Artist Statement
Discovering The Overlooked
Fantastical figures and otherworldly landscapes emerge from random patterns and inanimate textures like tree bark, swirling water and melting snow.
I bend, lie down, awkwardly angle, stretch and lean in, to focus on what I want to crop with my camera. Unexpected found imagery and visual narrative poems rise beyond the surface or objects themselves.
While photographing, I often laugh out loud at what I discover, while feeling awe for the rich, magical, overlooked wonders hidden in plain sight. I love experiencing discovery, and making the invisible visible.
My body of work illustrates how perspective and imagination can broaden our observations and understanding of reality. I question how we might view urban elements and decay while considering broader themes of visibility, recognizability and the relationship between seeing and knowing. Each abstract photo celebrates what we often walk past or step on.
With minimal post-processing, cropped images with mostly neutral color palettes are unaltered and often ephemeral. In moments, the subject can change or disappear by a gust of wind or a person’s foot.
This work has led me to discover and explore the free association of the early Surrealists, the dreamlike and emotive abstraction of Minor White and Alfred Stieglitz, and the found imagery of Aaron Siskind and Edward Weston. All challenge the reality of and appreciation for what and how we see.
Like Abstract Expressionists, I want to spark visual ideas. I want to elevate the everyday and raise awareness and appreciation for the unseen.
By opening our eyes and minds to more fully seeing, we can be more aware, experience wonder and shift familiar thinking.
Ghostly Chat
Source: Street Corner Puddle
Elements: Asphalt, Water, Cement, Mud, Utility & Street Paints, Leaves
Artist Bio
Terry Frishman specializes in abstract photography, with much of her work seeking to find meaning and emotion in the random. Throughout her career as a business consultant, educator and now fine art photographer, Terry’s work has consistently encouraged people to explore new perspectives.
Her photographs have been shown in galleries from Barcelona to Art Basel Week in Miami, Fl. They are held in small private collections in the United States and internationally in Barcelona, Dresden, Mexico City and Paris.
Topics Terry likes to engage on include “Awakening Our Unconscious,” “Pareidolia: What Do You See?” and “Pareidolia Through Art History.” She has presented her art on TV, in galleries, public art shows and pop ups, as well as to photography groups and psychiatrists!
Terry is on the New York Board of Directors for the American Society of Media Photographers, and active in Professional Women Photographers and The American Photography Archives Group.
She received a BA in Art History from Smith College, an MBA from Columbia University. Terry taught Arts in Action for five years in a New York City public school, empowering students to find their inner artist, self-expression and confidence. Earlier, she worked with Newsweek’s The Best of Photojournalism books and the Metropolitan Museum of Art’s James Van Der Zee Harlem Renaissance photographs. She recently moved from NYC to lives in Philadelphia, PA with her husband, near their married children.
Artist CV - Terry Frishman
Board of Directors
American Society of Media Photographers, New York
Representation & Solo Show
Kansas & Missouri by Hilliard Gallery
Visiting Artist Show, Hilliard Gallery, 2021
Awards
“Abstract - Series,” 19th Pollux Awards, Honorable Mention, 2023
Jurors Stephen Perloff, Editor, The Photo Review and Julio Hirsch-Hardy of FotoNostrum
“Abstract - Singles,” 19th Pollux Awards, Honorable Mention, 2023
Jurors Stephen Perloff, Editor, The Photo Review and Julio Hirsch-Hardy of FotoNostrum
LensCulture Editors’ Pick, Art Photography Awards, 2023
Jury - LensCulture Editors
“Open Theme - Series,” 19th Julia Margaret Cameron Awards, Honorable Mention, 2022
Juror Barbara Davidson, Guggenheim Fellow, 3 x Pulitzer Prize, and Emmy award-winning photographer
“Open Theme - Singles,” 19th Julia Margaret Cameron Awards, Honorable Mention, 2022
Juror Barbara Davidson, Guggenheim Fellow, 3 x Pulitzer Prize, and Emmy award-winning photographer
Street 2022 Theme Shortlist Top Tier, The Motif Collective
Jury - The Motif Collective
8th Annual Fine Art Photography Awards, London, Nominee - Open Theme, Series: Pareidolia: Hidden in Plain Sight, 2021/2022
Juried Group Shows
2023-2024 Exhibits
Art Santa Fe, July 12-14, 2024
Jurors - Jennifer Schlesinger, Obscura Gallery, Santa Fe, NM; Sidney S. Monroe & Michelle Monroe, Monroe Gallery, Santa Fe, NM and Leonar Fernandes, Fotonostrum Mediterranean House of Photography, Barcelona, Spain
19 Artists Pop-Up Show, Rye, NY- April 28, 2024
PL 130 Gallery, Philadelphia - “Member Moment: Developing Voices” - March 7 - April 28, 2024
Fulton Center, 200 Broadway, Manhattan, January 15 - March 22, 2024
By Invitation Only - Art on the Ave NYC
Art Basel Week - AQUA Art Miami, Booth 207, December 6-10, 2023
Jurors - Paris Chong, Director, Leica Gallery, Los Angeles, CA and Geoffrey Koslof, Co-Founder, Foto Relevance Gallery, Houston, TX
Curator - Pamela Jean Tinnen, NYU Curator & ASMP NY Fine Art Chair
International Pollux Award Recipients, FotoNostrum Mediterranean House of Photography, Barcelona, Spain, December 2023
Jurors - Stephen Perloff, Editor, The Photo Review and Julio Hirsch-Hardy of FotoNostrum
“Small Works,” South X Southeast Gallery, Molena, GA Through August
Juror - Donna Garcia, Executive Director, Atlanta Photography Group
“2023 Competition - Abstractions & Patterns,” The Photo Review
Juror - Deborah Willis, Curator, Photography & Imaging Department Chair, NYU’s Tisch School of the Arts
“The Calm Before The Storm,” CFEVA, The Barclay, Philadelphia PA, Through July 28
Juror - Chelsea Luster, Art Educator, Curator and Visual Artist
“Change: The Urban & Natural Landscape,” Photoville Festival, Brooklyn Bridge Park, NYC
Jurors - Gary Hershorn, Deputy Photo Director ABC News, Digital; Chiarina Chen, Independent Curator; Joe and Mary Ann McDonald, Founding Members of NANPA
“Black, White & Shades of Gray,” Townhouse Gallery, Stamford, CT
Juror - Ashley Ouderkirk, Art Advisor, Curator, & Writer
Enigma, Upstream Gallery, 2023
Juror - Dave Shelley, Co-Founder Photoville
Prior Exhibits
Barcelona, Spain - Julia Margaret Cameron Award Recipients, FotoNostrum Mediterranean House of Photography, 2022
Juror - Barbara Davidson, Guggenheim Fellow, 3 x Pulitzer Prize, and Emmy award-winning photographer
AQUA Art Miami - Part of Art Basel / Miami Beach Art Week, 2022
Jurors - Sherri Littlefield, Treat Gallery & Vida Sabbaghi, Cope Gallery
Dreamscapes, Online, 2022-2023
Jurors - Professional Women Photographers
Found Profiles - Pareidolia Series, RI Center for Photographic Arts - 2022
Juror - Sandra Eisert, Board of Directors National Press Photographers Foundation and The International Leica Society
My NYC, Matted LIC, 46-36 Vernon Blvd, LIC, NY, 2022
Jurors - Professional Women Photographers
Creating Tomorrow, Art on the Ave NYC, 2022
Jurors - Barbara Anderson, Susan Davis-Eley, Jackie Graham and Norma Krieger
8th International Open Call: Contemporary Art, RI Center for Photographic Arts, Rhode Island, 2022
Juror - Jessica Roscio, Curator, Danforth Art Museum
Art in the Wild, NYU Integrated Design & Media + Tandon School of Engineering, 2021
Juror - Piper Nichole, Faculty, NYU and University of Richmond
What is Beautiful: The Aesthetics of Pleasing the Mind, Hilliard Gallery, 2021
Media
“PhotoLounge’s Member Moment: Terry Frishman,” June 16, 2023
“Shifting Perspectives: Discovering the Overlooked,” Projections Live interview with Frank Meo, 2023
3 Live Segments on #1 Morning Show, Fox 4 TV, Kansas City, MO, 2021
In Kansas City magazine Four Art Events You Should Not Miss, Sept. 2021 issue
Guest Speaking
“What Do You See: Pareidolia 2:2 -Awakening Our Unconscious,” The William Alanson White Institute, Pareidolia Art Discussion with Psychoanalysts and Psychotherapists, September, 2023
“The Business of Fine Art Photography,” Interview with Thomas Werner, 2023
American Society of Media Photographers (ASMP) New York’s Fine Art Salon, 2022
Professional Women’s Photographers’ Curtain Raiser, 2022
Nitza Lerner Co., “Pareidolia Through Art History,” 2022
Hilliard Gallery, “Pareidolia Art,” 2021
Kemper Museum of Contemporary Art, “Pareidolia Scavenger Hunt,” 2021