INVENTING REALITY : In Two Exhibits, Jerry Uelsmann’s Lens Sees More Than Meets the Naked Eye

A grassy field meets a glistening ocean at the juncture between water and land where one would expect to see sand; a nude woman seems to be floating weightlessly above a rock formation; giant human hands poke up out of the shore, reaching toward a man standing in a room with many windows.

Fantasy is the watchword for Jerry N. Uelsmann, who uses multiple-image black-and-white photography to create surreal, evocative tableaux where a tree seems to grow out of thin air, a nude the size of a giant sleeps in a gallery, clouds can be seen through walls and the natural world is otherwise imaginatively transformed.

Uelsmann, known nationally for his surrealist photography, overlaps several negatives for each finished piece to achieve what he likes to call “magic realism.” A 20-year retrospective of his work through 1980 is on view at the Orange County Center for Contemporary Art (with photographs by Kathleen Kaplan and Elizabeth Jennings) and works from the past decade are displayed at Susan Spiritus Gallery.

“I feel very much a part of the tradition that emerged in the late 19th Century in which artists felt they could invent a reality that was more meaningful than what is immediately visible to the eye,” said Uelsmann, who has shot across the country, from Yosemite to Florida’s Gulf Coast.

“I go out into the world and do my best capturing with my camera images that seem fully resolved, then later I get this illusion with them” through manipulation.

A student of Minor White, Uelsmann was also influenced by photographers Edward Weston and Ansel Adams and by painting, he said in a phone interview from his studio in Gainsville, Fla. For instance, his style, known as post-visualization, allows for an “in-process discovery that occurs in most other areas of art. Rarely does a painter begin with a fully conceived canvas,” he said, but has “some dialogue with the materials” as the work evolves.

At least one critic has surmised that surrealist painter Rene Magritte must have made an impact on the photographer. But that came after the fact, he said.

“When people told me to look at the work of Magritte, it was like seeing an old friend. I really related very strongly to that work, but it was more or less after I produced some images that someone said ‘Hey, you should look at this work.’ ”

Over the years, critics have also said that Uelsmann failed to alter a style that he solidified in the 1960s or to grow artistically. While he said he intends to use essentially the same technique and vocabulary for the rest of his life, he argued that his work has changed, although not dramatically.

“There have been technical breakthroughs that allow me to do certain things. I have more images that tend to defy gravity, figures that float or fly,” for instance, he said, adding that ideologically his expression has moved forward as well.

“When I began doing this, I was in my late 20s; now I’m 57 and my understanding of life and relationships and everything else has grown and changed and given me insights that give a depth to some of the work. I think there’s a greater spiritual quality in some of it.

“Art involves a lot of human experiences for me. Content is important, but it’s not like I just work to make something that looks interesting graphically. I try to have a part of my soul in those images.”

What: Works by Jerry N. Uelsmann at the O.C. Center for Contemporary Art and at Susan Spiritus Gallery.

When: Through Oct. 18 at OCCCA; Wednesday through Sunday, 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. Through Oct. 13 at Spiritus Gallery. Monday through Friday, 10 a.m. to 9 p.m.; Saturday, 10 a.m. to 6 p.m.; Sunday, noon to 5 p.m.

Where: OCCCA, 3621 W. MacArthur Blvd., Space 111, Santa Ana. Spiritus Gallery, Crystal Court, third level, 3333 Bear St., Costa Mesa.

Whereabouts: OCCCA: San Diego (405) Freeway to Harbor Boulevard exit. North to MacArthur Boulevard, turn right. Spiritus Gallery: San Diego Freeway to Bristol Street exit. North to Sunflower Avenue, left on Sunflower, then left on Bear Street.

Wherewithal: Admission is free.

Where to call: OCCCA, (714) 549-4989. Susan Spiritus Gallery, (714) 549-7550.