"Truth Implied : Photography " at the IVC Art Gallery
January 26 - March 9, 2007
Opening Reception: February 1, 2007 6-8pm
If what we believe is our reality, what does it mean when an image we believe to be reality is manipulated?
Medium effects meaning. Photography is interpreted and understood
partially based on the preconceived accepted facts pertaining to its
particular medium; such as the photograph as evidence, fact or
proof. Computer software, such as Adobe Photoshop, accessibility
of imagery via the Web, and ease of use are energizing an evolving
medium, and asking the viewer to reconsider their relationship to the
evidentiary quality of the photograph.
Photographs have been altered since the first exposures were made in
the mid 1800’s. In 1856, commercial and fine art photographer
Henry Peach Robinson pieced together several negatives to produce a
narrative about a girl with consumption; the composite heightened the
original’s emotional punch, and caused controversy until it was
revealed that it was staged.
On the February 1982 cover of National Geographic magazine, one of
Egypt's pyramids was moved in an effort to enhance the composition of
the photograph. The decision was later called a "retroactive
repositioning of the photographer." A reader of the L.A.
Times doesn’t doubt the integrity and trustworthiness of the coverage
of the Iraq War; truth is inherent in a photojournalistic venue.
But in March 2003, a photographer edited two photographs together,
taken several moments apart to achieve the composition he had failed to
make in a single exposure. The decisive moment poetically defined
by the photographs of Henri Cartier- Bresson had been reinterpreted,
elongated and fabricated to suit editorial agendas.
Do these artists want you to believe what you see? Is it
important to the understanding of their work? The artists
included in this exhibition selectively add and subtract critical
information from their photographs to tell a story or present reality
using a medium associated with transparent truths. In order
to engage the work, the role of the viewer is changed from one of
passivity to one of active participation. The photographs of Eric M
Jones, Leonard Correa and Naida Osline represent a decisive moment, and
place the question of truth and fiction squarely on the laps of the
viewer.
The people in Eric M. Jones digital works are comprised from numerous
sources: his own photographs, appropriated film and magazines.
The parts are combined into a seemingly familiar seamless figure in an
ambiguities environment. Extreme physical trauma is presented as
strength, and borne with grace. Opposites are juxtaposed: beauty and
repulsiveness, innocence and worldliness, chastity and promiscuity,
compassion and cruelty and the result is a fictional tableau presented
as a fact.
Leonard Correa subtracts critical information from his images. His
photographs reveal more than an apparition in the sky; they show a
specter that interacts with the community it serves below. We relate to
them as recognized places such as our neighborhoods, which have been
transformed with the presence of the supernatural or the religious. By
removing important components in these images it is left the viewer to
complete the narrative.
Using snapshots as source material Naida Osline plays upon the
voyeuristic urges of her audience. The snapshot provides a context for
the subjects; daily life is depicted, strange as it may be. This
work also explores ideas of otherness in some possible future world
that has been affected by continued evolution, bio engineering, and
cosmetic reconfiguration.
Curated by Shannon Hayes Faseler with Amy Caterina