June 19, 2008
St. John’s University will host an exhibition by sophomore
Michael Alongi titled
“A Gathering of Witnessed Events” beginning June 19 and running
through July 19 at the University’s Manhattan
campus. The exhibit is free and open to the public Monday
through Friday, 8 a.m. - 8 p.m.
The show consists of 20 mounted digital photographs measuring 17
by 22 inches shot by Alongi exclusively during his spring 2008
semester at St. John’s. The work will be exhibited without any
glass or framing separating the piece from the viewer in order to
emphasize a sense of intimacy in his work. The artist regards his
work as “part of a larger creative process in which the final print
is not the final product, but part of a larger investigation of
living one’s life as a piece of art.”
A third year sophomore at St. John’s University, Alongi
originally came to the University as an undecided major before
taking his first photography class in fall of 2006 with Professor
Alex Morel.
“Mike stumbled into photography almost by happenstance, and
before he realized it, photography had become the ideal medium for
the complexity of his thoughts,” Professor Morel said.
Inspired by the photographers exposed to him in a photography
history class, Alongi cites Ken Schles, Gregory Crewdson and Philip
Lorca DiCorcia as influences. Equally as important he says,
have been the writings of the Situationist International and the
Splasher Manifesto.
Gallery Director Parvez Mohsin commented, “Michael has only been
seriously taking pictures for one year - a testament to both the
talent of the artist, and as well to the capacity for the Fine Arts
faculty to discover and nurture young talent. It is amazing to me
that he has taken more than 10,000 images during a short period of
three months.”
For media inquiries, please contact Elizabeth Reilly, Assistant
Director of Media Relations at St. John’s University, by calling
(718) 990-5789 or by e-mail to reillye@stjohns.edu.