Washington University Weitman Gallery of Photography

This small gallery located in the lower level of Steinberg Hall on the east end of the WU campus is dedicated to showing the work of photography students, photo alumni and photo faculty from Washington University. One of the few exhibition spaces dedicated to photography on the entire campus. open during normal business hours for the WU campus and free.

This review is strictly critiquing the Weitman Gallery of Photography through the lens of Jim Olvera’s exhibition. The exhibition consists of a series of black and white photographs.
The Gallery is situated underneath a stairwell and just outside a hallway that experiences much traffic in the daytime. Though the gallery itself is relatively small, it provides ideal area to host small exhibitions, such as Jim Olvera’s Paradox Parallel exhibition.
No natural light filters into the gallery. Thus, it consists entirely of warm artificial light. Each black and white photo in Olvera’s exhibit is placed under one of these warm spotlights. I think the exhibition would benefit from some natural lighting.
Overall, the Weitman Gallery is an excellent place to exhibit a small quantity of student work or professional work. Larger exhibits should be placed across the plaza in the Kemper Museum.

Jim Olvera’s show, Paradox/​Parallel is a very interesting exhibition curated by Washington University photography professor Stan Strembicki. Olvera’s fits into the intimate space of the Weitman Gallery quite nicely. The different sizes of his photographs are interesting. Some are quite large, allowing the viewer to really insert themselves into the image, while others remain small and intimate. I enjoyed walking through the gallery and looking at the images, seeing how each image was placed.
My main issue with the show, is not with the display of the photographs or the gallery itself. The small space of the actual gallery means that some of the images must be displays on the walls outside. This would not normally be an issue, but there are some geometric sculptures blocking the space. While the sculptures are very visually interesting, they block the audience from viewing the photographs and intrude upon the small space of the Weitman Gallery.

The various photographs by Jim Olvera displayed in the Paradox/​Parallel Exhibition give the viewers a short but diverse look into the photographer’s black and white compositions.
Some compositions seem purposeful and posed, but there are many that seem more spontaneous and of-​the-​moment, such as photos taken in a tour bus or rollercoaster. The works displayed also vary in size, adding diversity and giving the smaller photos a more casual feel.
Overall, the photos by Jim Olvera were attention capturing and interesting to look at, with dynamic compositions emphasized by the strong contrast of black and white.