Local Cinematographer Sean Conaty’s Photography Featured in First Solo Exhibit at The Icon

The first solo photography exhibit of local cinematographer Sean Conaty opens this Saturday at The Icon gallery on Wilshire Blvd. The exhibit, “Out of Place,” features the Emmy-winning cinematographer’s exploration of adolescence and the malleability of memory. 

As Conaty explains, “So many of these photographs are retellings, reenactments, and reinterpretations of similar memories from my own life.”

Shot almost exclusively on film, the pieces reflect the photographer’s attempt to come to terms with memory through fragmented, incomplete, and fleeting compositions.

Conaty, who was born in Los Angeles, told the Buzz, “I moved 20,000 miles by the time I graduated from high school.” 

This feeling of being out of place and searching forms the central theme of the exhibit curated by Bonny Taylor, Director of the Fine Art Department at Icon. The images were taken over the last eight years during Conaty’s travels for work as a commercial cinematographer. Taylor and Conaty selected images that will compel the viewer to stop and look at the moment captured in the image. 

Conaty’s deep LA roots (his great, great uncle, Thomas James Conaty (August 1, 1847 – September 18, 1915) was the Bishop of the Diocese of Monterey-Los Angeles (now theArchdiocese of Los Angeles and the Diocese of Monterey) from 1903-1915) drew him back to graduate school at USC  where he earned an MFA in Film Production. He also met his wife Ali Jack, who is featured in several images, through mutual high school friends. Jack, a local realtor, grew up in Windsor Square. The couple recently bought their first house in Saint Andrews Square.

The opening reception for “Out of Place” is  Saturday, September 10, 5-8pm and will also premiere 13/12/49, a video art piece based on the personal account of a first responder.  

The exhibit will be on view through November 2016.

The Icon
5450 Wilshire Blvd, LA, CA 90036
RSVP: [email protected]