Silent Witness
View Keith Fishman's Photographs

In my view, Keith Fishman's photographs are intimate explorations into an inner life. In stark contrast to the artist himself, who is outgoing, gregarious, and witty, Fishman's work is quiet, spare and solitary. His reductionist approach to subject matter, whether it be architecture, clouds, or man-made forms, dissolves into suggestion; there are other realities at work and play in his images.

Technically, Keith is master of the digital darkroom. His landscapes are mood pieces, orchestrated in seemingly countless shades of gray, while his abstracted city views are rendered in stark yet nuanced black and white tones.

A photographer for decades, Fishman has felt compelled to devote himself more and more to his artistic quest, even as needs dictate that he continue his "day job". So it is and has been for countless artists, past, present and probably future, but at the same time, such passion and sacrifice inform and enrich his work. There is darkness in his imagery, but there is also mystery, lying enfolded or beyond the edges. Keith's images are meditation on silence and light, transcendent and compelling. Above all, Fishman's photographs draw the viewer in, to fill the textured space and complete the mystery.

One senses that Keith Fishman's photographic explorations are taking him into new places, both interior and exterior. His is a journey I will follow with great interest.

Karen Sinsheimer
Curator of Photography
Santa Barbara Museum of Art