‘Unnatural Landscapes’ exhibit an abstract look at Las Vegas

By Bailey Schulz / Las Vegas Review-Journal

7 years ago

An untitled photograph from “Unnatural Landscapes.” Bruner created the image using Mylar, cellophane and light. (Courtesy image.)

An untitled image from “Unnatural Landscapes” exhibit was created using cellophane and lights. (Courtesy)

In Ginger Bruner’s “Unnatural Landscapes” photo exhibit, viewers can get a look at an abstract view of Las Vegas landscapes as seen by the artist.

The free exhibit is on display through Aug. 24 at the Winchester Cultural Center gallery, with all artwork available for purchase.

A third-generation Nevadan, Bruner was raised in Las Vegas and graduated from Valley High School and UNLV. Bruner, 53, said the Las Vegas landscapes she grew up around inspired the abstract photographs in “Unnatural Landscapes.”

“These are the landscapes I see inside my head,” she said. “In Las Vegas, we have these great sunsets and skies, and we have all the neon … This is my way of creating that environment myself.”

To create the images, Bruner uses materials such as cellophane, tissue and Mylar in her studio, incorporating light to make the elements resemble landscapes.

“You can pick up all the stuff I use at Target,” she said. “There’s no Photoshop, nothing outside the realm of what I’d be able to do in a darkroom.”

While Bruner said the images offer a look at the inner workings of her mind, she invites viewers to take away whatever message suits them.

“People can really open up and make up their own stories to what they might be,” she said.

Bruner was one of six artists chosen by the Winchester Gallery’s selection committee, said Mikayla Whitmore, the exhibit curator and gallery coordinator at the Winchester Cultural Center.

“(The photographs) will be an interesting merge of mediums,” Whitmore said. “With the title and with the work, she’s exploring her fascination with light, the spaces around her, neon … all of those elements show throughout her photographs.”

For Bruner, the series offers an escape from her usual artwork focus. As the lead photographer and associate producer of the public art project Our Las Vegas, she regularly takes photographs of the Las Vegas environment as seen through locals’ eyes. She said it’s cleansing to be able to focus on creating a series of photographs that isn’t quite so overt.

“I actually had to cut myself off (from ‘Unnatural Landscapes’) a couple months ago,” she said. “I could see myself doing this for years and having thousands of images, and what am I going to do with that?”

Contact Bailey Schulz at bschulz@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0256. Follow @bailey_schulz on Twitter.