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21/1/2009

The Camera Show

Fotogalleriet, Oslo

curated by Eline Mugaas

Patterson Beckwith (US), Marcus Hansson (SE) & Ulf Lundin (SE), Noguchi Rika (JP) and Christopher Williams (US)

“The coffee you’re drinking is obviously a product that has a rich history here in Europe, but it’s also just a cup of coffee” -Christopher Williams

The exhibition The Camera Show consists of four works that although all involve pictures is more about photography than the pictorial. Despite the fact that photography is easily reproducible these works are verifiable only by means of on-site observation: they cannot be reproduced without loss of experience and quality. The works shown look closely at photography, at times dissecting the medium while also bringing us closer to the magic of the medium.

The starting point of the show is Christopher Williams’ 2003 triptych Kiev 88, 4.6 lbs. (2.1 Kg) Manufacturer: Saved Arsenal Factory, Kiev, Ukraine. Date of production: 1983-87, Douglas M. Parker Studio, Glendale, California. March 28, 2003 (Nr.1, 2 and 3) . The triptych shows three angels of the soviet camera (Kiev 88) that was produced in the Ukraine. The photographs, at first glance, look like product photography. You might say all photographs and art works should be experienced first hand, however, this most certainly is the case with this work. The photographs printed in Dye Transfer – a technique that gives beautiful prints, unmatched by any other kind of photographic colour print – has a richness that contrasts the descriptive image. Williams’ project includes a long-standing interest in the history of politics as well as social change.

Noguchi Rika’s book is displayed in the library of the gallery. The book contains her series The Sun that is photographed using a pinhole camera. Noguchi turns the camera on our main light source. Although looking like a black surface, when exposed to the warm light of the sun, an image of the sun will appear on the book’s cover. Removed from the light the image will again disappear.

MASKIN (machine) by Marcus Hansson and Ulf Lundin is a chamber within the gallery space that the spectator can enter – alone and wearing a dark cloak. Inside the chamber there is only darkness – when a flash goes off the spectator will see his/her reflection in a mirror. The image will linger in the your brain for a short while. Each experience is different and unique. This project investigates the definition of photography – light passing through a lens, and an image being fixed by chemistry. Now your eye becomes the lens and your brain does the chemical process.

Patterson Beckwith invites the viewer to be photographed in his Portrait Studio. Using Polaroid positive/negative film the visitor is given the positive while Beckwith uses the negative to make prints that will be hung in the gallery, documenting both the process as well as showing the actual portraits taken. It should be mentioned that this will probably be the last Portrait Studio with this particular stock of film as Beckwith has bought up what was available to him, only 150 left.

For the Fotogalleriet Foundation this exhibition also has a touch of the existential; established in 1977 by a group of photographers as a space for showing photography as art, the institution has defined itself as a place for “camera based art” and several of the works in the exhibition challenge this as they challenge the definition of photography as a technique.

Bios:

Christopher Williams received his MFA at the California Institute of the Arts, Valencia where he studied under artists like John Baldessari and Douglas Huebler until 1981. Since then he has participated in numerous institutional group shows and his latest institutional solo shows includes Contemporary Art Gallery, Vancouver; Museum Serralves, Porto and Kunsthalle Zürich, Zürich. He is in the collections of Whitney Museum of American Art, New York; Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York and Ludwig Museum, Cologne – to mention a few. Williams lives and works in Los Angeles.

Marcus Hansson received his MFA at the School of Photography at the University of Gothenburg. Solo shows include Nordin Gallery, Stockholm, Galleri 54, Göteborg and Galleri Magnus Karlsson, Stockholm He has shown in group exhibitions at the Hasselblad Center, Gothenburg; Index Foundation, Stockholm and latest at apexart, New York. Hansson lives and works in Stockholm.

Patterson Beckwith received his BFA and MA from Cooper Union, NYC and UCLA. Solo exhibitions include American Fine Arts, NY; Galleria del Cortile, Rome and Daniel Hug Gallery, L.A. He has participated in many group shows in galleries like Spruth Magers, Munich; Greene-Naftali Gallery, New York; Air de Paris, Paris and Deitch Projects, New York as well as institutions such as Swiss Institute New York and UCLA Hammer Museum, L.A. Beckwith lives and works in New York.

Noguchi Rika Graduated from the Department of Photography, College of Art, Nihon University. She has participated in numerous group shows in Asia, Europe and America. She has had solo shows in at Mongin Art Center, Seoul; Hara Museum of Contemporary Art, Tokyo; IKON Gallery, Birmingham and DAAD Galerie, Berlin. Group shows include Carnegie Museum of Art, Pittsburgh; La Collection Jumex, Mexico City and Walker Art Center, Minneapolis. She is represented in several public collections such as Benesse Art Site Naoshima, The National Museum of Modern Art, Tokyo; The Walker Art Centre, The Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles and Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York. Noguchi lives and works in Berlin.

Ulf Lundin has his degrees from at the School of Photography at the University of Gothenburg. He has shown in group exhibitions in museums like Moderna Museet, Stockholm, Baltic Art Centre, Newcastle; KIASMA, Helsinki and Preus Museum, Horten. Solo exhibitions include Fotogalleriet, Oslo; The Photographers Gallery, London and latest Galleri Magnus Karlsson, Stockholm. Lundin are in the collections of KIASMA and Moderna Museet as well as the Hasselblad Foundation Collection. Lundin lives and works in Stockholm.

Eline Mugaas has a BFA from the Cooper Union for the Advancement of Science and Art. She had her first solo show at Fotogalleriet 1998 and her first larger institutional solo was at Bergen Kunsthall, Bergen in 2007. She is represented by a number of public collections in Norway. Mugaas lives and works in Oslo.

The Fotogalleriet Foundation would like to thank the artists and the curator for their commitment as well as Petter Snare for his support and loan of Christopher Williams work. The Camera Show is made possible by generous support from Norsk Fotografisk Fond, Norsk Kulturråd, IASPIS and Nordisk Ministerråd.

Press View: Wednesday 21 January, 2 – 4 pm
Opening reception: Thursday 22 January, 7 – 9 pm

Fotogalleriet
Mollergata, 34 - Oslo
Opening hours: Tues-Fri 12-5pm . Sat, Sun 12-4pm
Free admission

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