Irma Backelant exhibit at Cape Coral Library

Artist photographer Irma Backelant has never made an image she can’t transform into something more than the obvious. An exhibition of those images, often described as ethereal and mysterious, is titled “Face to Face.” The exhibit opens July 2 in the art gallery of the Cape Coral Library, located at 921 SW 39th Terrace and continues through Aug. 29.
A confirmed abstractionist, Backelant considers herself a digital artist more than a straightforward photographer. She explains, “When I see an object, I make a good photographic image and then I create a new one through my eclectic imagination and digital editing. I do so by following my curiosity and sense of the aesthetic to move the photo beyond the realm of reality to an altered reality, a different or enhanced perception.”
She further states that she is intrigued by the human face and all it encompasses. “A face tells a story be it of a race, a culture, a feeling or age. And then I try to have my rendering of it tell the story I see and hopefully to nudge the observer to see in my art their own interpretation – their own story if you will. That is the open endedness of abstraction.” The end result of her adventure is a juxtaposition of elements of the original photograph to a painterly rendering that expresses her eclectic imagination. Using the original photo or, as she says, her “blank canvas” she uses what she calls filters — colors, scenes, that create a scrim or a landscape — that dramatize the final work.
In addition to her photographic images, this adventurous alchemist will exhibit resin sculptures of faces, two and three dimensional portraits and masks. Changing exhibitions are sponsored by the Friends of Cape Coral Library and are designed to afford local artists the opportunity to share their work in a public forum without fees or commissions. Exhibits may be viewed during regular library business hours. For more info, contact Monica Rahman, art gallery chairperson, at 239-258-2991.