Untitled 1988
My work utilizes the photographic medium to mediate between cultural signs/symbols and personal associations. The work reveals the dichotomy between what is learned and what is experimental - illuminating the gap in meaning which underlies the reading of an accepted visual language.
This piece is made up of six panels, each panel containing two elements: a color image of a hand holding a telephone receiver and a black and white iconic shape. The telephone image, which is the same in each panel, becomes a contextual element. Its ambiguous action and precise repetition subvert a conventional narrative reading and forces a non-linear personal response.
The black and white shapes initially elicit a conditioned recognition but upon closer viewing reveal a complex network of interior signs and symbols which undermine the original interpretation and again extends meaning into the realm of individual experience.
The configuration of signs and imagery in this piece reorders the learned reading of visual information and presents multiple layers of meaning in the transition from a public to a private interpretation.
