Art Bond NY | Agora Gallery
Shai Kremer
Sabrina Gilbertson
Shai Kremer Perception #5
William Atkinson Stand Fast
About the Artist
Someone from the Ministry of Truth destroys a politically inconvenient image: "He dropped the
photograph into the memory hole, along with some other waste papers. Within another minute,
perhaps, it would have crumbled into ashes." Orwell, 1984.
This new conceptual series references the Orwellian dystopia 1984, and question the role and
evolution of photography. In art history, smoke was often used as a metaphor for progress. I use it
here instead as a signifier of ambivalence and regression. Smoke's nebulousness highlights how
facts get blurred in today’s “post-truth” era. The images evoke fear of the unknown, mutation of
relationships, or current theme like nuclear threat, feminism, Islamophobia, healthcare, bullying, and
an overall heightened unpredictability.
The concept of "photograph as evidence" has been challenged since the beginning of photography.
What is new, as noted by William Daviesaug in his New York Times article (The Age of Post-Truth
Politics, 8/24/2016) is that "We are in the middle of a transition from a society of facts to a society of
data. During this interim, confusion abounds surrounding the exact status of knowledge and numbers
in public life, exacerbating the sense that truth itself is being abandoned. [...] The place to start in
understanding this transition is with the spread of “smart” technologies into everyday life [...] Thanks
to the presence of smartphones and smartcards in our pockets, the dramatic uptake of social media,
the rise of e-commerce as a means of purchasing goods and services, and the spread of sensory
devices across public spaces, we leave a vast quantity of data in our wake as we go about our daily
activities [...] The oversupply of facts due to the emergence of an industry for facts (market-research
companies, think-tanks, social media ... with all varying sources, varying methods and varying levels
of credibility) is challenging the idea of “evidence-based policy” in an allegedly post-ideological age”.
We are now witnessing the proliferation of fake news, debunked claims, and the newly coined
“alternative facts”. Most are supported by edited or fabricated visuals, in the news, on social media,
on Internet ...But there is nothing new about the fact that a photograph is always decontextualized. It
always leaves out more than it shows. However, with the accelerated production and distribution of
images through "the internet of things", we loose our sense of scale and materiality. With smoke
replacing the inkblots, the images resemble Rorschach tests: perhaps telling us something about a
society alienated from facts and materiality...
Shai Kremer is an Israeli conceptual photographer whose work has generated worldwide critical acclaim. Kremer’s Perception series, explores the subliminal effects of our individual psychology that influences our interpretation and perception of the powerful and mysterious imagery the artist creates in his studio. Earlier projects include his multi-year series of large scale works, Concrete Abstract, that offer a look at the reconstruction effort at the site of the World Trade Center through the use of multiple image overlays that span the construction from 2001 to 2012. Kremer’s 2010 series, Notes From the Edges, concentrates on views of New York from its perimeter, emphasizing the dichotomy of destruction and reconstruction. Kremer focused his lens on the lesser-known landscapes that exist in the periphery, where the urban structure begins to decay and rejoin with nature. His early series, Infected Landscape and Fallen Empires, examined contested territories throughout Israel where the Israeli-Palestinian conflict has left an indelible imprint on both the land and the psyche of its inhabitants.
Shai Kremer was born in Israel and now lives and works in New York. His work has been featured in solo and group exhibitions worldwide, including Exposed: Voyeurism, Surveillance and the Camera at The San Francisco Museum of Modern Art and the Tate Modern, London in 2010; Looking In, Looking Out: The Window in Art at the Israel Museum in 2010; Reality Check at The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York in 2008, the 2007 Guangzhou Photo Biennale in Canton, China; Loaded Landscape at the Museum of Contemporary Photography, Chicago, IL in 2007, Engagement-Contemporary Photography at the Israel Art Museum in Jerusalem in 2007, and Disengagement at the Tel Aviv Museum of Art, Israel in 2006. His photographs are in the collections of the Metropolitan Museum of Art; San Francisco Museum of Modern Art; Museum of Fine Arts, Houston; Israel Art Museum, Jerusalem; Tel Aviv Museum of Art, Israel; and the Museum of Contemporary Photography, Chicago, IL, among others. There are two monographs of Kremer’s work: Fallen Empires (2011) and Infected Landscape: Israel, Broken Promised Land (2008), both published by Dewi Lewis Publishing.
Contemporary artist William Atkinson has been active in the art world for over a decade. Atkinson’s work first took the form of street art in Los Angeles, where he worked under the pseudonym ‘Insurgency Inc.’ As his artwork migrated into the gallery setting, the artist began labeling the paintings with his given name, William Atkinson. While the artist continues to utilize elements from street art, such as symbolism and familiar imagery in artworks, his current work focuses predominantly on personal expression rather than an anonymous cultural critique.
Atkinson’s multi-media works combine imagery from his day-to-day life with imagery from pop culture and street art, which are assembled into collaged pieces. Atkinson applies dynamic brush strokes and lines in a gestural mode to contrast the graphic imagery and leaves his makings exposed and unedited. The lack of shading, and inclusion of negative space allows for a focus on both form and symbolism. The diverse range of materials, source imagery, and the artist’s re-contextualization of figures and text prompt all viewers to consider new paths and perspectives of critical thought.
Exhibiting Artists