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James Chressanthis, ASC to Exhibit Fine Art
At Howell Green Gallery

The Howell Green Fine Art Gallery in Topanga, California, announces the mounting of Road Trips and Other Journeys, a new show featuring a series of large-scale photographic prints and mixed media works by renowned cinematographer James Chressanthis, ASC. The show will open Dec. 3, 2003, and run through Jan. 6, 2004. An artist reception and special showing is scheduled for Saturday, Dec. 6, from 3-7 p.m.

In 2001, Daily Variety named Chressanthis as one of twenty rising stars to watch in the film industry. He was the only cinematographer on the list. In addition to shooting projects in all phases of the movie industry, he has been documenting the world around him for over 30 years.

“The images are an eclectic mix of my own photographs, found images, objects and fragments of family album negatives retrieved from a shoe box or torn clippings from a castoff book or magazine,” he explains. “They are what I have seen, lived and felt. Sometimes they tell about a trip across vast empty stretches of the American West. Other times they are scavenged elements from the ruins of an ancient civilization on a barren Aegean island. I’ve found icons in a grandmother’s bedroom and fragments of archeological discourse on a forgotten brochure, and much, much more. These images incorporate traditional drawing, painting and the photographic process as well as collage and Xerox transfers and more recently digital scanning and Photoshop manipulation of how I see the world around me as I travel through this life.”

Chressanthis is a native of Philadelphia. He began his journey studying engineering and trained as a sculptor and photographer. He started shooting films in college and, after earning a master’s in Fine Arts at Southern Illinois University, he became a professor of art, teaching in Illinois, Michigan, England and France. After directing a film about his family’s native village in Greece that aired on PBS, Chressanthis enrolled in the cinematography program at AFI. He began his new career with breakthrough music video clips for close to 100 artists ranging from Bobby McFerrin to Dr. Drey. His Weird Al Yankovic video garnered him a Grammy nomination.

Chressanthis received an Emmy® nomination for his work on Life With Judy Garland: Me and My Shadows. He recently shot the controversial mini-series The Reagans for CBS, which will premiere on Showtime in 2004. He has also shot many television movies such as Brian’s Song and The Music Man; features such as Judas Kiss and Urban Legend; and television series such as Martial Law, The Cape and the anti-authoritarian cult favorite Nowhere Man. He also did additional photography on the Oscar®-winning feature Chicago.

Road Trips and Other Journeys at the Howell Green Fine Art Gallery is his most recent showing of creative work – outside the field of film and television.

For more information, contact the Howell Green Fine Art Gallery at (310) 455-3991. They are located at 120 N. Topanga Canyon Blvd. #107, Topanga, California, 90290, or visit www.howellgreen.com or www.chressanthis.com.


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