25 February 2014
From the moment of its birth, photography has never had a permanent and well-defined position in the field of the visual arts. Its nature has always vacillated between the documentation of reality and a rivalry with painting. An ambiguity that has deepened with the possibilities of digital alteration, further complicating the task of assigning a primary identity to the photographic image. The exhibition What Is a Photograph? grapples with the elusive nature of photography by presenting the works of twenty-one artists, from the sixties up to today, creating a virtual catalogue of the various ways in which the very meaning of the appearance of the photograph, its relationship with a referent in the real world, has been distorted. The progressive disappearance of a direct documentation, characteristic of many of the images on display, reminds us how the significance of any photograph, even the simplest, can change on the basis of how one looks at it, losing the illusion of immediacy that is often only in the eye of the observer.
What Is a Photograph?
International Center of Photography
Curated by Carol Squiers
New York
January 21 – May 4 2014
Kate Steciw, Armchair, Background, Basic, Beauty, Bed, Bedside, Bread, Breakfast, Bright, Cereal, Closeup, Cloth, Color, Contemporary, Couch, Crust, Day, Decor, Fox, Frame, Grain, Ingredient, Interior, Invitation, Irregular, Juice, Life, Living, Loaf, Luxury, Macro, Sofa, Speed, Style, Sweet, Texture. 2013. © Kate Steciw.
Artie Vierkant, Image Object Friday 7 June 2013 4:33PM, 2013. © Artie Vierkant. Courtesy: Higher Pictures, New York.
Matthew Brandt, Grays Lake, ID 7, 2013. © Matthew Brandt. Courtesy: Yossi Milo Gallery, New York.
Alison Rossiter, Kilborn Acme Kruxo, exact expiration date unknown, ca. 1940s, processed in 2013 (#1). © Alison Rossiter. Courtesy: Yossi Milo Gallery, New York.
Gerhard Richter, 18.2.08, 2008. © Gerhard Richter. Courtesy: Marian Goodman Gallery, New York.
Eileen Quinlan, The Drink, 2011. © Eileen Quinlan. Courtesy: Miguel Abreu Gallery, New York.
Sigmar Polke, Untitled (Mariette Althaus), Early 1970s. © 2013 Estate of Sigmar Polke/Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York/VG Bild-Kunst, Bonn; Digital Image. © The Museum of Modern Art/Licensed by SCALA/Art Resource, NY.
Adam Fuss, Untitled, 1988. © Adam Fuss. Courtesy: Cheim & Read, New York.
Lucas Samaras, Photo-Transformation, July 4, 1975. © Lucas Samaras. Courtesy: Pace Gallery. Photo: Kerry Ryan McFate.
Marco Breuer, Untitled (C-1189), 2012. © Marco Breuer. Courtesy: Yossi Milo Gallery, New York.
David Benjamin Sherry, Lower Yosemite Falls, Yosemite, California, 2013. © David Benjamin Sherry. Courtesy: David Benjamin Sherry e/and Salon 94, New York.
Christopher Williams, Supplement ‘13 (Mixed Typologies) #3 [dettaglio/detail]. 2013. © Christopher Williams. Courtesy: David Zwirner, New York/London e/and Galerie Gisela Capitain, Cologne.
Marlo Pascual, Untitled, 2010. © Marlo Pascual. Courtesy: Marlo Pascual e/and Casey Kaplan, New York. Photo: Jean Vong.
Liz Deschenes, Untitled (zoetrope) #1 and Untitled (zoetrope) #2, 2013. © Liz Deschenes. Courtesy: Miguel Abreu Gallery, New York.
Jon Rafman, New Age Demanded (The heart was a place made fast), 2013. © Jon Rafman. Courtesy: Jon Rafman e/and Zach Feuer Galery, New York.
Owen Kydd, Pico Boulevard (Nocturne), 2012. © Owen Kydd. Courtesy: Owen Kydd e/and Nicelle Beauchene Gallery.