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| Mark Klett and Byron Wolfe, Installation View (Professional Image to Follow) |
There are many ways to begin thinking about the Klett and
Wolfe piece that is currently installed in/at window. In listening to and
taking part in some of the conversations at the opening, I noticed a good
variety of responses and was pleased to note that some of the questions that
came forth were not easy to answer. This
is fantastic, as the purpose of this project is to promote dialogue and
exchange – specifically in relation to contemporary artworks that engage with
issues of representation and reproducibility as essential to the content of the
work. A good starting point for a
discussion of any of the works in the space might be to simply question how the
work on view relates to the above, and then, begin to think about why the
artists made the choices they did (in terms of subject matter, mode of
representation, manipulation of materials, etc.).
In relation to the Klett and Wolfe piece, I’d like to mention
a few things that seemed to be important to viewers. First and foremost was the re-appropriation
of antique postcards, which also relates to issues of authorship and
originality. This also prompted some to
consider the retro/nostalgic associations that are sometimes attached to this
kind of imagery. Lastly, the primary
image is a composite/montage created by grouping and relating numerous
secondary images together – this makes the image somewhat distinct from a more
straightforward photographic representation that describes one moment, from one
vantage point. A quick and cursory view
of this work may yield a very different interpretation than a more prolonged
engagement. As well, the piece is
entirely decontextualized from the pair’s larger body of work (on view inside
the shop in the form of the monograph, Reconstructing the View), and is also an
excerpt from a much larger piece containing a panoramic view.
This project is meant to serve as public art, and I’d like
to take a moment to acknowledge the varying sets of knowledge that each
participant will bring to this exchange.
We may not all share an understanding of the larger traditions of art
history or contemporary critical theory, but we do all play a role in
determining the cultural value of works of art.
But to do so, we must allow ourselves to thoughtfully engage in a
process of questioning – of our own instinctive responses to art, our prior
conceptions – and to continually re-assess our points of view.
So, with that, whether or not we are accustomed to
discussing artists that re-appropriate vernacular photographs/images by including
them in whole or in part within their own work, do we carry strong opinions
about this one way or the other? If so,
where do those opinions come from? And
what about how the postcards are used in this work? Is there a hierarchy at play within our minds
that suggests a fabricated view is less significant than the depiction of a
singular, straightforward representation?
These are just a few initial little question/thoughts. As always, please feel free to chime in via an
authored or anonymous comment, or by starting a new thread by writing your own
separate blog post (send those to dawnroe@gmail.com).
