The Bas Fisher Invitational, Miami, FL

Opening Reception: March 8th 2008 7-10PM

“The sun is not fiery after all, but a dead planet. We on earth give it its light.”

—Minor White

My photography certainly began in a formalistic project based practice but this particular project is very much a departure for me because I am experimenting in photographic abstraction. Not long after photography’s invention, many photographers experimented with abstraction of photographic space. Even the early contact prints of plants produced by the inventor of the Calotype, Henry Fox Talbot, are in essence an exploration in photographic abstraction. I am particularly interested in the later abstraction from the 1930’s of Man Ray and his then assistant Lee Miller and their rediscovery of Solarizations or the Sabattier Effect. Particularly interesting are the more direct echos of my project in the singular images from Ansel Adams and Minor White. Their Black Sun images, through overexposure solarization, are the analogue version of my images. Therefore, in a similar way, they explored abstraction in relation to the contemporary photographic technology of their times; this exploration, titled Black Sun Project, explores photography through a significant contemporary technology, the mobile phone.

Contemporary practice has very much brought a particular kind formalism into vogue but with new sets of guidelines. I am certainly guilty of applying many of these parameters within my own work but in moving away from my previous methods of working, I have found some clarity in my previous explorations as well as a new avenue to explore. I will continue to work the way I used to but every so often, it is beneficial to perform radical change and see where it leads. Taryn Simon’s photograph of the albino tiger is good example of a photographer who is photographing an evolutionary glitch/mistake. Nature normally weeds out albino tigers born in the wild since they are not well suited to their surroundings and have a very tough time surviving–they tend to get horribly sunburn and stick out in its surroundings. By the same logic, technology companies normally weed out glitches from their products (we hope they do anyway) to improve their products. The manufacturer of this cellular phone eventually weeded out the black sun solarization effect so this artwork is self–reflexively about that mistake or glitch in the technological evolution of mobile photography and photography in general.

The Bas Fisher Invitational is a artist run alternative art space, located in the Buena Vista Building in Miami’s Design District. It was founded in July 2004 by artists Hernan Bas and Naomi Fisher in the wake of losing their favorite alternative art space “the House” to Miami’s rapid gentrification. Their premise is to simply invite artists who they are inspired by to publicly showcase their work, exposing additional exciting voices to Miami’s growing art scene.

As a child I loved guns. I invented storylines and recited narratives from TV and films. I constructed detailed wars with imaginary foes lurking around the corners. The world was a playground for warfare. Weapons could always be found with any available object or body part. Fantastical characters could be fought through a narrative borne of the imagination. These narratives were remixes of the mood and culture surrounding me.

In Imaginary Wars, the images are constructed stories that work to blend a documentary Neorealist quality with the scripted actions of the cinematographic. This blending creates a photographic truth that is both a memory and a performance for the camera. The actors and the landscapes share a resemblance to the characters and landscapes of my early childhood in New York City. In these images, my memories are ensconced into an apocalyptic world where trash infests the streets, weeds choke vacant lots, and resources are scarce. The future is unknown.

The settings include wide landscapes that dwarf the child actors within each image. Children appear small in this big world, swallowed by the larger landscape of adults. They play games in which they imagine themselves in adult roles that they may not fully grasp. Their smallness contrasts with the expanse of the landscape.

The contemporary narrative revolves around a common experience. My childhood memories are not unique, but when elaborated, this personal viewpoint becomes visually charged through the process of staging and dramatization. Especially given the recent events in Ferguson, Cleveland and New York, we as a culture need to open up a wider dialogue on our relationship to guns and violence.