Most of the time when I look at conceptual art, I get bored. And that has usually carried over to the school of staged photography. The work too often depends essentially on the accompanying text explaining what one is supposed to think about the images, which by that point are entirely dispensable. In the March 2011 issue of Color, however, my predispositions were put by the side. The issue (not up on-line yet I think) has a spread of images by Robin Lasser with text by Trena Noval. The images come from several different projects by Lasser, two of which I think powerful and successful -- Floating World, and Eating DIsorders. The Floating Worlds images involve placement of constructed lit tents in urban locations. There is a discussion with images here. The project, no doubt, has a narrative element, or rather, an attached disquisition and polemic about shelter and geography. I think this project works because the images lead back to the other content, and both sides stand independently. (I should note that there are very different qualities to the images in the magazine and those on the sites linked to above; unfortunately.) The images are well made (art least those I've seen), formal composition, and so on. After the images, the text was something I wanted to read.
The other project -- Eating Disorders -- is also worth the look. And it is even more surprising for me, because on the surface it reeks of Holzer. Holzer is the apex of postcard makers, but that is it. These pieces jump above that, they are more than odd advertising slogans. I am doubtful that I can yet explain or identify why Lasser's work strikes me so differently from Holzer.
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