Cameraless Gestures

Artists FRANK LOPEZ and R. J. KERN will present Cameraless Gestures, a one-night exhibition exploring the expressive possibilities of photography without a camera. Opening Thursday, July 23, 2026 from 4-7 PM, at Veronique Wantz Gallery, the exhibition brings together two artists whose practices are united by process yet distinguished by their individual visual languages. 

Working with silver gelatin chemigrams and chromograms, Lopez and Kern create photographic objects through direct manipulation of light-sensitive paper using chemistry, gesture, and time rather than a camera or negative. Approximately a dozen unique works will be on view and available for purchase.

Although their imagery differs dramatically, the artists share a creative lineage. Lopez, an educator and longtime practitioner of alternative photographic processes, introduced Kern to the chemigram process several years ago. Their Minneapolis exhibition marks the first time the two artists have exhibited this body of work together.

Lopez will present selections from his ongoing series Emanations, created through spontaneous physical gestures that transform grief, memory, and lived experience into luminous abstract forms. Kern will debut selections from Magnetic: Fields, a recent body of work that employs magnets as photographic resists to explore attraction, repulsion, landscape, and human connection through abstraction.

Rather than emphasizing technical virtuosity alone, Cameraless Gestures asks viewers to reconsider photography as a physical, handcrafted medium. The works embrace unpredictability, allowing chemistry, chance, and material transformation to become active collaborators in the creative process.

The exhibition also reflects a growing interest in alternative models for exhibiting contemporary photography. Presented as a single-evening pop-up, Cameraless Gestures creates an intimate opportunity for artists and audiences to gather around work that rewards close looking and in-person experience.

In advance of the exhibition, Lopez and Kern recorded A Language of Gesture, an extended conversation reflecting on mentorship, experimentation, abstraction, and the evolving role of the photographic darkroom as a space for creative discovery and personal reflection.


Exhibition Information

CAMERALESS GESTURES
Reception: Thursday, July 23, 2026  |  4-7 PM  
Veronique Wantz Gallery
901 N. 5th Street  |  Minneapolis, MN  |  55401
Free and open to the public
 

About Frank Lopez

Frank Lopez is a photographer, educator, and artist whose work explores memory, identity, and social justice through alternative photographic processes. His recent cameraless works transform gesture and chemistry into expressive abstractions that expand the language of contemporary photography.
 

About R. J. Kern

R. J. Kern is a Minneapolis-based artist whose work investigates relationships between people, landscape, and material process. Best known for his photographic portraiture, his recent cameraless practice extends his longstanding interest in memory, experimentation, and the expressive possibilities of photographic materials.

About Veronique Wantz Gallery

Veronique Wantz Gallery is a contemporary art gallery in the North Loop of Minneapolis, offering works by local, national and international emerging and established artists. Media includes canvas, photography, paper, mixed media, ceramics, sculptures, wood, textile and glass. The gallery provides art consulting, collection development and curator services, as well as conservation quality custom framing and art installation for residential and corporate clients.