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January 25 - April 6, 2003
Santa Fe, NM
SITE Santa Fe presents Nic Nicosia. This exhibition will include 10
large-scale photographs and a video projection, as well as a new film commissioned
by SITE Santa Fe. The exhibition will be on view at SITE Santa Fe January
25, 2003 through April 6, 2003, with a free public opening reception Friday,
January 24, from 6 to 7 pm. There will be a gallery talk with the artist at
5 pm on Saturday, January 25.
By combining miniature sets with multigenerational actors and life-size objects,
Nicosia creates disorienting, fanciful imagery. Over the course of his career
Nicosia has explored his world through situations staged for the camera. Mixing
reality and fantasy, Nicosia has expertly uncovered the unseemly truths about
middle-American life, exposing the fear, horror, lust, violence, perversion,
and humor that bubble beneath a perfectly manicured faade. In an age where
truth can be stranger than fiction, Nicosia creates a world that hovers somewhere
in between.
Nicosia began making photographs in the late 1970s at a time when the modernist
dogma of photography was under fire. While modern masters such as Ansel Adams
and Edward Weston had extolled the camera's ability to capture and deliver
truth, a new generation emerged that questioned photography's authority and
sought to expose its inherent artificiality. These young photographers staged
tableaux and manipulated their works, all the while using the "truthfulness"
of the medium to create believable fictions. Rather than adhere to established
tenets, these artists demonstrated a concern for idea, content, and a visually
significant statement.
Nicosia's work is concerned with the information that is received from a photograph,
and he shoots his images with that in mind. Nicosia's new series, Untitled
2002, is closely based on images that appeared in the artist's dreams -- bits
of mind flotsam organized into incomprehensible dramas. His new film, entitled
SaFe at 360° and commissioned by SITE Santa Fe, turns the camera
on the Southwestern landscapes that motivated Nicosia to make numerous road
trips. While creating the film, Nicosia photographed panoramic highway views
between Dallas and Santa Fe, Taos and Santa Fe, and Albuquerque and Santa
Fe. He then created miniature sets of the landscapes, and rephotographed the
sets. The film will be accompanied by a soundtrack produced by the artist.
Three of Nicosia's videos--Cerchi e Quadratti, Moving Picture, and
Middletown--will be projected with sound on the east side of SITE Santa
Fe's building every Friday evening after dark during the run of the exhibition.
Nicosia was born in Dallas in 1951, the second of four children. He has spent
his whole life living and working in Dallas. Nicosia attended the University
of North Texas where he earned a degree in radio, television, and film.
Nic Nicosia is organized by SITE Santa Fe, courtesy of the artist;
Dunn and Brown Contemporary, Dallas; and P.P.O.W., New York. SITE Santa Fe's
Projection Room is partially funded by Sharp Electronics Corporation. Concurrent
with Nic Nicosia, SITE Santa Fe will present a survey of works
by the acclaimed Venezuelan artist Jos Antonio Hernández-Diez,
organized by the New Museum of Contemporary Art, New York, and co-curated
by Dan Cameron, senior curator, and Gerardo Mosquera, adjunct curator, New
Museum of Contemporary Art.
SITE Santa Fe is located at 1606 Paseo de Peralta, Santa Fe, New Mexico. Exhibition
hours are Wednesday through Sunday, 10:00 a.m. - 5:00 pm; Friday, 10:00 am
- 7:00 pm. Admission is $5.00 for adults and $2.50 for students and seniors;
members are free. Free admission is offered on Fridays, made possible by a
grant from The Brown Foundation, Inc., Houston. Free guided tours are offered
on Fridays at 6:00 pm and Saturdays and Sundays at 2:00 pm. Tours in Spanish
are by appointment. SITE Santa Fe gift certificates are available. Call 505.989.1199
for more information. This announcement is partially funded by the City of
Santa Fe Arts Commission and the 1% Lodgers' Tax.
Contact: Press Office
Tel: 505.989.1199
Fax:505.989.1188
email: press@sitesantafe.org
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Untitled,
2002
Courtesy of the artist, Dunn and Brown Contemporary, Dallas, P.P.O.W., New York
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