The Center for Photography at Woodstock (CPW) is pleased to announce the solo exhibition of work by Carlos Loret de Mola (Hudson, NY) entitled Being Upstate.

In seeking to rectify for himself just what it means to "be upstate", Carlos Loret de Mola began a photographic journey in 2006 that defies convention and expectation in the narrative sense and embodies the experiential frame of mind associated with "being upstate". As a term, "being upstate" can connote a wide range of mental imagery from a geographic relationship to a sense of being removed, apart, and separate from the center of things. This is not a project about being in upstate New York, yet this is a project definitively set in upstate New York, which began by looking outward and has slowly shifted to gazing inward.

Being Upstate is an attempt at autobiography. It relays experiences, emotions and responses through subtle and often elusive connections between the images. With his exhibition at CPW, Loret de Mola deviates from the traditional use of the gallery space, choosing rather to create an environment that is infused with an unabiding sense of melodrama. Combining multiple photographic formats which each hold their own inherent vocabulary as well as self-published 'zines, he offers multiple entry points and no clear closing. Ultimately, Being Upstate offers an immersive stream of consciousness experience of the interior dialogue within the mind of a photographer, a husband, a father, a son, a man finding himself in the mid-stage of his life.

ABOUT THE ARTIST: Carlos Loret de Mola was born in Havana, Cuba and currently makes his home in Hudson, New York. He received a Bachelor of Visual Arts from Georgia State University. After a decade-long career of freelance photography and digital imaging in New York City, he relocated to Hudson, where he began his current body of work. His photographs have been exhibited at the Samuel Dorsky Museum of Art (New Paltz, NY); the Hyde Collection (Glens Falls, NY); Rayko Photo Center (San Francisco, CA) and at the Atlanta Photography Gallery (Atlanta, GA). Loret de Mola's work was selected for CPW's inaugural Regional Triennial of the Photographic Arts and published in our magazine PQ in 2005. His photographs have also been exhibited at and are in the collections of such institutions as the Museum of Fine Arts (Houston, TX).

To learn more about Carlos Loret de Mola visit his website, www.carlosloretdemola.com.

The opening reception  for Being Upstate will be held on Saturday, April 9th from 5-7pm. Mr. Loret de Mola will give a brief artist talk at 5:30pm. 

To learn more about the exhibition, Being Upstate, please click here.

Image © Carlos Loret de Mola, Itch, from the series, Being Upstate, 2007, digital c-print, 18x27".  

This exhibition is made possible in part the generous support of private and public lenders, our hospitality sponsor, the Holiday Inn in Kingston, and with funds from the New York State Council on the Arts, a state agency, and the Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts. 

Founded in 1977, the Center for Photography at Woodstock is a not-for-profit 501(c)3 artist-centered organization dedicated to supporting artists working in photography and related media and engaging audiences through opportunities in which creation, discovery, and education are made possible.

To learn more visit www.cpw.org.