Ear Flower by Alexander Reben

Ear Flower2023

Marble36 x 19 1/2 x 14 1/2 in / 91.4 x 49.5 x 36.8 cmEdition of 3, 1 AP

Reben’s decision to create images that simulate installation shots of sculpture layers histories of representation upon one another. One history of both sculpture and photography has been to represent, document, even simulate some “real” thing. Both are caught up with notions of time— its fleeting qualities and capture— to which age then adds a romantic veneer, a psychosocial inflection with more problematic nostalgic tendencies. Though sculpture doesn’t serve photography, photography plays a significant role in sculpture’s dissemination, becoming a representation of a representation with formal qualities that then form how we expect to see the object in front of us.The art historical method of black and white photography with high contrast, clear shadows, isolated position, within a blank environment codified a homogenized scale for sculpture, extracting the form from any context for an imagined objective viewer whose sensitivity to details would produce comparative exegeses. The recent conversation on sculptural chroma offers just one approach to debunking this legacy and revealing that what we see guides how we think. The outputs of popular AI generators were first criticized for error producing shadows, amusingly ignoring why they might be desired within a virtual situation. Reben’s playful turning around art history and technology’s visual devices doesn’t judge but offers audiences the opportunity to reconsider the foundations of our critique.

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