Archives 1990 ()

6 November - 1 December 1990

9 October - 3 November 1990

(Untitled. August 12, 1983)

Unlike the ordinary snap-shooter, he avoids instant identification and denounces the imposture of false identity by bringing out in the open, without deception, the falsely reassuring setting of the everyday environment. With an inquisitive eye, he uncovers the horrible behind the familiar, the unsuspected behind the mediocrity of daily life. Having composed his setting with a simplicity of means similar to that of Meatyard, Cumming takes his subjects beyond posing and, introducing an intimate dramaturgy, invites them to play their own role as would an actor. Their own executioners or victims, between horror and dreams, his models (sometimes paid) - free from the natural and released in the frame, divided between artifice and naked truth - interpret before the lens and enigmatic and vital scene to which they alone hold the key.
The dazzling impact of the result has two causes. On the one hand, the extraordinary intuition with which Cumming uncovers the deceitfulness of the “real”, and, showing quirks, blemishes, scars and moral wounds, manages to have the secret desires of his subjects expressed. On the other hand is the daring with which he manages, in bewildering tableaux vivants, to transform mere bit players into the stars of their own lives.
To these two constants are added a third: the torrent of the forbidden, of the unsaid, of the repressed, which surges forth in each shot, sparked by a silence, a song or the mere diversion of a utensil, into a slice of action where, beyond the pose, stands the familiar of a whole life - like the old man in a mink coat in the hospital, the one-armed man showing his stump, the pregnant blind woman, the fisherman in a bathing suit in his aseptic living room, or the old woman shamelessly exposing herself.
The suffocating power of this reportage - produced between May 25, 1982 and February 24, 1986, within a half-mile square, consisting of three parts shown in full for the first time and comprising 131 untitled, uncaptioned photographs (and six sound tapes illustrating giant prints of Elvis Presley fans) - derives from the fact that Cumming, with raw realism, oversteps the normal bounds of curiosity. Pushing back frontiers that were thought to be blocked by Arbus, while expressing the dignity of poverty, ugliness or solitude, he provides photographic evidence of unreality, of another presence in the world. IMplacable and deliberate, the modernity of his approach is at the crossroads of social documentary as defined in the sixties by John Szarkowski - and its radical questioning by auteurs and plasticians such as Krims, Karen Knorr or Eileen Cowin, for whom the truth of photographic fact is akin to fiction.

11 September - 6 October 1990

17 July - 11 August 1990

(”Autoportrait A La Table Lumineuse, Atelier” 1984)

19 June - 14 July 1990

22 May - 16 June 1990

(You Are Here 1989)

24 April - 19 May 1990

Provenance
Combining photographs from museums and historic sites, images appropriated from magazines and art history texts, composed studio ‘portraits’ and family snapshots, “Provenance” explores the development of individual and collective identity and history ( the ‘where things come from’ of the title) in a context of relative and constantly shifting meanings. It takes advantage of photography’s ability to collect and categorize all manner of phenomena  in a common form, and has been described as ‘an extended self-portrait in the form of a critique of the museum’ - but it is, equally, a portrayal of the museum in the form of a critique of the Self. “Provenance” includes references to ‘analogues’ of photography, such as plaster casts, and other forms of ‘documentation’ and representation, and questions our faith in visual appearances, on one hand, and our need for ‘proof’- of authenticity, of our own existence - on the other. In it’s non-narrative structure, meaning accumulate in the relationships between images, rather than through a key text. Although deeply rooted in cultural history, this process is necessarily subjective, a point emphasized through the use of personal imagery from various sources.
-Hamish Buchanan

27 March - 21 April 1990

27 February - 24 March 1990

Narcissism
“The design of sport forces man to make inferential decisions upon what is known and at the same time demand mystical allegiance to the obscure.” from (Man, Sport and Existence : A Critical Analysis By: Howard S. Slusher)
In sport the person is their body-everything depends on it. Participation in sport becomes a means of attaining truth about oneself, of intimate knowledge about the limits of one’s body while at the same time believing there are no limits. To ensure meaning and examine existence the athlete pursues herculean tasks that demonstrate prowess. These “superhuman” powers allow for a recognition of the unknown and a possibility of transcending everyday reality.
Co-existing along with the metaphysical truth are the social implications of sport: it serves to preserve the present by repeating conventional codes, maintaining the status quo in a structured way. The self is presented to the world, perceived as an object and the athlete often rebels against the realness of the order. The conflict is disguised through a highly disciplined act - the hard is made soft, the soft is made hard.
Sport’s make-believe quality makes situations appear absurd; the athlete who chooses to accept this performs and responds to it. Caught in a state of un-perfected perfection the athlete is driven to defy everyday reality and seeks to attain the ultimate goal of competing in the televised spectacle of the Olympics.
In “Narcissism” the athlete appears to be caught in a deeply private experience, their concentration reflecting the transcendent quality of the physical act. The title refers to love or sexual desire of one’s own body and it’s connection to the original root of the word having a drug-like effect.

Artist Statement
My work deals with the sabotage/subversion of the technological age by employing a crude technique that renders a high tech image into a low tech one. By using the camera or the photocopier to record a pre-existing picture made by another person, the authority and authorship of that image is questioned. It becomes a trace of an image that is moving from order to disorder, from progress or the modern world view to an entropic one.
The anonymous faces of people in television, film and the print media often go unnoticed, abandoned in favour of the more alluring “star”. The unknown is left to contemplate, to engage in more personal, less public pursuits. In “Media Solemnis”, “Key Actions”, “Faithful Portraits” and the “Repo” series the anonymous media subject is captured in a private experience from the sexually charged religious ecstasy of “Media Solemnis” to the intent pre-event concentration of the skaters in “Figure”.
The immediately recognizable visage of the celebrity allows us to experience immediate gratification. The narrative formula of most films gives us a safe release after two hours of time; the special effects serve to create the most effect for the least effort. The act of reading subverts this process. In the “Repo” series and “Faithful Portraits” text becomes a formal element and begin to support the image, even dominate it at times.

3 - 27 January 1990

(Police Shoot)