Dark, Dangerous Alleys are Photographer Xavier Nuez's Inspiration

They are dark, dangerous places where you are warned not to go. But for photographer Xavier Nuez, bleak urban settings are his inspiration and second home. For many years, late at night he has ventured into some of the country's most threatening corners, frequently leading to trouble. Whether it is an eerie alley in Compton, California, an inner-city ruin in Detroit, or a dead-end back-lot in Brooklyn, his pilgrimage has a purpose.

A selection of Nuez's photographs will be featured in an exhibition at the Marin Museum of Contemporary Art in Novato, California, that runs from January 31, 2009 to March 1.

"I've been chased by violent street gangs, accosted by crazed addicts and drug dealers, and have been held at gun point. If the police see me lurking in a dark alley, often I am questioned and searched. And yet under these trying conditions, and within the filth and stench of the city's gutters, I find inspiration. With a family history of homelessness and with a belief that I was next, I found the need to create monuments out of these irrelevant places."

Nuez uses three Hasselblad film cameras, two of which are more than 50-years old.

To capture vivid colors at night in his images, he brings lights and colored gels that are combined with long exposures, sometimes more than one-hour.

Xavier Nuez's photographs have been featured in solo and group exhibitions in museums and galleries throughout the United States and in Canada, including the Farmington Museum in Farmington, New Mexico; the Virginia Museum of Transportation in Roanoke; the Schneider Gallery in Chicago; and the Peak Gallery in Toronto. His work is in numerous public, corporate and private collections, including those of the Norfolk Southern Collection, the City of East Lansing, Michigan; the Arts Commission of Greater Toledo, Ohio; the University of Richmond Museum in Virginia; and the Vicente Fox Center of Studies, Library and Museum in Guanajuato, Mexico.

The museum is located at 500 Palm Drive in Novato, California. Museum hours are Tuesday through Sunday, 11am to 4pm.

Nuez's urban images are on his web site: http://www.nuez.com/