Sean Donnola: Don't Ever Leave

Charles Moffett is pleased to present Don't Ever Leave, featuring the work of Sean Donnola. This is the artist's inaugural solo exhibition in New York.

Donnola's work finds evocative moments and spaces. A dream-like air of serenity reverberates throughout this exhibition. The show consists of seven color photographs along with an 8 minute and 38 second film with sound design by the artist and an original score by Drew Brown that flawlessly complements Donnola's meditative journey to his family's isolated mountain retreat. 

Through his carefully calculated compositions, Donnola beckons us to slow down. He views his choice of 35mm film as his preferred medium the same way a painter chooses oil instead of acrylic, its texture and palette being the most useful in transmitting what he sees and feels into fixed form. It is perhaps a subtle choice, but it is a deliberate one. Growing up around a father who both made and programmed films, Donnola describes his formative years as anchored by an education in the history of cinema. This laid an artistic foundation for him as he began making images of his own.

Donnola eschews the construct of time. Don't Ever Leave is comprised of works that span from 2007 (Untitled (2007), 2019) to 2018 (The Cabin, 2018). For him the work does not stop when the shutter is activated. The editing process is paramount and what makes each of the photographs in this exhibition complete. He reconnects with each shot as the images are scrupulously selected, printed, mounted and ultimately framed. Like any good relationship, Donnola's photographs, along with his film, do not depend on each other to be whole, but they grow stronger together. In Don't Ever Leave, he has chosen a group of works that tell a timeless and cohesive story, spliced together in the context of an exhibition to present the most personal iteration of his work.

Sean Donnola was born in 1983 in upstate New York and grew up in the town of Shelburne, Vermont.  He graduated from NYU's Tisch School of The Arts where he studied Photography, Film and Video Art.  He is based in New York City.