deankessmann

A Layered History of Art: From Semitransparent to Opaque

archival pigment print, 58 x 480 inches, 2014
edition 1/1 (print) and edition 1/1 (duratrans)
archival pigment print, 58 x 480 inches, 2014
edition 1/1 (print) and edition 1/1 (duratrans)

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A Layered History of Art: From Semitransparent to Opaque

Over the years, my work has moved from deconstructing one of the most widely read religious texts, to manipulating contemporary art magazines, to examining blank sheets of white and colored paper, and now, to tearing apart and re-composing one of the most widely used art history survey textbooks written in the last fifty years, Janson’s History of Art. In each of these projects the source material was transformed—systematically copied, reproduced, and re-presented to the viewers—yet to some extent, these transformations merely held a mirror to the thing itself, as many photographs do. However, on another level, while the re-presentation of books and magazines in my work reveal less information than what the originals contain, they simultaneously open up the originals to more interpretations and varied meanings. To create this piece, Janson’s History of Art was literally deconstructed by removing every single page from the binding, individually scanning them on a high-resolution scanner that passes light through the sheets of paper, and then re-combining the individual files into a single, massive digital document. It is an exact, one-to-one replication of every single page of this text, while at the same time, the information contained between the covers has been overlapped and layered in ways not possible with the book in its original format. The result is a new rendition, a visual remix that further complicates the line between fact and fiction. A Layered History of Art: From Semitransparent to Opaque has enabled me to venture into new territory by creating my most ambitious project to date. Yet, when moving forward one should always keep an eye on the rear-view and side-view mirrors, all the while remembering that the reflected objects—in this case, the history of art—are often closer than they appear.