COLE
ROBERTSON Portfolio |
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Statement One should not
look at anything. Neither at things, nor at people should one look. Only in
mirrors is it well to look, for mirrors do but show us masks. Oscar Wilde, Salome I like photography—its histories,
languages, and endless ability to move between genres, functionalities, and
industries. I teach, write, work, play, curate, and create among this imagescape; through
transmutation, alteration, animation, destruction, etc. I disrupt the transaction
between viewer and image, hoping through visual disconnect to provoke
analysis and hinder absorption. The totality of my practice lies on the uneasy
boundaries between aesthetic pleasure, pure scholarship, and pedagogy. That
is to say, I try to communicate my ideas about photography—its
histories, practices, and peculiarities—through multiple media. |
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An ongoing (2012-present) body of work is Toward a unified field theory of
photography. This site-specific installation functions as a mind map and
a selective survey of my personal imagescape. Small
prints are taped directly to the wall, with drawn lines and color-coded tape
reflecting technical, formal, conceptual, or arbitrary connections between
images. Some of these images are happenstance, created when I pause a DVD,
while others are selected from an almost infinite continuum and deliberately recontextualized to create alternate realities. The
series also includes image culture detritus like Facebook status updates,
face tag prompts, etc.—moments of accidental juxtaposition that
transcend their origins. Dimensions: variable, generally 4x12Õ minimum
space is needed |
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These images represent a new (2015-present)
project titled touch piece. An installation
of small, Xerox-style prints of famous photographic child nudes laid out on a
table, the images are screenprinted with thermochromic inks to disappear when handled and reappear
when relinquished. Dimensions: 4x6Ó each print, laid out on a 6Õ table |
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Saccade is a multidisciplinary work
that uses the phenomenon of chronostasis (the
Òstopped clockÓ effect of rapid eye movement) and its relationship to the
lingering male gaze of cinema and photography. This piece uses video gaming
technology to track a viewerÕs eye movements as s/he looks at a photograph;
in this iteration, the viewer looks at the Òfalse iconÓ of Marilyn Monroe in The Seven Year Itch, an image that
doesnÕt appear in its head-to-toe entirety in the film. Dimensions: Variable and site-specific; installation consists of ~30x40Ó wall image, vision
tracking glasses, CPU, and possibly projector. |
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Encompassing entropy, degradation, data loss,
and class pictures, Generation is a
side-by-side comparison of a mother and son's photographs running through a
repeated image compression program. View here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=25r0ktyLXhM Dimensions: variable. Ideally, this piece would
be small-scale on a computer. |
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Subject/object
Relations
(2011) is a photomontage of medical illustrations, as well as rumination on
the power of looking. This piece can be installed as a large-scale flat print
work or a paneled piece that pushes out into the viewerÕs space. Dimensions: 36x60Ó (panel iteration) or 84x96Ó
(flat print iteration) |
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afterbefore (2010-13) is comprised of GIF
animations. The source images are derived from low-end mail order catalogs, where
before and after pictures encapsulate the hope of change, of evolution. When
animated, tricks of lighting and image manipulation are revealed as the
images toggle back and forth in an endless cycle of change and reversion.
This project consists of lenticular animation prints and GIFs. Dimensions: 36x36Ó |
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This image represents a small selection of an
ongoing (2003-present) related project titled Cellmates, which is a carefully selected grouping of images
hoarded on my cellphone camera. Dimensions: 5x5Ó each, framed. Installation
dimensions variable and site-specific. |
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