Taube Art Museum Biennial Photo Exhibit

Tonight after work I popped in at the Taube to check out the exhibit since I'll miss the reception on Thursday. This is the second photo show that the Taube has put on for local photographers. The collection comes from the lenses of amateurs, students, and professionals. ​Both shows have been nice surveys of what those photographers are looking at...it appears a lot of pretty nature shots and old buildings. I suspect that this is what most people want from photographs...something pretty to put on their wall...likely on canvas, possibly with overwrought HDR and selective coloring. Its fine I guess (well not in my classes its not), its just not very interesting to me. One of my hopes as I teach is to help students see the difference between mere decoration and replication of the world around them and using photography as way to convey ideas. 

Below are shots of my 3 pieces in the show. They are some of the pieces that I made on my Visiting Artist gig down at Northwestern College last month. The work certainly stands out from other work in the show...for one, its 3d. Additionally its not "pretty landscapes, but image transfers, photo-lithographs, and its a mix of original and appropriated imagery on plywood. While I will be at my reception at the University of Dayton in Ohio on Thursday night, I am curious what the general public has to say about the work...if anything. 

My cynical side suspects that those eavesdropping might hear, "Why is that art?", "Why is that photography?", "Why?." Now, if they ask with genuine interest rather than dismissiveness, then the work is partially successful.