VIVIANE SASSEN
calendar Where there's smokeWhere there's smoke, 10 July 2014 - 23 August 2014
Where There’s Smoke, a group exhibition that gathers together four contemporary photographers: Ruth van Beek, Jason Fulford, Michael Lundgren, and Viviane Sassen, is presented concurrently with Who Do You Love, a solo exhibition of twelve unique pieces by John Gossage, curated by Darius Himes (Director).
Where There’s Smoke gathers together four artists who subvert the viewer’s sense of how a photograph can and should operate, both conceptually and perceptually. This is no mere photographic deconstruction, however; a metaphorical intent ricochets through the works. By turns subtle and overt, the imagery both guides and confronts the viewer. The tools employed run the gamut of photographic expression—from hand-collage to the art of sequencing, from the use of reflection and shadow, to chance, suggestion, craft, and, at its most fundamental, a sophisticated intensity of looking.
The title of the exhibition references a common idiom that if something looks wrong, it probably is. In the case of these works, the traditional terms of photography have been abandoned, leaving the viewer initially disoriented. One is led to a set of basic questions: “What am I looking at? Why am I looking at it? Why is it compelling? Is the photographer off-kilter or is the subject? Is this a digital fabrication or did it happen in front of the lens, in real time?” The cumulative sense is that boundaries have expanded, and nascent languages have taken root.
Where there's smoke, 10 July 2014 - 23 August 2014
Fraenkel Gallery
San Francisco, USA
