this room

Property for rent or sale transforms private space into public spectacle. Snapshots of anonymous and unfurnished rooms on the internet embody both desire and loss, and the square format pigment prints in this room begin with these found images. Screen capture, editing, scanning, and more editing yield images that become visually detached from their original context and emphasize a psychological space more than its physical dimensions.

In addition to the appropriated images, the black and white and color photographs emphasize the walls, windows, and other domestic surfaces and infuse these architectural elements with a sense of palpable human presence. The photographs employ random double exposures made in camera to establish an unlikely atmosphere.

The close and sometimes obscure scrutiny of these abstracted architectural compositions implicate the viewer’s, and especially the artist’s, presence. Domestic objects, such as bedding, shades, and electrical outlets provide this content by conveying a sense of familiar intimacy, even though the viewer may be seeing these particular objects for the first time. These spaces contain the residue of human activity, and the formal containment imbues these ordinary settings with a mysterious significance, making them objects for contemplation rather than windows into reality.

sash

windows (color)

hayworth

outlet

mist

90039 (2619)

windows (black&white)

oven

90039 (3152)