The work in the show explores how intentional or unconscious mediation influences our perception of the world.
In the first series, iPhone in Nature, an iPhone carefully frames a part of nature, something we all do these days. But that act itself is in turn captured in the photographs, along with the surrounding nature that the act tries to frame. The effect is simultaneously attractive and slightly alarming. The image on the iPhone screen seems to alter whatever surrounds it, making it look suddenly alien and enticing. At the same time, it engenders a sense of disbelief that such a jarring difference could be effected simply by positioning the iPhone in a particular way.
In the second series, iphone rothko, the power of digital reproduction rudely blurs the boundary between the sacred and the profane in one swoop. Position an iPhone close against a reproduction of Duchamp’s famous Nude Descending a Staircase, and, rather mysteriously, a Rothko-like image appears. Place it instead against two bags of tabletop condiments—“pure honey” and “Sweet’N Low”—and, again, Rothko seems to materialize. A Duchamp becomes a Rothko; honey and artificial sweetener become abstract images. At this point, almost anything will do. – Michael Zheng
Check gallery website for hours and additional info
