Teller’s Gallery and Bar is currently exhibiting the work of Glenn Wolfe, a freelance artist and an eight-year resident of Columbia, Missouri. The current exhibit at Teller’s is a continued “experiment” Wolfe started as a student.
Wolfe said the point of the exhibit is to “breathe life into the seemingly inanimate surfaces we take for granted.” I had not read the exhibit description before I started touring, and my first impression was that everything looked like pretty average quality photos. Some pictures I could recognize right away and some took a while to figure out what they were.
The first piece to really catch my eye was a portrait shot of a field of hay under a cloudy sky with lightening – or so I thought. There wasn’t anything interesting about it, but it was pleasant to look at and drew me in. Only when I went up close did I realize that it was actually a picture of broken concrete by some dry grass on the side. From then on I noticed that everything on display were random things in our everyday lives; going back to read the exhibit description also helped.

With crazy angles, unique lighting, and extreme cropping, Wolfe was able to give common scenes unrecognizable looks that gave them a magical feel. I noticed most of the pieces related to concrete, but there were also photos of water drops and oil stains on different surfaces and others with some manmade objects like cars and driveway curves.
Wolfe was able to highlight little details that go unnoticed in people’s lives and turn them into something more than ordinary. This exhibition shows that even tire marks on the road can look like something more beautiful when looked at the right way. I loved the pieces that Wolfe had on display at this exhibition.
His work will be displayed until April. Going to Teller’s over Spring break would be a fantastic idea for any family event, a hang out with friends, or even a date: food and interesting things to talk about and look at.
By Hyelee Won