The Edge of Vision: Abstraction in Contemporary Photography

The Edge of Vision, curated by Lyle Rexer, showcases the work of twenty international contemporary photographers who base their practice in some form of abstraction from highly conceptual to more documentary approaches. The works explore diverse aspects of the photographic experience, including the chemistry of traditional photography, the direct capture of light without a camera, temporal extensions, digital sampling of found images, radical cropping, and various deliberate destabilizations of photographic reference. This abstract use of photography often combines other mediums such as painting, sculpture, drawing or video. All artists join a broad contemporary trend to look critically and freshly at a medium commonly considered transparent.

From the beginning, abstraction has been intrinsic to photography, and its persistent popularity reveals much about the medium. Lyle RexerCurator

The organization of the exhibition highlights the investigative nature of contemporary photography. An introductory section, Propositions, introduces viewers to a range of techniques, visual effects, and critical positions. The core of the exhibition is a series of single-artist installations that display the stunning range of these photographers’ insights. They free the photograph from its familiar social and temporal references, aiding in the discovery of new possibilities of metaphoric suggestiveness, psychological engagement, and optical possibility.

The Edge of Vision includes photography by: Bill Armstrong, Carel Balth, Adam Broomberg and Oliver Chanarin, Ellen Carey, Roland Fischer, Michael Flomen, Manuel Geerinck, Shirine Gill, Barbara Kasten, Seth Lambert, Charles Lindsay, Chris McCaw, Edward Mapplethorpe, Roger Newton, Jack Sal, Penelope Umbrico, Randy West, Silvio Wolf, and Ilan Wolff.

Exhibition organized by Aperture Foundation.

Exhibition details:

The Hoffman Gallery is open Tuesday through Sunday, 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. All gallery events are free; parking on campus is free on weekends. The Edge of Vision will be on display from January 19 to March 18, 2012. For information, call the Hoffman Gallery at 503-768-7687.