DE SANTOS GALLERY PRESENTS HENRIK KAM: ABANDONED SPACES

For Immediate Release
October 20, 2004
Contact: De Santos Gallery
(713) 520-1200

DE SANTOS GALLERY PRESENTS HENRIK KAM: ABANDONED SPACES
OCTOBER 23 – NOVEMBER 23, 2004

Opening Reception: Saturday, October 23rd 6-9pm

Houston—De Santos Gallery presents recent work by Dutch photographer Henrik Kam. The twenty color photographs on view at the De Santos Gallery belong to Kam’s SF Bayfront Interiors series, which are part of his larger body of work known as The San Francisco Bayfront (1996–2002). This project is based on the southeastern waterfront area of San Francisco. Kam, who has lived in San Francisco since 1981, documents abandoned office spaces and industrial sites where dangerously toxic research experiments were performed by the U.S. Navy during the Cold War and the Vietnam War.

Kam’s luminous color prints on aluminum (shown here in two formats, 23 x 49 inches and 23 x 31 inches) capture the natural light still flowing into empty rooms in various states of disarray.

“I see myself as an ‘urban/industrial archeologist’ unearthing visual clues and indexing the evidence of an industrialism which built the West and armed an empire…. Decades of careless handling and disposal of heavy metals and low-level radioactive materials has left behind a legacy requiring a multimillion-dollar cleanup effort at one of the largest Superfund Sites in the country, adjacent to one of the poorest neighborhoods in the city,” writes Kam in his artist statement.

Kam was chosen for the “Discoveries of the Meeting Place” exhibition in Houston, 2002, and has exhibited widely throughout the U.S. His work is in the permanent collections of the Museet for Fotokunst, Odense, Denmark and the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston. Kam will be present for the gallery opening on Saturday, October 23rd from 6-9pm. He will give a brief artist’s talk at 6:30 pm that evening. Printing and direct mail marketing services provided by Catdi Printing

About the De Santos Gallery

The De Santos Gallery, designed by architect Fernando Brave, is owned and directed by Luis and Gemma de Santos, who are natives of Spain and long-time residents of Houston. The De Santos Gallery specializes in photography (including traditional and new media) from contemporary European and Asian photographers including Anna Halm-Schudel, Roman Loranc, Sang Nam Park, and Kimiko Yoshida. The gallery also has work available by North American and Latin American artists: Clyde Butcher, Linda Butler, and Edgar Moreno among others.

The De Santos Gallery is located at 1724-A Richmond Avenue at Dunlavy Street in the Museum District of Houston. Gallery hours are: Tuesday through Saturday from 10:30 a.m. to 5 p.m.; we are closed on Mondays. For information, please call 713-520-1200 or visit desantosgallery.com.

Current and Upcoming Exhibitions at the De Santos Gallery:
Henrik Kam: Abandoned Spaces, Oct. 23 – Nov. 23, 2004
Paula Chamlee: Madonnina and Tuscany, Nov. 27 – Dec. 31, 2004