About the work

It isn't enough to say Howard Schatz admires dancers. He adores them. He does not try to capture the essence of dance itself, he creates moments that, like dancers, are made to be photographed. Schatzs pictures are not about dance; they are photographs of dancers as phenomenal objects: graceful and powerfut; explosive or ecstatic in motion, elegant and elemental while at rest. The body is a dancer's instrument, the finely tuned means to the end of artistic expression. There is more to dance than bodies, but without bodies there is no dance. And however much natural beauty a dancer may have, years of training and a daily regimen that might break an Olympic rower, produce human forms that are nothing less than masterpieces of kinetic sculpture. In PASSION & LINE (exhibition at "Soho Triad Fine Arts, New York, NY), Schatz interpets these hard-won creations through his art, combining exploration and adoration in equal measure. This is a mutual exaltation in which photographer, dancer, and observer collaborate.
Text by Owen Edwards

This unique collection of images of movement and passionate intensity was made with the collaboration of the greatest dancers of numerous leading dance companies, including Alvin Ailey American Darice Theater, American Ballet Company, Bill T. Jones, Martha Graham, Merce Curiningham, Paul Taylor Dance Company, New York City Ballet, Pilobolus, and San Francisco Ballet.

Howard Schatz is an award-winning photographer, recently relocated to New York City from San Francisco. Concurrent with the exhibition, a book of the same title, is being published by Graphis. The book will be the seventh of Howard Schatzs photographic collections; other books include Waterdance, Gifted Women, Newborn, Seeing Red: Rapture of Redheads, and Homeless: Portraits of Amedcans in Hard Times.

Schatz has exhibited extensively around the world, and his photographs are included in the permanent collections of numerous museums, including International Center of Photography, New York; Oakland Museum, Oakland; University Art Museum, California State University, Long Beach; and Musée de L'Elysee, Lausanne, Switzerland. Additionally, Schatz's work is included in private collections internationally.

Text by: Soho Triad Fine Arts, New York, NY