October 28, 2005 - November 27, 2005

Gallery 339 is pleased to present Children of Adam, an exhibition by Paul Cava spanning twenty-five years of photo- based work.  The exhibition accompanies the release of Children of Adam, a volume of poems by Walt Whitman and photoworks by Paul Cava.

Bringing together Paul Cava’s images with the work of Walt Whitman is a natural pairing; there is palpable sensual beauty in the work of both artists.  Yet the association exceeds being merely compatible.  The images and poems are complementary in the manner of things that share essential truths and cause those truths to burn more brightly in each other.  It seems remarkable that separated by 150 years, the work of two artists could engage in such a vigorous and sympathetic dialogue, but Cava and Whitman are both exploring and joining themes of the physical and the spiritual in an honest and exuberant way.  They speak of and celebrate elemental things, and their conversation stands outside of time.

With the work in both the exhibition and book, Cava continues to pursue his long-held interest in the merging of photography with non-photographic media, such as painting, drawing and various forms of printmaking.  Cava’s recent pieces demonstrate the possibilities that new technology offer to this blending of media.  Using his own work as well as found anonymous photographs, Cava combines images both manually and digitally with paper and collage elements, painting, and drawing.  Working with the materials in this manner, he achieves a fusing and seamlessness that renders the work as whole. 

Children of Adam is being released by German fine art publisher Edition Galerie Vevais.  The 176-page publication includes essays by poet and photography critic John Wood and writer Arden Kass.  This limited-edition volume will be made available in three versions:  700 copies in soft cover, 300 signed copies in hardcover, and 30 hardcover signed copies with a signed and numbered print by Paul Cava. 

Paul Cava has exhibited paintings, drawings and photo-based works from 1976 to the present in galleries and museums in the United States and Europe, and his work is included in a broad range of private and public collections, including the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, The Princeton University Museum of Art, and The Bibliotheque Nationale, Paris.