Infinite Possibilities / Discriminating Measures

Infinite Possibilities / Discriminating Measures is an ongoing project of unlimited duration that incorporates an ever-growing body of elements conceived to be a single unified, but variable artwork. The entire artwork will be offered for exhibition to curators who are to select any number of components from the group to display in as limited or in as expansive an area as they choose. There are stipulations: 1. The curator must select equal numbers of elements from each section of the artwork (Infinite Possibilities and Discriminating Measures). 2. The display should be grouped in a seemingly random fashion without any obvious overall horizontal or vertical grids (although each element will be displayed level to the floor). The elements from the Infinite Possibilities selections consist of pictures made during my daily walks. In essence, they are reminiscent of my early photo training, when as a young art student I would simply go out with my camera to encounter the world. In those days, walking alone with my camera, I learned to “see” photographs in the environment — making a shot and starting to understand how the camera translates the “reality” we think we know. Noted American photographer Gary Winograd summed it up nicely when he said, “I photograph to find out what something will look like photographed.”

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The elements from the Discriminating Measures are studio shots of objects that relate to measurements and my interests in quantifying experience. The elements are uninflected, deadpan pictures that when printed, are scaled to depict the objects at their actual sizes. In addition to the above mentioned aspects of the artwork that relate to the notion of curation and the politics and conventions of display, the assessment of the piece’s monetary value alludes to the artwork as commodity. The piece’s “sale price” is strictly based on a formula that considers production time and material costs. The “aesthetic value” becomes irrelevant and it raises questions about the artworld’s practice of discount pricing, and aspects of supply and demand as they relate to uniqueness vs. unlimited editions. The ongoing evolution of the piece — as it constantly morphs and “shape shifts” with each display — coupled with the corpus’s growth over time, are hoped to inspire reflection on the genuinely intangible essence of this thing we call “art.”

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