"Illusions" Installation
Illusions
Featured in "The Non-Photographer's Photo Show"
“The Non-Photographer’s Photo Show” was curated by Sam Richardson for the SJSU Gallery 2, San Jose, California.
April 1986
8’ tall x 12’ wide x 6’ deep
Black & white photographic prints, monofilament, gelatin colored lighting
—Original set of prints is available through the artist—
This installation art piece, Illusions, speaks to boundaries and entanglement, to the adage ‘mankind caught in a web of his own making’. Viewers were caught in an illusion themselves, asking questions: what of this is color, what is black and white, what here is casting shadows — which shadows, how was the drawing done — on top of the photographs or what, where is the web — just outside around the photos or in them too, how deep is this space…? And then there were those looking beyond technique and into the concept of entanglement and perception, how what is not seen and recognized fixes people in ways of being, suspends the ability to change.
Sam Richardson curated the 1986 photography show this installation appeared in, which featured four mixed-media artists who were not trained photographers. Every medium has craftsmanship and technique associated with it, and photography had a history of being very mechanical and equipment oriented. Featuring non-photographers meant the artists would have to work experimentally. They would not be able to rely upon knowing what the camera could do or what could happen in the darkroom. This exhibit was an exploration for all concerned, to see how artists without exposure to various rules would approach the medium of photography.
K. M. Ehrenfeldt
