James Bleecker imbues his subjects with a certain lifeblood — in his images of structures and landscapes, that which we know to be inanimate glistens from within with the warmth and luminosity of a living, breathing being. Bleecker’s process yields photographs that reach beyond sight to reveal an underlying vitality.
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Splitting his time between the Hudson River Valley and Manhattan, Bleecker divides his attention between rural and urban subjects. He depicts particular places while evoking a timeless and iconographic conception of the American northeast. Altogether, his scenes are unified by a surgical sense of composition, both in the selection and placement of graphic components within the frame. Bleecker arranges his pictures in pursuit of the quintessence of his subjects, a tendency that may alternatively suggest the patina of history and a timelessness that defies age.

This duality is perhaps most evident in Bleecker’s signature monochrome photographs. Through their honeyed sepia tones, the viewer is presented with a sublime companionship of form and light. Such virtuosity would be impressive enough from a painter; that Bleecker must collaborate with the stubborn realism of the visible makes his images all the more remarkable. Put simply by Edgar Munhall, curator emeritus of The Frick Collection,

“Bleecker's work is powerful and mature. Rigorously composed and technically perfect, his photographs can reduce you to tears by their beauty.”

– Matt Moment, Carrie Haddad Gallery