May 2 – 31, 2015
Over the past decade, a group of young photographers from North America have taken photography in new directions, largely as a reaction to the ubiquitous presence of digital images, which now form the backbone of contemporary visual experience. Although their practices are diverse, these artists share an investment in placing photography in conversation with other artistic mediums—particularly painting and sculpture—to create hybrid works that are only part picture. In the process of forming this new photographic narrative, the artists have also provoked a re-examination of the medium’s recent history. This has lent further weight to works from the previous generation of photographers that reflects an engagement with materiality, allowing them to emerge as the current moment’s most influential predecessors. In this exhibition, images by these forerunners are shown together with significant works from this most recent generation of practitioners, asserting photography’s physical presence in a world overrun with dematerialized images.
Lucas Blalock/ Ellen Carey/ Ryan Foerster/ Jan Groover/ John Houck/ Barbara Kasten/ Owen Kydd/ Elad Lassry/ Mariah Robertson/ Erin Shirreff/ Josh Tonsfeldt/ James Welling/ Chris Wiley
Curated by Chris Wiley
Organized by MOCCA and Scotiabank CONTACT Photography Festival
Images (left to right): John Houck, Untitled #330, 456, 975 combinations of a 2×2 grid, 25 colours, (from Aggregates series), 2014. Creased archival pigment print (unique). John Houck, Untitled #317, 390,624 combinations of a 2×2 grid, 25 colors, (from Aggregates series), 2014. Creased archival pigment print (unique). John Houck, Untitled #275, 194,480 combinations of a 2×2 grid, 21 colors, (from Aggregates series), 2013. Creased archival pigment print (unique).
