dayoutlast is a record of my direct engagement with mostly contemporary art, mostly Los Angelean.

As this blog has evolved since its 2010 inception, so has my perspective. What I once perceived as central within the investigation was what was central, literally, within the photographic frame that I shared here. While still an important consideration, such thinking has also given way to more peripheral considerations, ones also accompanied occasionally by text (written manifestation of thought) and the oscillations between them. What's missing here are larger unknowns surrounding issues of presentation and representation; the amount of time and space it actually takes to accomplish such first-hand observations; and the quandaries between documentation and interpretation.

Despite my attempt to communicate here with image and text what is essential in some respect about the artwork, neither representation should ever be considered a substitution for the primary viewing experience. Of course, occasionally there are exceptions.

Most of the time, these posts are merely remnants---residual fragments---from my last day out.

Saturday, January 10, 2015

Jeffrey Wells @ De Soto





In theory, this work proposed worthy questions about the limits of perception as it pertains to light (of the space and of the projector) and just what exactly forms a conscious image.  As an art installation, I found it confusing, as it seemed to desire an immersive viewing experience while not clearly defining where the edges were.  The center seemed clear enough; it was a small hole at eye level projecting light onto a mirror hanging from the ceiling.  The edges were cluttered by gallery desks and a second grouping of works, photographs of a separate yet related project involving light and manipulation at the hand of aperture.  While I can see how connections between all these things would make significant distinctions about presence, specificity, displacement, experience as a whole, etc, I would have liked a more focused presentation with a higher qualitative concern.  I got the feeling that the artist was seeing things differently than I was, and while that is also a good conversational point about view and perspective, this presentation was too sprawling.  Everything is not everything.

No comments:

Post a Comment