Limits of Photography review

The show Limits of Photography, currently on display at the Museum of Contemporary Photography, proclaims to test both the boundaries of perception and the boundaries of creation. At what point does the photographic medium lose credibility as a convincing window unto the world and how might we reach that point through an investment in experimental technique, the show's statement asks us. One might expect from a statement like this an interesting inquiry into expressive photographic works, but an actual look at the exhibition shows that Limits of Photography is a rather lackluster portrayal of works by artists that are doing little more than digging through the ideologies of Pictorialism in an unimaginative fashion.

One likes to think that first impressions are superseded by the critical eye in analyzing visual culture. But one cannot help but be disappointed by the first artist the viewer is confronted with in Limits of Photography: Rhona Shand. This artist's plethora of images is composed of digitally manipulated photographs that speak to an intention of heart-on-your-sleeve catharsis. Indeed, Shand's statement mentions her goal of unearthing aspects of her own identity. Through the use of expressive manipulation and the content of self-exploration through symbolism and vagueness, Shand's images follow a little too closely in line with the ethos of the original Pictorialists. They offer nothing new to the line of inquiry Limits of Photography proposes to make. This dull Pictorial revivalism cannot be seen more clearly anywhere in the show than in Shand's image Untitled (Bad Girl), a distorted digital portrait that adopts the painterly aesthetic of Impressionism.

The second impression of Limits of Photography is not much of a step up from Rhona Shand's painterly digital images. Next we see the works of Sally Ketcham whose work in this show is composed of digital collages of maps and photographs of colloquial California culture then further embellished with paint and found objects. The pieces are in much the same expressive vein of Shand's work but the use of multimedia admittedly does make them more aesthetically engaging. On an ideological basis however, the images are haphazard to say the least. While the incorporation of photographs of shopping malls, big cars, and highway maps might steer us towards a meaningful and didactic political read of the work, the gestural paint strokes seem to antithetically point to an "any interpretation goes" mindset. Through this juxtaposition, the viewer is led to question whether or not Ketcham has endowed any sense of responsibility or stance in her use of strong political imagery.

Dry "Neo-Pictorialism" makes a comeback in Limits of Photography when we see the work of John Brill taking up the entire second floor of MoCP. While Rhona Shand might follow almost perfectly in line with an antiquated philosophy of photography, she at least has the saving grace of updating her aesthetic with new digital technologies. Brill on the other hand lacks distinction conceptually and visually: images with titles such as Visitation and Emanations depicting canonical subject matter are printed on a small scale using ennobled techniques and then hung in wooden frames that seem even older than the pictures. So thorough is Brill's marching to the beat of Alfred Stieglitz's drum that one is drawn to the statement on the wall just to make sure that this work isn't some kind of ironic installation. Nope, nothing there pointing us to believe that this is a mimetic joke. Just a paradoxical remark about Brill's intent to incite the scientific method in his images. There is certainly no science here other than the chemistry of "ennobled" printing processes. On the contrary, Brill's images suffer from a sugary sweet overdose of subjectivity.

Despite these three mentioned pitfalls of MoCP's current exhibition (and there are more to be sure), it's unfair to say that the show entirely lacks successful pieces. Chris Naka's I Can't Feel My Face, projected in MoCP's stairwell space between the second and third floors, is of exceptional quality. In this video work, Naka uses an iPhone to film himself using the touchscreen of an iPad to manipulate photographs captured using a cell phone. Naka ruminates on the necessity for a tactile element in engaging with personal images that have been rendered into the "world of slick and sterile digital imagery". While the subject matter of this piece is certainly rooted in the idiosyncratic images one takes with a cell phone camera, the piece takes a more interesting overall stance on the continuing need for sensation when using digital artifacts to interface with computers.¹

The Museum of Contemporary Photography's current exhibition Limits of Photography rather unfortunately falls short of its ambitious statement. The show does offer an extensive showcasing of work exploring the overlapping elements of expression, the limitations of perception, digital experimentation, and photography but the end result is rather insipid and somewhat disappointing. However, this isn't to say that Limits of Photography is a bombshell of a show. If nothing else, this exhibition is worth slogging through just to see Naka's video work at the end.

1. I use the term artifact in reference to the interface designer Douglas Engelbart's utilization of the term to refer to any material object that can be physically manipulated while operating a computer.