Street Scenes: Two Perspectives Photography by Richard Hassett and Doremus Scudder

January 6th through March 31st, 2026

Reception: Friday, February 6th, 5:30-8:30 pm
During the Eugene First Friday Artwalk

Midtown Arts Center Gallery
175 E. 16th Ave
Eugene, OR 97401
Monday – Friday 8:30 am – 5:30 pm
https://www.midtownartscenter.org/
Free

STREET SCENES: TWO PERSPECTIVES Photographs from Eugene, Oregon and Vienna, Austria By Richard Hassett and Doremus Scudder

Eugene photographers Richard Hassett and Doremus Scudder join forces to present distinctly different views of the urban environment. Color vs. black-and-white; digital capture vs film; Europe vs the United States, with and without people; approaches that seem to be polar opposites, yet are somehow complementary through the harmony of subject matter and the well-ordered, geometrical compositions. Two photographers present their visual insights into the often-overlooked aspects of two cities they are intimately familiar with.

In their own words:

Richard Hassett

I am a Eugene-based photographer, more accustomed to photographing nature and landscapes far removed from any city. For this project, however, I decided to focus my camera only within the confines of Eugene. Inspired by the work of photographer Fan Ho, and the paintings of Edward Hopper, I chose to seek out quiet, sometimes mundane, scenes of everyday urban life. Strong early morning light was my preference, but fog or rain often set the scenes. For some reason, I can’t explain why, I am drawn to these quiet scenes that usually go unseen in a busy urban environment. They leave questions unanswered. I like the feel of it. While working on this project, I have had no esoteric plan in mind. My desire is simply to create compelling images from the scenes I find. The photos are open to individual interpretation. If an image causes the viewer to stop and think about what is happening, or even why it was taken, then I have succeeded. All photographs were made in color using a digital camera. The prints are archival pigment prints.

Doremus Scudder

Before I moved to Vienna in the 1980s, I had concentrated mainly on landscapes and natural forms in my photography. But after arriving there, I was confronted, and fascinated, by the geometric forms; the right angles, parallel lines, the arbitrarily contrasting textures and tones, and the juxtaposition of old and new that make up human constructs. Above all, I was drawn to the narrative component that makes up the background of these scenes. Although people are absent, they are central to these images; their strivings and successes; their struggles and failures and how time has dealt with them. These are not “pretty, postcard pictures,” but rather, I hope, images that work on multiple levels, being able to stand on their own as abstract geometrical compositions (I spent time absorbing the work of Piet Mondrian), but also full of the human story, sometimes whimsical, sometimes tragic, that comprise the subtext behind the façades.
Over the 30 years I lived in Vienna, I spent countless hours carrying my 4×5 camera and tripod around the city, usually on my bicycle, looking for scenes that were visually interesting, but full of though-provoking content. I prefer temporally ambiguous scenes, which I feel lends a feeling of universality and timelessness to the images. I find that the gradual metamorphosis of human artifacts over time – the old being overlaid with the newer or gradually sculpted by time – creates a temporal patina that is rich with narrative. I leave it to the imagination of the viewer to populate and enliven these scripts. All photographs were made on 4×5 film and printed on silver-gelatin paper in the darkroom.

www.doremusscudder.com
www.photozonegallery.com/richard-hassett