The World in Black and White

Majesty, sadness and beauty come in all colors. But anyone who has ever seen the work of, say, Ansel Adams knows that sometimes those feelings are much clearer in black and white.

A new gallery officially opening Friday, the Cache Gallery of Photography, aims to show Fort Collins residents the power in black-and-white photography.

Two Fort Collins photographers, Adrian Davis and Cole Thompson, hope the small space in a corner of Old Town will soon gain a new following, and usher in a new appreciation for the Adams tradition of black-and-white images.

Davis’ landscapes and wispy waterfall images evoke a slightly less dark Adams. Thompson’s art includes a particularly iconic image of a homeless man Thompson dubbed “The Angel Gabriel,” and photos of the Auschwitz-Birkenau Nazi concentration camp.

The photos of the death camps capture the ghosts of the Holocaust by using long exposures to convert tourist crowds into wispy wraiths. They are hauntingly emotional.

“It’s not something somebody would hang over their mantel,” Thompson said.
But the new photo gallery, tucked behind Lloyd’s Art Center, is not your average art space.

For one thing, it won’t sell “landscape porn”—Thompson’s name for color images of aspen trees and other Colorado scenery. Its focus is on the art, not necessarily the subject; the gallery photographers’ images include old cars, tools, milk bottles and junkyard detritus.

With a laugh, Davis recalled that he considered ordering T-shirts that say, in French, “If you’re looking for a photo of a marmot, you’re at the wrong gallery.”

“It’s not about, ‘Hey, I really love that print, and I want to buy that.’ It’s more, ‘Hey, look at what this artist has accomplished, I want to buy his work,’” Davis said.

Thompson, who lives in Laporte, said he’s amazed Fort Collins does not have a dedicated black-and-white photography gallery. Illustrated Light, a photo gallery in Old Town Square, does feature black-and-white and toned images, but there’s mostly splendid color. And at the Center for Fine Art Photography, patrons aren’t able to walk in and see a single photographer’s oeuvre.

“We want to increase the awareness of black-and-white photography to increase its value,” Davis said, adding that often, black-and-white prints don’t sell well because there aren’t many of them to buy. He and Thompson aim to change that.

“We want this to be the Camera Obscura of Fort Collins someday,” Davis said, noting the well-respected Denver fine art gallery. “With calling it the Cache Gallery, we’re tying it in to the Poudre River, but also, it’s the hiding place of great photographs.”

To that end, several talented photographers are represented at the Cache, including Jeff Graves of Broomfield, Dana Echols of Fort Collins and Kevin Nickell of Copperhill, Tenn.

Davis said he approached artists he’s met over the years, including during his time as a staff photographer at the Ansel Adams Gallery in Yosemite National Park, Calif.
He operates a printing company, E6Stock, and offers giclee prints, slides from digital files, lithographs and short-run book publishing.

Through that work, he met Thompson and other artists who had few local places to showcase their work. Davis wondered whether he should open a print shop or a gallery, and he settled on the latter.

“I see good art all the time here,” Davis said. “The talent that’s hidden here, it just blows my mind.”

He talked with the owners of Lloyd’s gallery, who own the building, and found a 600 square-foot space in a former tattoo parlor on Pine Street. He spent a month renovating it, including ripping out sinks and chairs, and gradually turned the space into a homey spot for great art, with 14-foot ceilings and a 30-foot main wall. That wall will feature one artist’s work once a month, with an emphasis on black and white.

“That’s very rare—you would never go into a place and see just one photographer,” Davis said.

Featured artists must have received at least one placing award and have been in at least two juried photography shows to hang work in the gallery, although people with long-standing exhibition records or photography careers may be excepted. The minimum selling price will be $200, not a small sum but affordable in terms of art prices.

The gallery held a soft opening in June and handed out cards at the Taste of Fort Collins, but its grand opening is Friday, part of the First Friday Gallery Walk.
In August, the gallery will showcase Thompson’s Auschwitz-Birkenau images, which are 30-second exposures of buildings and train tracks with shadowy figures milling throughout.

In November, Davis plans to host Patrick Witty, a picture editor at the New York Times whose work is in the Guggenheim Museum, among other places.

“You don’t see that level of work except in New York, Washington, D.C., or (Los Angeles) high-end galleries,” Davis said.

Davis and Thompson hope the gallery’s location, down the street from the forthcoming Rodizio Grill restaurant and a stone’s throw from new lofts, will draw new patrons and new collectors interested in black-and-white art photography.

“Black and white, with white mats and black frames, it’s a classic presentation. It’s been going on for 80 years, and it’s not going anywhere, hopefully,” Davis said.

Come and See The Cache Gallery Grand Opening 6-9 p.m. Friday, July 11 215 Pine St., Fort Collins (north of Starbucks and west of Rasta Pasta) www.thecachegallery.com