My Days at Ray's marks a pivotal moment in Elger Esser's practice, debuting a new technique of painted photographs on silver-plated copper—dry ink worked by hand with oil paint, shellac, and varnish—alongside his ongoing silvered copper series. Each work exists as a singular, luminous object: part memory, part painting, part alchemy. The exhibition includes photographs of the mid-century modern pool house belonging to legendary songwriter Ray Evans, where Esser stayed during a 2008 residency photographing the American West. Pushing the boundaries of photography as a medium, Esser continues to explore the relationship between nature, landscape, and the spaces we create within it.
