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They like their gold... by Richard Whitcombe

cttp_20120002 by surface dvd

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New Hyde Park

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I am in an exhibition at Cal Poly’s University Art Gallery "Beyond the Surface: The Photograph as Object", an exhibition curated by Aline Smithson from January 9 - January 31, 2020.

artgallery.calpoly.edu/2020/beyond-the-surface

As the practice of photography moves farther away from the tactile process of winding film through a camera and long meditative hours spent in the wet darkroom, the contemporary digital photographer is now experiencing an entirely different relationship to the image. With the proliferation of digital capture, with Photoshop replacing the darkroom, and instantaneous digital printing at the push of a button, photographs are now equally a product of the mind and technology, with the ability for limitless reproduction.

In response to this loss of the evidence of the artist’s hand, a number of artists are reconsidering the potential of an image with a move towards making rather than taking photographs. By using vintage and contemporary photographs as a starting point, artists are creating physically layered works of art that result in a handmade one-of-a-kind object, expanding the notion of what we consider photographic art. The exhibition Beyond the Surface features a variety of interventions and investigations that include collage, sewing, cutting, weaving and embroidery, all interrogating the material qualities of the physical photograph as an attempt to recover the magic of the photograph-as-object. As artist Maria Font describes, “My hands intervene with each work manually, and through this intimate, performatic ritual, the embodiment of the photograph becomes the common ground where the familiar and the foreign meet, as an individual attempt to blur the lines between the internal and external spaces of the body. The construction of these mental maps evokes diverse psychological states and emotions with meanings that are in constant flux, never fixed, just like our identities.”

Artists in the exhibition work in two ways, using imagery that they have created in camera or by using found or familial vernacular photos. The image is then punctured, deconstructed, or cut apart and reborn as a work of art, separate from the original image. Many of the artists explore themes of growing up, family, and memory; others use contemporary imagery to consider self or culture. Artist Liz Steketee states, “I use my life and family as material for my work. By doing this, I am able to explore the complexity that exists in the everyday and the richness found in the mundane. Through the use of montage, collage, and purposeful juxtaposition of photographs, it is my intention to examine the “truth” in life.” Artist Joe Rudko cuts and reorganizes found photographs to “break the illusion of the pristine image and suggest a variety of interpretations it can have. Working with analog methods in a digital era places these snapshots in dialogue with the present moment.”

Revisiting photographs with an Exacto knife or sewing needle provides a new way of examining, organizing, and interacting with more than just the image on the page. This reconsideration opens the door to limitless possibilities of creation, inspiring us to look more deeply at the potential of photographic imagination.

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