BE THERE
Suspicious OriginsPresented by Claire Oliver September 7, 2007- October 6, 2007Reception: September 6, 6:00 pm - 8:00 pmJulie Blackmon, Clark & Pougnaud
The eldest of nine children in a close knit family, Julie Blackmon is never left wanting for subject matter. The artist is inspired by the domestic landscapes of her own family and those of her siblings, creating surreal yet plausible dramas that unfold as real life and art collide. The stress and chaos of running a household and the struggle to simultaneously escape from and connect with those closest to her are explored in Ms. Blackmon’s imagery. For her, the demands placed on a “modern woman” create a constant conflict between living in the moment and escaping to another reality. Like a child herself, Blackmon sees how much it takes to carry on like an adult. Says the Artist, “life’s most poignant moments are indeed right in front of us if only we can learn see the romance amidst the chaos”. Clark & Pougnaud employ traditional and digital photographic techniques as well as sculpture and painting to convey their concepts as a beautifully executed work of art. The Artists create their own miniature sets which they then photograph and use as backgrounds for their live subjects. The two (or more) images are combined digitally, causing the work to loose all sense of scale and creating an atmosphere in which the characters are strangely isolated. Fitting uneasily into their surroundings, the subjects take to an imaginary stage, costumed as figures out of all the right myths, yet the villains cannot be bothered to attend these performances. Digital manipulation has forever changed the medium of fine art photography; the line between reality and fantasy is no longer a visible one. The charged strangeness and suggested narrative of isolation links these works of art; using new techniques available to them, the artists in “Suspicious Origins” have created their own simulated realities. Clark and Pougnaud make the manipulation an obvious part of their work while Blackmon’s retouching is seamless. Both Artists never forget that their cast is just pretending and that they and the viewer are privy to this secret. There is a bond of understanding between the subjects and the photographers, and we the voyeurs are delighted with the result. Children play games and so do grownups and in these photographs we are privy to the deception that lies in plain sight, suspicious in origin. Clark & Pougnaud are the recipient of a 2006 HSBC Photography Foundation Award and recently exhibited at the prestigious l’Orangerie du Sénat in Paris. Julie Blackmon is in the permenent collections of the Kemper Museum of Contemporary Art, Kansas City, Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, Toledo Museum of Art, Portland Art Museum, Museum of Contemporary Photography, Chicago amoung others.
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