Back to 2007 exhibitions

Issac Layman    Portrait of the Artist as a Young Photographer

In anticipation of a larger exhibition of new work to be held in 2008, Portrait of the Artist as a Young Photographer is a unique opportunity to see a selection of early work by Isaac Layman.

Many of his early works were performative in nature and exhibit the artist exploring the possibilities and limitations of the medium.  From the early photograms like Seated Self-Portrait  and Lawn Mower to the constructions of White T-Shirt and Coat Hanger, it was evident from the beginning that Layman was as concerned with sculpture, drawing and painting as much as he was photography.

Window points to the conceptual and perceptual games layman likes to play. Not simply a self-portrait the artist purposefully looks away from the camera directing the viewer’s attention.  The artist appears to be simply pointing out a window when in fact he is pointing at a photograph.  In it you look out one window to a window in the house next door reflecting the original window in the artist’s home. The notion of the mise en abyme slyly made manifest.

More about the artist’s work

Josh Azzarella    Videos

Josh Azzarella’s current body of work is comprised of video work and still photographs.  Azzarella uses existing footage and photographic material of public events that are familiar to world audiences, particularly American, and manipulates them to radically alter their meaning and context.  In one work, the sickeningly ubiquitous 7 seconds of home video that detailed an airplane hitting the World Trade Tower has been employed for a short work- Azzarella has painstakingly modified the imagery so that the resultant video shows the airplane harmlessly flying past in front of the building.  He has essentially rewritten the loaded history of this image and changed that horribly familiar moment of impact into something breathtaking and painfully hopeful.  The experience of watching the piece offers a moment of relief that is incredibly intense, followed immediately by a revelatory jolt about the impossibility of ever changing history. 

In addition to the works that feature recognizable footage, the are currently two abstract video works which are made using a slightly different technical strategy, but which enact the same function- to rework images in a way that transforms them from harrowing to palliative. In Untitled #3 and Untitled #4, the source material is news footage from the initial bombing of Baghdad and the Zapruder film, respectively.  In both films, the individual frames have been successively layered onto themselves over and over until the resultant piece is a gorgeous, morphing abstraction that belies its known meaning. 

While some of the work is difficult for some to see considering the original content, the artist's sincere motive in transforming the images can be easily discerned.  His desire to offer a visual of what we all dream of allows us an opportunity to indulge in a momentary liberation from the pain of our collective history.  While he uses imagery from painful moments , he does so without being the slightest bit inflammatory.  Rather, he uses the imagery toward a kind of sublime tribute that gives form to the deepest longing of every viewer.

-Courtesy of Lisa Boyle

To Whom It May Concern, 2006. Acrylic On Canvas. 60 X 60 inches.

Installation view in the main space of To Whom It May Concern.

Untitled #3 (B.B.), 2005 Features footage from the initial U.S. military bombing of Baghdad.

Appx. 12 minutes

Installation view of the white cube. Left - right: Seated Self-Portrait, Lawn Mower, and

White T-Shirt.

Window, 2001.  Silver gelatin print. 8 1/2 x 6 1/2 inches.