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print this pageTroubled by Beauty; Looking Through a Glass, Darkly
Robert Calafiore
Friday, November 08 - 4:00PM to 4:45PM
My work attempts to truthfully document and share my experience of beauty. In the current work, a camera obscura is used to expose this troubled ideal. The unique power of this simple box to incomparably translate and transform the subject, revealing an invisible image, is the basis for this work. These photographs investigate and question my understanding of beauty and it's relevance today. What is it? Who defines it? What purpose does it have and who does it serve? How has it changed? What role does it play in art making? How does it change across cultures, age groups, gender, and from the general public to the fine art world.
Visual influences are wide ranging and many, but most notable are icons of my cultural history, including such things as bathtub grottos, church altars and everyday kitsch. Through family, I have been collecting vintage glass from 50's and 60's, the time at which they immigrated to the United States. These objects hold personal history and stories that reveal details about my life and the beauty in living. I use these glass pieces to build still life sets that speak to my beautiful experiences throughout life thus far.
The primary interest driving my investigation is the unending stream of images from commercial and social media, which have served to both open up the world as well as reduce it to an unnatural homogeneous state. This neutralizing effect limits our ability to be surprised, to discover, or to designate anything as locally unique. Celebrated as a vehicle for learning, it silently strips away our individuality and curiosity through it's incomprehensible expanding reach. Driven by rapidly developing digital technology, this tidal wave of information, access and tools is left behind in my work in favor of a simple process and methodology that in itself is beautiful.
The human capacity for seeing all of what surrounds us is challenged. My studio practice is inspired by this fascination and obsession to transcend and elevate the ordinary to an unfamiliar and beautiful/magical place. This growing inability to stay focused, study, observe, and concentrate our attention, for more than a split second, on anything around us is fascinating and has remarkable and yet unseen implications for the future.
A handmade pinhole camera, measuring 40"x30"x30", is used to make these unique 40"x30" C-Prints. In this series, stacks of ordinary glass objects collected from family are used as the subjecta vehicle for documenting my story. Shape, color and environment are considered as the precariously balanced towers are arranged in the studio. The subject is lit and exposed to a light sensitive sheet of photographic color paper. Manipulation happens only during the exposure and is recorded by the paper. There are no film negatives and no use of digital technology, making each of these photographs, one-of-a-kind.
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