Mickalene Thomas highlights her muses

Mickalene Thomas, “La leçon d’amour,” 2008. © Mickalene Thomas. Courtesy the artist; Lehmann Maupin, New York and Hong Kong; and Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York.

The word “muse” conjures an image of an ethereal ancient Greek figure, but artist Mickalene Thomas has a different, more grounded set of muses, comprising strong African American women, including her mother, friends and former lovers. Thomas is best known for her large-scale paintings of women, which complicate the art historical representation of female beauty and reconsider tropes around femininity, identity and desire.

Currently based in Brooklyn, Thomas earned her bachelor of fine arts in painting at Pratt Institute in 2000 and a master of fine arts at the Yale University School of Art. She experimented with photography by taking photographs of herself and her mother. For each image, Thomas creates a tableau with furniture and fabrics that the models pose within. She uses stylistic influences from the 1970s, the civil rights movement and second-wave feminism as she puts forward a complex depiction of what it means to be a woman and an expansive definition of beauty.

The Georgia Museum of Art at the University of Georgia is presenting the exhibition “Muse: Mickalene Thomas Photographs and tête-à-tête” through January 7, 2018. More than 40 works by Thomas and artists whose work she has selected are on view.

Thomas’ work both deconstructs and reappropriates art history while it reflects a personal community of inspiration. Her photograph “Le Déjeuner sur l’Herbe: Les Trois Femmes Noires,” for example, reimagines Edouard Manet’s famed painting of a bohemian picnic with three women who are close friends of the artist.

“We are excited about the opportunity to exhibit the work of this cutting-edge contemporary artist,” said Shawnya Harris, the museum’s Larry D. and Brenda A. Thompson Curator of African American and African Diasporic Art. “Our audiences will be engaged and fascinated with works that are both accessible and thought provoking.”

Carrie Mae Weems, "Project Row Houses," 2006 – present. © Carrie Mae Weems,
courtesy the artist and Jack Shaman Gallery, New York.

Thomas served as curator of the other artists’ works on display in the exhibition, an installation of work by fellow photographers that includes specific works of art that have inspired her. Artists include Derrick Adams, LaToya Ruby Frazier, Lyle Ashton Harris, Deana Lawson, Zanele Muholi, Malick Sidibé, Xaviera Simmons, Hank Willis Thomas and Carrie Mae Weems.

This exhibition is organized by Aperture Foundation in New York, a not-for-profit foundation that aims to connect the photo community and its audiences with the most inspiring work. This exhibition is sponsored by the Robert Mapplethorpe Foundation, Inc., and locally by UGA’s Willson Center for Humanities and Arts, the W. Newton Morris Charitable Foundation and the Friends of the Georgia Museum of Art.

Remaining programs related to the exhibition include a Teen Studio program tonight (November 9 from 5:30 to 8:30 p.m.), which is free and includes a pizza dinner (email sagekincaid@uga.edu or call 706.542.0448 to reserve a spot); Student Night, organized by the Georgia Museum of Art Student Association, also tonight, from 6:30 to 8:30 p.m.; and an Artful Conversation on December 13 at 2 p.m. Several of these programs are in conjunction with UGA’s 2017 Spotlight on the Arts festival.

"In Time We Shall Know Ourselves": The Photographs of Raymond Smith

On Oct. 24, Raymond Smith’s iconic photographs of his 1974 summer journey through the American South will go on display here at the Georgia Museum of Art. Smith is most certainly in the tradition of James Agee’s “Let Us Now Praise Famous Men,” with his honest portraits of southerners who look us at head-on, retaining their inherent dignity, yet his corpus is considerably more diverse than Agee’s.

       

Fotomat Girl, Louisville, Kentucky 

While Agee focused on the families of three white Alabama tenant farmers during the Great Depression, Smith’s subjects include both African American and white people of all ages and professions, in locations ranging from Boston, Massachusetts, to Orlando, Florida. In a way, Smith’s photographs display the New South as it was immediately following the civil rights movement, a world where blacks and whites now co-existed in the same spaces on a more equal footing, but also a world in which more insidious forms of racial divisions and inequalities remained.

    

                                                          Bourbon Street, New Orleans 

Smith chose the title of this exhibition from words he saw on a church marquee in Hattiesburg, Mississippi, that fateful summer. Smith points out that they are particularly relevant as it took 40 years from the year in which he took the photographs until their publication and exhibition. The people of his photographs and the social conditions of the American South seem clearer to him 40 years later, and he notes that the people themselves, if still alive, will have a better understanding of themselves that comes through years of experience and maturity.

Self-Portrait, Motel Room, Williamsburg, Virginia

“In Time We Shall Know Ourselves” will be on display through Jan. 3, 2016. Visitors are encouraged to drop by and reflect on the themes of knowing, memory and reflection present in Smith’s work. A book by the same title, including both the photographs and scholarly essays, is available for purchase in the Museum Shop. On Nov 19, Smith will give a presentation on his work from 5:30-6:30 pm here at the Museum. 

  

MFA Candidate: Luke Underwood

     

Relaxed and non-aggressive aren’t normally the expressions on the faces of tough wrestlers, but what about when they aren’t in a match? Luke Underwood, a former wrestler himself, found an interest in portraying male wrestlers after practice.

“I had been shooting the action of practice, but I didn’t find it to be interesting beyond a Sports Illustrated-type photo, where it was all about the sport. I was more interested in what they wanted to show me in the slow process of the portrait. . . . They started off initially with their stances and facial expressions much more stern,” explains Underwood.  

His work over the past year has had to do with masculinity and how it is represented in photographs. Underwood has documented his contemporaries, other artists, and friends displaying the ways they may not be in the same phase of adulthood as their fathers were at the same age. Continuing to explore the idea of masculinity, he found an interest in making portraits of wrestlers. 

He says that the point of wrestling is not necessarily to be the best wrestler but rather to test yourself and persevere. It was difficult initially for the wrestlers to pose in a way that did not aim to affirm their toughness further.

“I was trying to get at the idea of showing them as something more than what they were doing as performers on the mat,” says Underwood. 

He had to balance what they were trying to get across with what he wanted to get out of them. His aim was for them to look softer than how most people would think of them. After continuing to photograph them, he says they began to grow more comfortable and their faces began to soften. As a result, the photographs carry striking truths about masculinity and self-perception. 

Underwood’s photographs will be on display at the “Master of Fine Arts Degree Candidates Exhibition” at the Georgia Museum of Art from April 11 to May 3, 2015.

MFA Candidate: Anna Gay Leavitt

Fields of Relics and Electricity 

Sherman's March

Having grown up in Georgia, Anna Gay Leavitt has always had an interest in the region’s history. She expresses her connection to the land and curiosity for stories that lie just beneath her feet through the medium of photography. 

Leavitt believes that photography is captivating in the way it deals with time. An image can be preserved and kept as a symbol of a moment, a moment that may have otherwise been forgotten. This physical representation of a memory carries different feelings that are entirely dependent upon our own perception. When a single instance becomes tangible it gains the power to transcend time. 

“As humans, we want so badly to stop time and to hold onto our generally inaccurate memories that we have engineered a process which shows a unique moment in fractions of a second, often represented in a way which is far from truthful,” says Leavitt.

With this mindset, she captures figures immersed in ambiguous environments, longing to last yet fading out. They appear frozen in time and convey a certain nostalgia evocative of the past. Intertwined with the land in a ghostly manner, it is clear they have a connection to the home surrounding them. 

“My current work seeks to explore our relationship to the landscape, the physical earth itself, which surrounds those of us living in this region. Throughout my life, I have contemplated the fact that, at times, I am standing exactly where someone else stood thousands of years before my existence,” explains Leavitt. 

Within the ephemeral scenes, viewers are made aware of their own connection to the past with a feeling of timelessness. Like photography, the land has a permanence that can carry itself through time and uniquely connect with the beholder. Leavitt expresses both a broad collective experience and personal reflection through her photography. 

“These images reference a shared history, but are part of my own personal folklore,” says Leavitt. 

Her photography will be on display at the “Master of Fine Arts Degree Candidates Exhibition” at the Georgia Museum of Art from April 11 to May 3, 2015.

http://annagay.com

Behind “Behind Photographs”

Some photographs still strike us, years after they were taken. The photograph called “Afghan Girl,” published in National Geographic in 1985, is considered the magazine’s most famous image. The photos taken by John Lennon’s personal photographer, including the iconic image of the Beatle wearing a New York City t-shirt, “present a kaleidoscope of John Lennon's New York Period” that is “beautiful, clear and truthful,” according to Yoko Ono.

But how often does the layperson think about the photographer rather than the person in some of these famous photos?

Steve McCurry holds his photograph, "Afghan Girl."
"I looked for this girl for 17 years and finally found her in 2002. Her name is Sharbat Gula."

Bob Gruen holds his iconic photograph of John Lennon against the NYC skyline.
"John Lennon asked me to come to his penthouse apt [sic] on the east side of New York to take pictures for the cover of his 'Walls + Bridges' album. After we took a series of portraits for the record cover we took some informal shots to use for publicity. I asked him if he still had the New York City t-shirt I had given him a year earlier and he went and put it on and we made this photo."

Photographer Tim Mantoani’s mission is to give a voice to “each face, in each place,” including those normally behind the lens. From 2006 to 2011, Mantoani traveled across the United States to capture images of photographers. He rented a rare 20x24 Polaroid camera and a 20x24 Wisner camera with a Polaroid back to take the photographs. In each Polaroid, the photographer is holding his or her most famous or favorite image. Over 5 years, Mantoani took pictures of more than 150 photographers, published in the book “Behind Photographs” in 2012.

At the bottom of each Polaroid, Mantoani had the photographer write a short paragraph about the image he or she chose. Some photographers wrote simple descriptions, such as Douglas Kirkland’s “This is from my evening with Marilyn.”

Others, like Mary Ellen Mark, wrote more detailed paragraphs:

I am holding my photograph of Ram Prakash Singh with his beloved elephant Shyama—taken in 1990. Ram Prakash Singh was the ringmaster of the “The Great Golden Circus”—The photograph was done in Ahmedabad India—This was part of my Indian Circus Project—I love India and I love the circus so photographing eighteen circuses all around India was an incredible experience—Unfortunately Shyama died a few months after this photograph was taken—supposedly he succumbed to a poisoned chapatti—Ram Prakash Singh was heartbroken—me also.

With these Polaroids, Mantoani has managed to preserve the stories behind these images. The photographers cannot live forever, but their work can. Life magazine photographer John Dominis died in December 2013. Thanks to Mantoani’s project, the story behind his photograph of two resting lions will remain for generations to come.

John Dominis holds his photograph of two resting lions.

Leonard Nimoy, Photographer

Seth Kaye

Leonard Nimoy, best known for his role as Spock on the beloved series Star Trek, passed away Friday at the age of 83.

Many might not know that he was also a photographer and art collector aside from acting. In the 1970s, he began studying photography at UCLA with photographer, Robert Heinecken. In 2003, he formally announced that he would focus on being a full-time photographer. His photography has been presented in exhibition at the Los Angles Country Museum of Art, the New Orleans Museum of Art, the Bakersfield Museum, the Jewish Museum in New York, the Museum of Fine Arts Houston and the Massachusetts Museum of Contemporary Art.  He also published two photography books, "Shekhina" (2005) and "The Full Body Project" (2007).

Early Works (1970s)

Leonard Nimoy

Leonard Nimoy

Leonard Nimoy

Leonard Nimoy

Hand Series (1980s-early 2000s)
Inspired by Spock's Vulcan hand signature, Nimoy became fascinated with the natural form of hands.

Leonard Nimoy

Leonard Nimoy

Leonard Nimoy

Leonard Nimoy

Secret Selves (2010) 

His most recent and first solo exhibition was inspired by Nimoy's fascination with alternative identities after being associated as Spock for so long. The volunteers would reveal their "secret selves" to the camera.

Leonard Nimoy

Leonard Nimoy

Leonard Nimoy

Leonard Nimoy

Nimoy once said, "The camera can capture thought in a way that's quite surprising and shocking.  You can become very simple and minimal in your work and communicate a lot with just a finger or an eyebrow, or a look, or a glance."

Fruit by Nike and Pickles by Chanel: Consumerism and Art

Do you ever think about the brand or packaging of your flour? What about your eggs or your yogurt? What if your flour was by Prada, your eggs from Versace and your yogurt made by Tiffany & Co.?

Peddy Mergui, an artist from Israel, explored the idea of adding luxury labels to common groceries in his exhibition “Wheat is Wheat is Wheat,” on view last year at the San Francisco Museum of Craft and Design. This May, the exhibition will travel to Italy at Expo Milano 2015.

The SFMCD characterizes “Wheat is Wheat is Wheat” as asking “What does the consumer actually purchase when he or she pays top dollar for a ‘BRAND’ of wheat/flour, or table salt?” It’s an interesting question. When we buy a product, even something as common as flour, are we paying for the actual product or the name on the label? Does a higher-end brand always mean a better quality product?

Mergui told National Public Radio that, one day, a coworker saw him designing “Chanel infant formula” and asked where she could buy it for her own infant. That day, he said, he became aware of the power luxury brands had over consumers. From there, things spiraled into what would become “Wheat is Wheat is Wheat,” which serves as commentary on the practices of consumers.

Art is an interesting and creative way for people to make remarks about the state of our society. This is not a new idea. Today, Mergui comments on consumerism and street artist Banksy frequently calls for peace through his paintings on buildings and sidewalks. In the 18th century, French artist Jean-Baptiste Greuze remarked on domestic strife in many of his works of art.

You can view the photos used in this post as well as other pieces in Mergui's exhibit here.

Do you agree with Mergui’s opinion that we are buying the brand over the product?

Somerstein in Selma

By now, you’ve probably heard of the movie “Selma.” Directed by Ava DuVernay and including Oprah Winfrey in its cast, it is based on the 1965 marches from Selma to Montgomery, Ala. The marches were led and organized in part by the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, of which Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. was a member. It took five days for the marchers to reach Montgomery.

Among the photographers capturing shots of the marches was a young man named Stephen Somerstein, the picture editor for the City College of New York’s campus newspaper. He arrived in Alabama just in time for the final day of the march, but the images he captured “serve as a reality check on a history that in ‘Selma’ becomes a seductively shot and charismatically cast docu-opera” (according to the New York Times in an article published Jan. 15).

Somerstein shot around 400 photographs, 55 of which are in an exhibition at the New-York Historical Society called “Freedom Journey 1965: Photographs of the Selma to Montgomery March by Stephen Somerstein.” Images of King and other civil rights leaders, including Rosa Parks, are included, but a writer at the New Yorker believes that Somerstein’s best images are not of these great leaders, but of the crowd watching the marchers, which “[reflects] the soulful quality of Somerstein’s own role as history’s witness.”

A version of one of Somerstein’s photographs appears on one of the film’s posters. Although his images were never exhibited until around 2008, appearing only in the pages of newspapers and magazines, their effectiveness has not lessened since the day he shot them.

Photo credits: The New York Times

On the Road: John Baeder

As is the status quo in nearly any artistic medium, visual artists draw inspiration from the physical world as source material for their work. During the creative process, they reference these pictures, memories, or transcripts dozens of times until the final product is complete. Once the finished pieces go into an exhibition, the original source material is oftentimes forgotten, discarded, or stored in a shoebox beneath the artist’s bed. This is not the case, however, when we look at the work of John Baeder, whose original photographs that inspired many of his photorealistic paintings hang in the Georgia Museum of Art’s Boone and George-Ann Knox I, Rachel Cosby Conway, Alfred Heber Holbrook and Charles B Presley Family Galleries.

Baeder, though born in Indiana, was raised in Atlanta and attended Auburn University. As he made frequent trips between Georgia and Alabama, he was no stranger to the roadside eatery in rural America. From an early age he carried a camera and photographed objects—old cars, derelict buildings, and portions of dilapidated towns—that evinced the phasing out of small-town life. His paintings really strive to depict that atmosphere embodied in those old diners with signs from the 1950s.

                                                                                 John Baeder-Trailer

Baeder has primarily produced oils and watercolors, many of which are included in the collections of such museums as the High Museum of Art, the Indianapolis Museum of Art, and the Whitney Museum of American Art. His original photographs, however, present a pleasant surprise to followers of his work as they were first and foremost considered reference material. It is one thing to see the painted product of an artist’s talent and creativity; it is quite another to see, in Baeder’s first strictly photographic exhibition, the objects that influenced him. 

Instagram: Is Photography Becoming the Layman's Art?

Instagram has become incredibly popular for smart phoneusers. The app allows the user to put pictures through a variety of filters tocreate different tints and shading techniques. The founders of Instagram citePolaroid cameras as their inspiration for creating the app. As they say ontheir website “When we were kids we loved playing around with cameras-- we loved how all the old Polaroid cameras marketed themselves as “instant”(something we take for granted today). We also felt that the snapshots peoplewere taking were kind of like telegrams…-- so we figured why not combine thetwo?”

Of the two pictures below, one was taken with a film cameraand one was taken on an iPhone 4 using Instagram. Can you tell the difference?

If you guessed that the one on top is the film photo, you were correct! Not being a photographer myself, I find it difficultto differentiate between a film camera and a photo filtered through Instagram. Sullivan Roger Davis, the photographer of the above film picture, used a Leicaflex SL with lomography red scale film 501SO. TheLeicaflex SL model was only produced between 1964 and 1976. The photograph wasintentionally taken on the wrong side of the film. Davis’s explanation for this technique was because “by shooting through the emulsion, everything takes on ared tint, so it looks as though it's redscale, but it's actually an effect only captured on film, not a filter.” This technique and extensive knowledge of not only photographic technique, but also the chemical and mechanical processes of photography are lost on strictly Instagram users.

Instagram, however, can evoke an emotional response in the same way that a film photo can. Filters can distinctly change the way the viewer interacts with the photo. Consider the two pictures below.

The one on the top is my younger sisters playing at a lake. The one on the bottom is the same photograph filtered through Instagram. For me as a viewer, the bleached tones of the filtered picture make it seem aged. One seems to be looking through it into years past. It conjures childhood memories of summer time, relaxation and childhood fun. By saturating the picture with light, the photo appears to have been taken on a brilliantly sunny day. In reality, the day was quite cloudy. While the picture on the left does evoke a similar emotional response, it is not as significant as the one provoked by the Instagram-filtered picture.

Many of the editing techniques available on Instagram were previously only available to those with certain kinds of film or advanced photo-editing technology. Even then, those with the equipment to create such distinct effects needed a keen eye for color and shading in order to achieve the desired effects. Instagram has successfully removed the need for thephotographer to have any knowledge of photographic arts. The most basic pictures become ‘artsy’ when given an Instagram filter.

Perhaps in response to the layman’s adoption of advanced photographic techniques, a new type of photography is being pioneered. Panography is a form of collage. Pictures are taken of the same panoramic view and brought together to provide an accurate representation of how the eye sees. David Hockney is an important pioneer in this field. He began making his “joiners,” as he called them, in 1970. One of his earliest was a photomontage of his mother, titled “My Mother, Bolton Abbey, 1982.” Hockney was fascinated with the way the compiled photographs created a narrative. This style of photography has been likened to Cubism due to the abstract way it treats shape and color.

David Hockney, PlaceFurstenberg #I, Paris, August 7-9, 1985

ATHICA: Athens Institute for Contemporary Art, Inc. presents “Southern”

Sam Seawright, The Poet's House (Moth), 2001

ATHICA is showing its 44th exhibition, “Southern,” beginning this Saturday, Jan. 21, and running through Sunday, March 4. The exhibition features many new works exploring the emotional depth and aesthetic diversity of nine artists across four generations.

Through photography, video and sculpture, the artists present a visually rich installation that tests the boundaries between art and religion, aesthetic and documentary practice and folk and fine art.

Exhibition highlights include documentary photographs of the interior and exterior grounds of the St. Paul Spiritual Holy Temple in Memphis, Tenn.; a multimedia work addressing the relationship between the Hope Scholarship and the Georgia Lottery; and a controversial painting referencing the Ku Klux Klan that was once removed from a faculty exhibition at Gainesville College by its president.

Participating artists are Stanley Bermudez; Drék Davis; Hope Hilton; Ted Kuhn; Michael Lachowski; Judy Rushin; Sam Seawright; John Seawright; Steven Thompson; and James Perry Walker and the family of Washington Harris of the Saint Paul Spiritual Holy Temple.

The exhibition’s opening reception will be held on Saturday, Jan. 21, from 7 to 9 p.m. The curator and assistant curator of “Southern” are Judith McWillie and Lauren Williamson.

S L O W Invitational Exhibit

Gallery 307 in Lamar Dodd School of Art is currently full of works that make up the exhibition: S L O W. On view from Sept. 23 through Oct. 17, 2011, the S L O W 2011 Invitational exhibit features Stefan Chinov (photography), Brian Dettmer (book arts/sculpture), Dawn Gavin (mixed media installation), Claire Hairstans (printmaking), Zack Mory (drawing) and Annie Strader (sculpture, video, installation).

According to the Lamar Dodd website, the six featured artists are "exploring the idea of time through various media and conceptual approaches." Each work captures the intricacies of a moment in varying mediums such as graphite drawings, pinhole photographs, prints, sculptural books, video installations and installations in other media.

The gallery is open Mon. through Fri. from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. and is curated by assistant professor of art at Lamar Dodd Jon Swindler, Dr. Nell Andrew and Gallery Director Jeffrey Whittle.

Stieglitz and O'Keeffe

He was a photographer. She was an up-and-coming painter. A 24-year age difference separated the two, but that was no matter for Alfred Stieglitz and Georgia O’Keeffe. From the 1915 to 1946, the pair exchanged more than 25,000 letters, often two or three a day and up to 40 pages long. This correspondence is a testament to their relationship, and just recently the first volume of those letters was published. My Faraway One, edited by Sarah Greenough, is more than 700 pages and depicts the ups and downs of their modern-day artistic romance. For O’Keeffe, what began as an infatuation soon turned into a deep love. She wrote, “I’m getting to like you so tremendously that it sometimes scares me,” even in the early stages of their relationship, nearly a year after they first met. Stieglitz should receive some of the credit for O’Keeffe’s fame, for he was the one who first exhibited her work. In 1918, he wrote, “your letter—it’s beautiful—it’s full of passion—the Woman’s Soul—Crying for Completeness—Heart Rending—Like your work—heartrendingly beautiful.” So if you’re looking for a good read head down to your local library and take a look at My Faraway One: Selected Letters of Georgia O’Keeffe and Alfred Stieglitz.

Happy Birthday Dorothea Lange!

Born May 26, 1895. in Hoboken, N.J., Dorothea Lange was an important documentary photographer during the Great Depression. Lange studied photography at Columbia University but is best known for her portrait work of migrant workers in southern California. Hired by the Farm Security Administration (FSA) under President Franklin Roosevelt’s New Deal program, Lange documented the desperate conditions of those suffering from the tragedies of the Great Depression. Her iconic images brought the misfortunes of the rural poor to the public’s attention.

Her work is considered both portraiture and documentary due to its emotion-invoking nature. Her best-known image, “Migrant Mother, Nipoma, California, 1936,” is a perfect example of this combination. Lange was able to bring out emotion in her images, in a way that did not always exist in photography. Sadly, Lange passed away in 1965, but her work will forever be remembered for its impact on society as well as the visual arts.

Spotlight on: Anthony Goicolea

Anthony Goicolea | Poolpushers© 2001 | 70 x 50 Color Photograph [Ed. 1-6] |

71x 100 Color Photograph [Ed. 1-3]

This image is protected by Federal copyright law.

If you’ve made time to stop by our galleries over the past month and a half (and if you haven’t, you certainly should), you may already be aware that GMOA reopened its doors with five new exhibitions in addition to its permanent collection. What you may not be aware of is that one of these five, fabulous exhibitions is the work of UGA’s own Anthony Goicolea.

Born in Atlanta in 1971, Goicolea is a Cuban-American artist currently based in Brooklyn, N.Y. While at UGA in the early 1990s, he studied art history and drawing and painting. After graduating magna cum laude in 1994, Goicolea attended the Pratt Institute of Art in New York and obtained a master’s in sculpture and a minor in photography. Interestingly it was this final area of study—more specifically, his unique self-portraits in fine-art photography—that would lead Goicolea to make his debut in the art world in 1999.

Goicolea first captured widespread public attention with a series of large mural-sized photographs in an exhibition called “You and What Army.” The images depict multiple young boys on the verge of pubescence. Interestingly, with the help of costumes, wigs and digital manipulation, each character is played by Goicolea himself—making the works a unique form of self-portraiture. Many of the images recreate childhood incidents with slightly erotic and Freudian twists. As Goicolea says in his exhibition statement, “the cast of characters are seen undertaking painfully awkward transformations as they undergo the journey from childhood to adulthood and the hazy boundaries in between.” The combination of classic scenes of boyhood with science fiction-esque scenes of a cloned Goicolea in absurd and deranged situations leaves the viewer experiencing a blend of nostalgia, sympathy and fear.

As Goicolea’s work evolved and expanded into other realms—the photo above is from a group of images called “Water series”—this theme of the journey from boyhood to adolescence often reemerged, along with the use of clones. Even his “Landscape Series” contains traces of these earlier works.

“The scenarios often resemble what many of my previous sets and locations looked like after a full day of shooting,” Goicolea said in his Landscape Series statement. “Although most of the images are devoid of actual human presence, there is a strong sense of humanity established through the wake of their aftermath or in the mimicked behavior of the animals portrayed in each photograph.”

One such image, “snowscape,” contains all of these elements and has found its home on the Patsy Dudley Pate Balcony at the Georgia Museum of Art. The 60-foot-long photograph on Plexiglas melds three separate frozen landscapes into one winter narrative. According to Goicolea, this scene and his other landscapes “use the aesthetics and beauty inherent to nature and the sublime to create an exaggerated pastoral scene which bears the imprint of time.” The photo mural “snowscape” is accompanied by a video installation featuring the same snowy landscape, which is currently on view in the Alonzo and Vallye Dudley Gallery.

Among his many achievements, Goicolea has been awarded the Joan Mitchell Foundation Fellowship, the 2005 BMW Photo Paris Award and the 2006 CINTAS Fellowship. Twin Palms Press has published three books of Goicolea’s work and a collection of videos. For more information on Anthony Goicolea and to view his whole collection, please click here.