NEW ORLEANS, LA.- Martine Chaisson Gallery presents photographer Herman Mhire’s first exhibition at the gallery. Titled Altered States, the Lafayette-based photographer presents an extraordinary series of surreal, large-scale portraits of Louisiana artists that explore ideas of portraiture, the photographic medium, and psychology. The exhibition runs through April 23rd, 2011.

With each portrait, Mhire concocts a world rich with references of his art historical predecessors, yet a vision uniquely his own.

“My passion lies in creating images I’ve never seen before,” says Mhire. “I transform photographic portraits into provocative and often disturbing hyperfaces that invite the viewer to search for clues about the altered states of my fictional characters.”

The series Altered States was born out of a trip to Paris in 2007 when Mhire prolifically photographed sculptures of the human figure from cultures and time periods as varied as ancient Greece and Southeast Asia to 19th-Century France. With a renewed interest in portraiture, Mhire returned to his Lafayette, Louisiana studio and embarked on the series of portraits that comprise Altered States.

Viewers are asked to examine the intricate signals and details of the subjects’ faces and what it tells them about the subject and their own perceptions. Manipulation of each image, heightens this awareness and brings us into a psychologically arresting space to imagine and explore alternate realities.

Mhire’s recent solo exhibitions include the Acadiana Center for the Arts and Galerie Eclaireuse in Lafayette, LA. A selection from Altered States was included in the group show Interplay curated by Dan Cameron at the CAC, New Orleans.

Mhire served as the Distinguished Professor of Visual Arts in the College of the Arts and Director/Chief Curator of the Paul and Lulu Hilliard University Art Museum at the University of Louisiana, Lafayette and as the Executive Director of the Louisiana Association of Museums for several years. "Mhire retired in 2005 as a Distinguished Professor of Visual Arts in the College of the Arts and Director/Chief Curator of the Paul and Lulu Hilliard University Art Museum at the University of Louisiana at Lafayette. He organized more than 200 exhibitions for the art museum including traveling exhibitions that were presented in the U. S., Canada, and Europe. Mhire received awards from the American Association of Museums, Southeastern Museums Conference, Art Directors Club of New York, and the Art Directors & Designers Association of New Orleans." In 2004, the Minister of Culture of France named Herman Mhire a Chevalier of the Order of Arts and Letters.