Victor Macarol -- one-man exhibition at The New Jersey State MuseumThe New Jersey State Museum in Trenton, NJ
"...The reason we look at a Macarol picture - and look at it again - and sometimes again - is that it is saying a lot of different things at once. It says one thing, and then another, and then, perhaps, a third - but the key thing is that, ultimately, it says them simultaneously. Macarol's great talent is in being able to present all of this juxtaposition unresolved, like a chemical solution in which the original ingredients are so thoroughly mixed they cannot separate out; they are not even readily discernible. Macarol's work helps us to see that photography is not primarily about depicting life as it is but as it might be, that, like painting, what photography is ultimately about is itself. In the present ferment Macarol's work is particularly instructive. The people in his photographs are the most ordinary one might find anywhere, but he invests them with extraordinary possibilities. Macarol is like a painter who consciously limits his palette so that the contrast between what is there to the undiscerning eye and what Macarol reveals to us is all the greater. Thus his predilection for finding the little nooks and crannies of life where, in one human gesture, or in one minor architectural feature, a whole story or novel is communicated. It is always the aesthetic and universal qualities of his pictures that remain with one. Time and place stop and are replaced by abstract forms. It is Macarol's ability to give us both - the particular and the universal - which is the hallmark of his art."
Dr. Michael A. Rockland * From the Preface: "An Exercise in Aesthetics" in the Exhibition Brochure accompanying Victor Macarol's one-man exhibition featured as part of the New Jersey Artist Series at The New Jersey State Museum in Trenton ___________________________________________________________________________ "...Victor Macarol is unquestionably one-of-a-kind. The artist mixes ingredients in his photographic studies the way a chemist mixes elements, taking them to the stage where they cannot be separated out. Remarkably, the viewers are left to draw their own conclusions about what the artist has captured for them. Essentially, the message has been the same: This is our world. I give it to you unadorned. The photo "Dog and Cat," one from the collection on display at The New Jersey State Museum, trumpets that message as eloquently as any. A pugnacious - or is it tender - boxer is guarding - or is it bullying - a kitten. They are part of a city landscape - or are they alienated from it? The questions are at least as interesting, one suspects, as the answers!"
Sally Friedman * From a review of the one-man exhibition at The New Jersey State Museum in Trenton ___________________________________________________________________________ "...Victor Macarol is a skilled and witty photographer with a talent for observing life's little ironies, and some big ones as well...His images are timeless and immensely enjoyable. They succeed on both, the obvious and subliminal levels, and will appeal to you whether you chose to look at them for five minutes or five hours,"
Mitchell Seidel * From a review of the one-man exhibition at The New Jersey State Musum in Trenton ___________________________________________________________________________ "...Macarol looks at a scene and sees possibilities. In fact, he sees the picture before it happens. He is like a running back who knows where the ball will be thrown and has the reflexes to make the great catch. Macarol can make you laugh, but there is a deeper resonance in his work. Thus the combination of humanity and geometry creates an opus which has an enduring strength and compassion."
Louis Cooke * From a review of the one-man exhibition at The New Jersey State Musum in Trenton ___________________________________________________________________________ "...Macarol's photographs are at once lonely and lighthearted. For example, three men, each sitting on his own park bench, seem isolated from each other, though their benches are right next to each other. Yet, it's really quite amusing to see these three old men trying to pretend the others aren't there as they stare off into the distance."
Susan Doan-Johnson * From a review of the one-man exhibition at The New Jersey State Musum in Trenton ___________________________________________________________________________ "...Victor Macarol received the largest state Fellowship Award for photography since the program was begun. He has been recognized by The New Jersey State Council on the Arts as Distinguished Artist, the first time that designation has been made."
Patricia Malarcher ___________________________________________________________________________
"...Mr. Macarol's work has appeared in numerous shows in the U.S. and in Europe. He received the first Distinguished Artist Award from the New Jersey Council of the Arts, which led to a
Daniel Shearer ___________________________________________________________________________ "...The urban landscapes reflect Victor Macarol's enigmatic views of fragments of architecture, signs, parks and people in New Jersey, New York and metropolitan areas on the continent. Macarol exhibits frequently and internationally. He is a winner of the New Jersey State Council on the Arts Distinguished Artist grant."
Peggy Lewis ___________________________________________________________________________ "...Viewers can get a look at the black and white photography that has given Victor Macarol - recipient of the Distinguished Artist Award from the New Jersey State Council on the Arts - worldwide recognition. Today Macarol's work is seen by more people than ever. His lithographs are published and distributed worldwide by a publishing company in Switzerland and the Musée de l'Elysée in Lausanne, Switzerland."
Nicholas Toma ___________________________________________________________________________ "...Victor Macarol, who is a recipient of the Distinguished Artist Award from the New Jersey State Council on the Arts, likes to poke fun at life. He has a talent for creating illusions and for capturing human moments which often go unnoticed."
Lorie Russo ___________________________________________________________________________ "...The pièce de résistance is Victor Macarol's series of six New York street scenes. Macarol, named a Distinguished Artist of the Year by the New Jersey State Council on the Arts, shows us why in this compelling series."
Bernice Paglia ___________________________________________________________________________ "...Victor Macarol depicts scenes from everyday life, infusing them with wry humor or employing incongruous juxtaposition to make a statement. His solo and group exhibits throughout New Jersey have generated invitations to show his work in France, Slovenia, Switzerland, and the Czech Republic. His representation in prestigious collections has a similar geographic distribution. The New Jersey State Council on the Arts honored him with Distinguished Artist Award 'In recognition of his exceptional artistic merit.'"
M. Bruce Gast ___________________________________________________________________________ "...Macarol, who is a prominent New Jersey artist, received the Distinguished Artist Award from the New Jersey Council on the Arts. His works have been displayed in numerous international exhibits, including one-person exhibits at the New Jersey Stat Museum in Trenton, Galerie Zur Stockeregg in Zurich, and Galerie H. Fink in Paris. His work is also featured in several public and private collections.
Jessica Hausmann '95, News Editor ___________________________________________________________________________ "...This well-known New Jersey photographer [Victor Macarol] is at his best with "found" humans and animals. And there is no lack of memorable images here. One is that of a disembodied hand on a desk, the only sign of life in an office...No mean landscapist either, Mr. Macarol can invest with Ansel Adams-like grandeur a pile of pumpkins in a harrowed field under a stormy sky. The best of his romantic shots is of mountain peaks glistening like marble under another stormy sky."
Vivien Raynor ___________________________________________________________________________ "...Inside [the Museum] is an exhibition of photographs. Some of the work it includes is quite wonderful...Victor Macarol's "Young Man With Rat" is just that, a young black man with a two-toned rat around his neck. The seriousness of his gaze makes it clear that this is no joke, but one does wonder why he would keep such an odd pet, and again we are left surprised, even puzzled."
John Caldwell ___________________________________________________________________________ "...Photographs of landscapes and buildings have their own beauties, but they rarely have the compassionate warmth that photographs of people have. It is sometimes more gratifying, and certainly easier, for an observer, to respond to the conditions of other human beings, no matter how different or similar, than to the physical configurations of a tree or a wall...People play an important role in the photography of Victor Macarol. In fact, it's the people who endow these photographs not only with warmth, but also with a pressing vitality that is transferred to their surroundings, thus making the inanimate seem all the more animate and lively."
David L. Shirey ___________________________________________________________________________ "...Victor Macarol has typical people as his subjects, not the tramps or others used for a social message. His subject is in the mainstream of life of a pulsating metropolis, as seen through a lens possessed often of a malevolent humor, carrying forward his message of a zest for life. Some photos are phenomenal, as the elongated broken mirror effect of a curbside puddle of water in "Jump," or "Pumpkins," where the vegetables have a visual impact by their placement in the foreground. Juxtaposition of images creates the humor of a black man preaching before a huge brick wall mural of Christ, a bulldog standing at attention in a dilapidated alleyway, or the backside of a woman wearing a suit, bending over next to a mannikin in a black dress and necklace."
Will Grant * A Twice a Month Gallery Review, Bruno Palmer-Poroner, Editor ___________________________________________________________________________ "...Instead of thinking about stretching feelings to extremes, [Victor Macarol] thinks about resolving opposites. He understands the links and the balance between things. Thus he pays more attention to echoes, overtones, gradations, reverberations and glimmers than he does to objects themselves. His pictures are a balancing act, with Macarol liking to give contradictions in daily life a chance to develop. The result is often a contrast between two moments in time, which can be nostalgic, even poignant."
Victoria Donohoe ___________________________________________________________________________
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