civilized ku # 101 ~ doppelganger
Monday, September 22, 2008 at 10:44AM 
Lower Manhattan from Brooklyn • click to embiggenIt was a delightful weather-wise weekend in Manahattan.
On Saturday, I (and my friend Robert) pulled ourselves away from watching the USA kick the Euro-trash golfers around the old golf course and went over to Dumbo, a Brooklyn neighborhood located right on the East River under and around the Brooklyn Bridge. Dumbo is emerging, or attempting to, as one of NYC's premier arts districts (with an emphasis a photography galleries in particular).
It seems to have a way to go in that quest but we did stumble upon one very interesting photo exhibition, DOPPELGANGER by Cornelia Hediger at the Klompching Gallery.
From the exhibition statement:
In this richly colorful series, the persona of the artist is the central figure, performing a psychological struggle with her doppelgänger — a fictional ghostly double of a living person, widely understood as sinister and a harbinger of bad luck. These striking images will amuse, challenge, intrigue and captivate the viewer.
04.01.07 • click to embiggen
Each image is constructed from six to nine photographs, employing a device which is increasingly prevalent in contemporary photography — that of the tableau-vivant, in which a pictorial narrative is carefully choreographed into a single image. Through the presentation of different characters, Hediger explores notions of the uncanny, the conscious / unconscious and moral ambiguity — perceptively juxtaposed with a fine-drawn level of dry humor.
Without prevaricating around the bush, let me state un-categorically that I really like this work. Left unchecked by common sense (and the wife), I'd be inclined to own quite a few of these pictures with my first choice being the picture, 04.01.07, displayed with this entry.
Any comments and/or opinions?
Reader Comments (3)
Mark,
How big were the prints? I like her work. I can also see why you appreciate it. Her use of color and form is just intentional enough to tie the different images together, but they don't overpower the narrative that is developed through the subjects behind the camera and the technique used to create the images.
My first reaction was to think that much of this kind of art would be dismissed by many photographers and online photo critique sites. Which is too bad, because I think it's high time we put a little more thought into why we make pictures.
@ matt:
"My first reaction was to think that much of this kind of art would be dismissed by many photographers and online photo critique sites."
'tis the truth. Before I left all of those photo sharing/critique places, my images had very low views and barely any comments?
'How big were the prints?' is a bit of a key, if we are going to talk about why things don't play well on photo sites around the web.
size matters after all. I think Aaron's images probably don't read so well on a small screen either, compared to their more natural viewing size?