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10/3/2005

Pictures are the Problem

Pelham Art Center, New York

Curated by Walead Beshty

"While the ideological, ethical, and social dilemmas associated with the role of "pictures" in contemporary culture have been repeatedly deconstructed, they continue to be, perhaps out of necessity, one of the most effective means by which information is disseminated. "Pictures are the Problem" presents artistic practices that opt to reconfigure, manipulate, and destabilize the seeming cohesion of pictorial form, while exploiting its efficacy," states Walead Beshty.

"Using models drawn from sources as seemingly disparate as contemporary film, photo-journalism, 19th century salon painting, and advertising, the exhibition emphasizes various means by which the ubiquity of the pictorial composition can be disrupted, and its chains of signification altered. In the hope of creating a situation in which the viewer has greater autonomy in the confrontation of "pictures", works that provide alternatives to the passive spectator model are emphasized. The works in the show are from a wide variety of media and disciplines, including ephemeral installation works, socially trafficked digital images, film, digital video, photography, painting, and sculpture, each drawing the viewer into conflict or interaction with the ideological, political, and historical premises that are often obscured and naturalized by pictorial composition. In short, populism need not be condescending, nor reductive, nor opposed to challenging ideas or practice." - Walead Beshty

Artists include Øystein Aasan, Shannon Ebner, Isa Genzken, Chris Lipomi, Erlea Maneros, Emily Newman, Jesse Reed, Martha Rosler, Erika Vogt, Kelley Walker and Lawrence Weiner.

Walead Beshty is an artist and writer based in Los Angeles. His work has been shown in solo and group exhibitions in museums and galleries in the U.S. and abroad. His writing, largely on issues of subjectivity and photography, have appeared in Afterall, Aperture, Artforum, Cabinet, Influence Magazine, Site Journal, and Texte zur Kunst. He currently teaches in the Art Department of the California Institute of the Arts and the University of California at Los Angeles.

Image: Øystein Aasan, Two rooms for one-fifth of the income,2003. Wood, cardboard and paper modell

Pelham Art Center
155 Fifth Avenue Pelham, NY 10803

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