Paradox & Kinship featuring the surrealist photomontages of Jerry Uelsmann and large scale acrylic paintings by Fran J Nagy. Join us for the exhibition opening in conjunction with Mountainfilm's Art Walk on Friday, May 23rd, from 4 - 7 pm.
In Paradox & Kinship, the visionary worlds of Jerry Uelsmann and Fran Nagy converge in an exploration of memory, belonging, and the surreal terrain of the human psyche. Though distinct in medium—Uelsmann through the alchemy of analog photography and Nagy through textured, naturalistic painting—both share a pursuit of deeper truths beneath surface realities.
Uelsmann, the legendary forefather of Photoshop, transforms traditional darkroom techniques into portals of the subconscious. His haunting images—layered through combination printing with up to seven enlargers—defy logic and embrace paradox, echoing the layered narratives of myth and dream. The composition is a form of visual poetry where scale collapses and symbolism prevails, challenging our assumptions of time, space, and identity.
Fran Nagy’s paintings similarly grapple with the invisible forces that shape our sense of self. Rooted in nature and the ancestral memory of communal life, her work reflects on questions about belonging in an era of increasing disconnection. Through organic materials like feathers, leaves, and earth pigments, she constructs visual rituals that tether the viewer to a shared humanity and ancestral wisdom—what she calls “the memory of the village.”
This pairing resonates with the spirit of the Telluride Mountainfilm- championing stories that illuminate the human condition as well as our relationship to place, purpose, and each other. Like the films celebrated in the festival, the works of Uelsmann and Nagy are acts of revelation—visions that call us inward while connecting us outward, to the collective narratives we all share.
Together, these two artists create a conversation across mediums and generations—reminding us that to truly see, we must sometimes look beyond what is visible, and to truly belong, we must remember who we are, and who we are together.
