Scratching at the Surface

Went to visit the Met a few weeks ago to see Surface Tension, a small, concise show that put photos as objects front and center. The show is an even mix of images OF textures and depictions of terrain and photo objects that are physically manipulated.

The surface images include Miles Coolridges's Accident Investigation Site (2005), a life size (22' x 7 1/2') photograph or a strip of Los Angeles highway. Coolridge, known for his suburban landscapes and immense textural studies, brings a bit of high-tech whiz bang to the mostly lo-fi creations in the show. Digitally assembled from many images, Accident... accentuates every speck of gravel and garbage from the Highway and is all about the surface represented: cold, harsh and ignored.

At the other end of the spectrum, whith as much scale, is Christian Marclay's Memento (Soul II Soul). A lovely cyanotype made from the remnants of and old Soul II Soul Cassette tape. By far, my favorite piece in the show... but I've always been a huge admirer of Marclay's work. As a sound artist, sculptor, photographer and all around cool guy, Marclay has been instrumental in the world of music, visual arts and performance. Memento is from a large body of cyanotypes that repurpose the lowly analog cassette. It is exquisite in its delicacy and grand in its scale. Not to be missed.

There is an early photogram from Adam Fuss which was created by allowing several snakes to writhe about on a large sheet of photo paper that was dusted with talcum powder. The resultant "photo" is the most "drawn" in the exhibition and along with Marco Bruer's Spin (C-823) and Chris McCaw's Sunburned, GSP #166, Mohave/Winter Solstice truly play upon the physicality of a photograph and become less about image and more about object.

In all there are 30 works in the show which include the likes of: Eileen Quinlan, Ann Hamilton, Andrew Bush, Lee Friedlander, Tom Friedman, Pertti Kekarainen, Anselm Kiefer, Jungjin Lee, Daido Moriyama, Vik Muniz, Giuseppe Penone, Miguel Rio Branco, Lucas Samaras, Frederick Sommer, Tim davis, Wolgang Tillmans, Gerhard Richter, Anna Atkins, Robert Demachy, Walker Evans, Roger Fenton and Aaron Siskind.

Surface Tension draws entirely from the Met's own collection, so some of the work is not as contemporary as I would like, but it is a very cohesive show and is worth seeing just for the sheer variety of work. It is on view at the Metropolitan MUseum of Art in the joyce and Robert Menschel Hall for Modern Photography though May, 16 2010

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