This photographic exhibition presents artwork by Maarten Vermaat. It is on display in the Huron Mountain Gallery February through the end of March. The opening reception will be held Thursday, February 8th at 6pm. An artist talk for this gallery will take place at 6:30pm.

“The purpose of my exhibit FOCUS — is to display local people and their connections to their jobs and interests. The connection between the person and their job is the most important part of this project. In highlighting this connection, FOCUS demonstrates that it is possible for a person to take control of their attention and to focus on narrow tasks despite the constant barrage of distractions we all face. I found the subjects in the FOCUS project simply by observing the people I have encountered in my daily life.”

“Each of these people has demonstrated an ability to focus closely on a subject. It is important to note that the people shown are not celebrities or glamorous people. They are regular people going about their lives. In featuring these people, FOCUS calls attention to worthy people whose images might not otherwise appear in a portrait series.”

All of the photographs in this collection are shot in Black and White. “I am shooting all of the portraits in FOCUS in black and white (B&W) for two reasons. First, B&W images carry a seriousness that I wish to bring to this project. Also, the use of uniform color pallet helps to tie all of the images together. I found my inspiration for this project, in part, in the work of great portrait photographers like Arnold Newman, who manage to show a person’s personality and work through photography. But, perhaps more importantly, I am inspired by the quality and character of the people in these images. Plus, at a personal level, I have found that maintaining focus is increasingly difficult. And I hope that showing people who have achieved focus will help the viewers do the same.”