Norton Museum of Art
Focus On: New Photography
March 5 – June 5, 2005

29 contemporary photographs acquired during the past five years go on view for the first time.

West Palm Beach, FL–The second in an ongoing series of photographic exhibitions that focus on the Museum’s permanent collection, this installation highlights 29 contemporary photographs acquired during the past five years all on view for the first time. Oliver Boberg, Sarah Jones, Nikki S. Lee, Loretta Lux, Mark Mann, María Martinez-Cañas and Shizuka Yokomizo are just a few of the artists featured. Among the recurring themes that emerge from this selection are portraiture, domestic narratives and experimental practices. Whether realized in color or in black and white, derived from existing, constructed or digitally enhanced realities, or conceived as a single image or as part of a larger series each of the 29 works in this exhibition provides insight into contemporary artists’ fascination with the photographic process as a means of making their visions real. Many of the works have been purchased with funds generated by the Museum’s Photography Committee and by its members. Several of the artists featured in Focus on: New Photography will have work included in Maximum Exposure, the Norton’s inaugural Photography Auction on Saturday, April 9, 2005...

Domestic Setting and Narratives:
For many artists, it is the domestic setting and the narratives that unfold therein that captivate. Oliver Boberg (German, born 1965) focuses his camera on the unremarkable details of nondescript postwar residential architecture—unremarkable until one realizes that he has constructed these scenes as architectural models solely for the purpose of photographing them. Peggy Nolan (American, born 1944) similarly takes pictures of that which would otherwise go unnoticed, the insignificant objects and scenes that she catches out of the corner of her eye, or as she peers under the beds or down long hallways. Linda Girvin (American, born 1946) uses lenticular photography to construct a domestic narrative that unfolds as the viewer moves past the photograph, which layers multiple images a husband and wife discussing their separate agendas. Using digital technology, Mark Mann (American, born 1970) translates postcard images from the 1960s and 1970s into disquieting images of families whose vacations or simple outings have gone awry.

 

Back to Press