Inside the "Thomas Locke Hobbs: 'I know at a glance'" exhibition held at the ASU Herberger School of Art’s Step Gallery in downtown Phoenix on Wednesday. (Daniel Kwon/The State Press)The Step Gallery in downtown Phoenix is still relatively new, even if the industrial building that encases it is not. It’s always interesting to see where ASU’s love for the arts will go, and seeing the school’s logo spray painted and weathered onto a wall of metal bars. The locale brings a bit of modern hip flair to that love. Inside, a small exhibit is housed within those massive walls, with striking black and white images taken by an ASU alumni.
Thomas Locke Hobbs, 38, is the photographer behind “I know at a glance,” a collection of images taken in Arizona, Southern California and other locales while working as a graduate student.
“I’m very much interested in depicting the surfaces of contemporary life here in Phoenix, in Arizona and Southern California,” Hobbs said at the gallery’s Feb. 6 reception.
In a posted statement on the gallery wall, Hobbs said he is interested in a certain uncanny or mysterious quality in photographs.
“Often, I feel there is a gap between what the photograph is of and the effect of the photograph on the viewer (me),” he said.
Hobbs said that decision to go black and white on the images was more of an aesthetic choice.
Pieces from the "Thomas Locke Hobbs: 'I know at a glance'" exhibition held at the ASU Herberger School of Art’s Step Gallery in downtown Phoenix on Wednesday. (Daniel Kwon/The State Press)“I’m interested in the language of black and white in photography, in the way it links it to the history of photography. I’m interested in having a dialogue with that history, and using this method that would be considered obsolete, but I’m trying to use it in a way that makes a poetic statement about me and my life and today in the 21st century.
“The work is as much an exploration of the world, as it is an exploration of the medium itself.”
Although appearing random at first glance, the connections between the images start to appear as you look closely. The lines of a man-made layered hillside line up nearly simultaneous to the lines of an asphalt street replete with tire tracks, for example — an evocation of environments. Another particular image sees a man firing golf balls into a Mesa desert, a bag of clubs at his side.
Hobbs said this particular scene was found by chance. “It has this mythical quality, sort of like Sisyphus rolling the stone up the mountain,” he said, “or this kind of tiny figure lost in this enormous space … a futile action of whacking golf balls out into the void.”
Hobbs said that aside from self portraits and shadows present in his images, Hobbs says that he does see himself in the photos. “There are things that are personally significant for me,” he said, describing images of his father and his father’s camera bag. Portraits of mothers and sons act as stand-ins for the relationship Hobbs had with his mother before she passed away.
“I’m really trying to link that personal idea of identity and inner existential state with the surroundings and landscapes.”
Reach the reporter at Damion.Julien-Rohman@asu.edu or follow @legendpenguin on Twitter
LikeThe State Presson Facebook and follow@statepresson Twitter.
