Explication, at first glance, appears to be photographic portraits of everyday streetscape objects. Upon further observation and a full realization of the explication of process, the motive of the work shifts to a self-reflexive investigation into photography as a medium. It encapsulates elements that have been of interest to me for the majority of my art making practice: a focus on urban elements of the public space, reflections on perception in relation to optics and illusion, the photographic image as archive, and the visual translation of the photographic image into different forms. Presented through an ironically complex explication of process, the photographic veneers simultaneously conceal and speak to the medium of photography.

Within this body of work, the chosen streetscape objects are directed through a series of forward moving embodiments, away from the actual source object. The work moves through visual translations, manipulations and reconstitutions, and is obsessively redirected until it finally resides as a large-scale photograph. Severed from its source, it is a hollow representation of the perceived object, an example of an object stripped of function and reassigned to the task of opening a dialogue about the mediation of the photographic image.

Using his previous work as a departure point, "Explication" documents objects commonly found in the streetscape to examine the ways in which photography can be used to alter how we view and understand these objects. Koutras' subjects include gas pumps, pylons, cardboard boxes, mailboxes, garbage cans, and phone booths. Each of these objects was originally manufactured for a specific purpose; however, over time each object has taken on an additional role and begins to hold their own unique individual character traits as they are affected by vandalism, weather, and damage from the public environment.

At first glance, Koutras' photographs seem to depict nothing more than the object suspended in black space. However, after a closer examination, rudimentary sculpture is revealed through its imperfections. Koutras draws attention to the ways in which an explication of photographic processes disconnects and distances the object from its original meaning and illustrates the tension between reality and photography.