Look closer.
All around you, in the thick of the city and the wide-open expanse of the county, you’re missing something wonderful. It’s right in front of your eyes. You just have to stop and see, really see, what you can find.
That’s the idea behind “You Are Where?” Sure, it’s a popular visual trivia contest that’s been running in C-VILLE every week for the past 16 months. (This week’s cover, for those of you playing at home, depicts the humongous chicken outside Lumpkin’s Restaurant in Scottsville.) But “You Are Where?” also reminds us that perspective is everything; there’s beauty or strangeness or sharp architectural details all around, if you just know how to look for them.
Our go-to guy for “You Are Where?” is Andrew Hersey. His eye for finding the extraordinary in the ordinary is showcased in the 13 samples on these pages, some of our recent favorites. And while we’re on the subject of fine-tuning our view, we want you to get to know Hersey’s work a bit better. His current exhibit, up through September 30 in the Fifth Floor Gallery at Keller Williams, is more delicate and moody than his “You Are Where? work (see sidebar, page 22). Turning to empty spaces, he manages to uncover the tone and energy that fills them—qualities that become apparent only when you look closer.—The Editors
1. Where there’s smoke…
This sculpture (built in honor of a very independent local bigwig) sits atop a structure that hasn’t seen much use in the past decade.
2. Trunk show
Was that really a par two? Don’t cheat on your scorecard or this tusk customer will get you…
3. Bell of the ball
Nope, you’re not in Philly. Local ladders and hoses give this replica a ringing endorsement.
4. Memorial service
The road to this memorial was paved with donations exceeding $168,000. Don’t speed past its construction zone at the base of a mount.
5. American graffiti
Find this face at a small-town park named after an industrious mountain-digging engineer from the 19th century.
6. Not-ready-for-primetime place
Until recently, cameras and surveillance equipment kept watch on this building, but now it’s home to financial experts.
7. Stranger in the knight
Long ago the Black Knight lived down the “Lane,” but found this new home in the 1970s.
8. Filing a suit
You might be “suited” to know the “place” to find this piece of art.
9. Horsin’ around
Students of Virginia history know that this “Traveler” and his rider are both buried at a Lexington school that bears one of their names.
10. Light up your life
This bright idea first graced a 1931 city landmark in 1983 and was updated in 1999. Each of the four beacons includes 96 points of light to illuminate a field of dreams.
11. On guard
This vehicle won’t be firing on anyone anymore, but the occupants of the building behind it are always on guard.
12. Choose your path
Take a leisurely stroll up a “little mountain” by following this pathway.
13. Come sail away
This venture started by a local celebrity millionaire will get you going with food and gas.
Behind the lens
How photographer Andrew Hersey develops
With his black-rimmed Jean-Paul Sartre glasses and an intensely angular face, you need only one look at Andrew Hersey to know that he is an artist.
Most C-VILLE readers know Hersey’s work from the popular “You Are Where?” contest. However, Hersey’s current show, now exhibited at Keller Williams law firm, hearkens to his artistic roots. It features images of decaying interiors and solitary, alienated waif figures. The untitled show, which runs through September 30, is thematically concerned with the individual’s need for solitude and separation.
Born in Waynesboro, Hersey has split his adult life between Charlottesville and the Shenandoah Valley. Completely self-taught, he considers himself primarily a painter, but like most artists, over his 23-year career he has migrated to other mediums.
In the 1990s Hersey moved to Charlottesville from Staunton. As an artist in residence at the McGuffey Art Center, he began to feel listless as a painter. His work at the time started to feel less like art and more like a job, he says now. So he tried photography to ward off the artistic doldrums. Shortly after picking up his camera, he unveiled a show at McGuffey titled “Abandoned and Darkened,” which featured images of quiet, discarded interiors. Hersey cites his move to photography as a natural progression of his artistic temperament; the new medium, he says, “felt totally invigorating.”
Instinctual and spontaneous, Hersey’s playful approach to photography shines through in his “You Are Where?” photos, as well as in his private work. His images affect the viewer with a riddle-like disorientation of space that is normally familiar, even banal. Of his “You Are Where?” photographs, Hersey mentions that he rarely develops an idea of a specific angle ahead of time, but prefers that the shot be driven by the shifting mood, light and lines of the location.
Hersey considers his lack of technical knowledge as advantageous to his work. Art being like life, he says, “I enjoy not knowing what I am doing sometimes.”—Anne Metz
ANSWERS
1. The statue on top of the coal tower
2. The elephant sculpture at the
Rio Road Putt-Putt
3. The Liberty Bell replica at the
Ridge Street fire station
4. The VDOT memorial at the base
of Afton Mountain
5. Claudius Crozet Park
6. The SNL Building, formerly the
National Ground Intelligence Center
7. The Black Knight logo at
Charlottesville High School
8. The “Business as Usual” Art In Place
statue on Emmet Street
9. The statue at Lee Park
10. The lights at Scott Stadium
11. The tank outside the National
Guard Armory on Avon Street
12. The boardwalk footbridge
on the Saunders-Monticello Trail
13. The awning at Fuel on Market Street