At the heart of any photograph I like there is bound to be a paradox, such as the way a seamless realism creates a world of pure fantasy in Jerry Uelsmann’s work. It is an indication of the depth of Uelsmann’s vision that the work hasn’t changed much in the last six years. The world Uelsmann has created out of his own imagining is vast. It has needed this extensive exploration. In some ways the terrain in this world resembles the state of Florida, where Uelsmann has lived and taught since 1960. Basically, though, this is a private, impenetrable world, one as unknown and misunderstood by us as Florida was by Spanish explorers 400 years ago. The current show doesn’t exactly enlarge Uelsmann’s vision. It doesn’t reveal some new symbolism that we can now map and coordinate with what we already know, thereby getting our bearings at last. If the vision has changed at all, it is only by turning in on itself even more resolutely than before. Yet it is in the very nature of this vision, that the further inward it goes, the more refined and wondrous it becomes.
—Colin L. Westerbeck, Jr.
