Low-Budget Photos Capitalize on the Theatrical

The photographers involved in the group show “Low/No Tech” should know better than to rely on cheap, substandard equipment when making photographic art. And, of course, they do, which is exactly the curatorial point here.

According to the parameters of the show, organized by photographer-teacher-curator William Hendricks, the selected photographers--either students or commercial photographers--were to create images using inexpensive means, with equipment costing under $15.

It’s not an unusual experiment in photography circles, for students and/or fine artists to force themselves to work within the humble limitations of plastic cameras.

As stated in an essay, Hendricks’ general concept is to show the possibilities of creating art with a self-limited budget, in opposition to the increasingly high-tech, digitally generated imagery we find in cyberspace or in a media-saturated age.

A sense of theater, rather than spontaneity or reportage, pervades most of these images. Hendricks’ own piece, “Miss Millennium,” shows a woman in a swimsuit with a TV for a head, standing in a convertible, viewed from a tilted camera angle.

Natasa Orlov’s “Lust Over Death” is another theatricalized image, a pseudo-mythic scene with young semi-clad lovers in the woods, an open casket in the foreground serving as a monolithic reminder of mortality.

The fuzzy-focused “Fallen From Grace,” by David Studarus, is perhaps the most beguiling and memorable piece in the show in terms of enigmatic charisma. In it, photographic tradition is reversed, in that a primitive icon, a blurry beast, is set against a background of more identifiable clouds.

The innocence and built-in nostalgia of baby paraphernalia is captured in Chris Zsarnay’s “Live Love Life.” And in Suzannah Frisbie’s “Good Luck,” a modest snapshot of a paper lantern has been blown up to epic proportions, with the pulpy resolution adding to the charm.

Less innocuous in its theme, Jacob Rhodes’ “Hereditary Stains” hints at incest and psychological unrest. The work transcends the two-dimensional, with rough-hewn assemblage on scrappy plywood and paint-splattered frame.

“Masquerade,” by Pete Ruiz, is a portrait of a masked figure surprisingly rich in color for an under-$15 image. Here, as elsewhere, the viewer can easily forget the underlying nature of the show.

If there is a quibble to be made with the show--which is a generally good-spirited display more than a serious effort--it is that the photographers seem to be aiming too high, in terms of their standards. It seems that they are attempting to achieve slick images with funky tools, rather than letting the funk be its own reward.

Even so, the show is worth looking at, as an example of resourceful inventiveness. Each photographer brings his/her own perspective to the whole, giving it an air of healthy eclecticism.

* “Low/No Tech,” through Dec. 1 at Day Road Caffe, 40 Day Road, Ventura. Hours: 7 a.m.-8 p.m. Monday-Friday; 8 a.m.-5 p.m. Saturday and Sunday; 642-6155.

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Art From the Heart: Ami Adell, the artist showing at the Ventura County Government Center’s administration building, is an autodidact--with no formal training--and proud of it. The Agoura-based artist, who explains in a statement that she is self-taught, also has no art-worldly pretensions or particular consistency of style to plumb.

The result: a fine show of coarsely made, heartfelt art. Her abstract paintings alternate between impressionistic washes, as with “Baby Blue” and “True Blue,” flecked with pine needle-like brush strokes, to pieces that use grids to lock into visual rhythms.

“Amazed” (as in “mazes”) and “Puzzling” play off of the contrast between murky solids and geometric patterns.

In her figurative work, Adell leans toward altered or reconfigured images, often via hyper-close-up views of faces. In “Falling to Pieces,” a face fragments into six different canvases, like pieces of a complex psychological puzzle.

What Adell’s art lacks in finesse or sophistication, it makes up for in expressive gumption. Simplicity and restless invention become her.

* Ami Adell, paintings and ink drawings, through Dec. 4 in the administration building of the Ventura County Government Center, 800 S. Victoria Ave., Ventura. Hours: 7 a.m.-6 p.m. Monday-Thursday; 654-3963.