Unique cutout Silver Gelatin Works
Variable Sizes
1/1
2018-1029
“Paradoxically, Cartagena’s approach involves the destruction, rather than the preservation, of the photographs. With a sharp blade, he excises details, either allowing the voids to remain or reconfiguring the original composition by moving the cut fragments. He then organizes the altered photographs into a series of grids. The grids emphasize a repetition of forms that make the individual photographs both strange and familiar. Cartagena’s arrangements reveal that seemingly crucial aspects of a photograph—a face or a figure—are both central and incidental to our ability to understand the works. He compels us to consider how meaning in a photograph is structured and how photography has come to structure the meaningful events of our lives. In his final act as artist-archivist, Cartagena creates a new context for the altered photographs by bringing them into the museum. The former castoffs have now become unique objects created by the hand of the artist. In the context of the museum, Cartagena situates the photographs in the exalted domain of art”. — Heather A. Shannon, Ph.D. Associate Curator George Eastman Museum
In Photo Structure, through a meticulous and potentially failure-prone process, I am stripping these physical images from their direct representations by removing figures to create unique cutout silver gelatin prints. The result, Photo Structure, is a photographic structure that emerges from within the image and speaks to how we build what we see in most photographs. The photographic medium has used format, material, aesthetic and lighting structures to create a standard version of ourselves. Everything feels the same and what is left is a cultural construct of how we have built our identities through images. This series of Dismembered representations also connote larger issues in my Latin America, where we have become ‘no one’ in the midst of our social and political crisis. In the end, it seems anyone can disappear, and no one will ever give us answers.
Limited Edition Prints Available through: Assembly. Patricia Conde Gallery. Kopeikin Gallery. Edelman Gallery. Etherton Gallery. Circuit Gallery
Unique cutout Silver Gelatin Works
Variable Sizes
1/1
2018-1029
“Paradoxically, Cartagena’s approach involves the destruction, rather than the preservation, of the photographs. With a sharp blade, he excises details, either allowing the voids to remain or reconfiguring the original composition by moving the cut fragments. He then organizes the altered photographs into a series of grids. The grids emphasize a repetition of forms that make the individual photographs both strange and familiar. Cartagena’s arrangements reveal that seemingly crucial aspects of a photograph—a face or a figure—are both central and incidental to our ability to understand the works. He compels us to consider how meaning in a photograph is structured and how photography has come to structure the meaningful events of our lives. In his final act as artist-archivist, Cartagena creates a new context for the altered photographs by bringing them into the museum. The former castoffs have now become unique objects created by the hand of the artist. In the context of the museum, Cartagena situates the photographs in the exalted domain of art”. — Heather A. Shannon, Ph.D. Associate Curator George Eastman Museum
In Photo Structure, through a meticulous and potentially failure-prone process, I am stripping these physical images from their direct representations by removing figures to create unique cutout silver gelatin prints. The result, Photo Structure, is a photographic structure that emerges from within the image and speaks to how we build what we see in most photographs. The photographic medium has used format, material, aesthetic and lighting structures to create a standard version of ourselves. Everything feels the same and what is left is a cultural construct of how we have built our identities through images. This series of Dismembered representations also connote larger issues in my Latin America, where we have become ‘no one’ in the midst of our social and political crisis. In the end, it seems anyone can disappear, and no one will ever give us answers.
Limited Edition Prints Available through: Assembly. Patricia Conde Gallery. Kopeikin Gallery. Edelman Gallery. Etherton Gallery. Circuit Gallery
Unique cutout Silver Gelatin Works
Variable Sizes
1/1
2018-1029
“Paradoxically, Cartagena’s approach involves the destruction, rather than the preservation, of the photographs. With a sharp blade, he excises details, either allowing the voids to remain or reconfiguring the original composition by moving the cut fragments. He then organizes the altered photographs into a series of grids. The grids emphasize a repetition of forms that make the individual photographs both strange and familiar. Cartagena’s arrangements reveal that seemingly crucial aspects of a photograph—a face or a figure—are both central and incidental to our ability to understand the works. He compels us to consider how meaning in a photograph is structured and how photography has come to structure the meaningful events of our lives. In his final act as artist-archivist, Cartagena creates a new context for the altered photographs by bringing them into the museum. The former castoffs have now become unique objects created by the hand of the artist. In the context of the museum, Cartagena situates the photographs in the exalted domain of art”. — Heather A. Shannon, Ph.D. Associate Curator George Eastman Museum
In Photo Structure, through a meticulous and potentially failure-prone process, I am stripping these physical images from their direct representations by removing figures to create unique cutout silver gelatin prints. The result, Photo Structure, is a photographic structure that emerges from within the image and speaks to how we build what we see in most photographs. The photographic medium has used format, material, aesthetic and lighting structures to create a standard version of ourselves. Everything feels the same and what is left is a cultural construct of how we have built our identities through images. This series of Dismembered representations also connote larger issues in my Latin America, where we have become ‘no one’ in the midst of our social and political crisis. In the end, it seems anyone can disappear, and no one will ever give us answers.
Limited Edition Prints Available through: Assembly. Patricia Conde Gallery. Kopeikin Gallery. Edelman Gallery. Etherton Gallery. Circuit Gallery
Unique cutout Silver Gelatin Works
Variable Sizes
1/1
2018-1029
“Paradoxically, Cartagena’s approach involves the destruction, rather than the preservation, of the photographs. With a sharp blade, he excises details, either allowing the voids to remain or reconfiguring the original composition by moving the cut fragments. He then organizes the altered photographs into a series of grids. The grids emphasize a repetition of forms that make the individual photographs both strange and familiar. Cartagena’s arrangements reveal that seemingly crucial aspects of a photograph—a face or a figure—are both central and incidental to our ability to understand the works. He compels us to consider how meaning in a photograph is structured and how photography has come to structure the meaningful events of our lives. In his final act as artist-archivist, Cartagena creates a new context for the altered photographs by bringing them into the museum. The former castoffs have now become unique objects created by the hand of the artist. In the context of the museum, Cartagena situates the photographs in the exalted domain of art”. — Heather A. Shannon, Ph.D. Associate Curator George Eastman Museum
In Photo Structure, through a meticulous and potentially failure-prone process, I am stripping these physical images from their direct representations by removing figures to create unique cutout silver gelatin prints. The result, Photo Structure, is a photographic structure that emerges from within the image and speaks to how we build what we see in most photographs. The photographic medium has used format, material, aesthetic and lighting structures to create a standard version of ourselves. Everything feels the same and what is left is a cultural construct of how we have built our identities through images. This series of Dismembered representations also connote larger issues in my Latin America, where we have become ‘no one’ in the midst of our social and political crisis. In the end, it seems anyone can disappear, and no one will ever give us answers.
Limited Edition Prints Available through: Assembly. Patricia Conde Gallery. Kopeikin Gallery. Edelman Gallery. Etherton Gallery. Circuit Gallery
Unique cutout Silver Gelatin Works
Variable Sizes
1/1
2018-1029
“Paradoxically, Cartagena’s approach involves the destruction, rather than the preservation, of the photographs. With a sharp blade, he excises details, either allowing the voids to remain or reconfiguring the original composition by moving the cut fragments. He then organizes the altered photographs into a series of grids. The grids emphasize a repetition of forms that make the individual photographs both strange and familiar. Cartagena’s arrangements reveal that seemingly crucial aspects of a photograph—a face or a figure—are both central and incidental to our ability to understand the works. He compels us to consider how meaning in a photograph is structured and how photography has come to structure the meaningful events of our lives. In his final act as artist-archivist, Cartagena creates a new context for the altered photographs by bringing them into the museum. The former castoffs have now become unique objects created by the hand of the artist. In the context of the museum, Cartagena situates the photographs in the exalted domain of art”. — Heather A. Shannon, Ph.D. Associate Curator George Eastman Museum
In Photo Structure, through a meticulous and potentially failure-prone process, I am stripping these physical images from their direct representations by removing figures to create unique cutout silver gelatin prints. The result, Photo Structure, is a photographic structure that emerges from within the image and speaks to how we build what we see in most photographs. The photographic medium has used format, material, aesthetic and lighting structures to create a standard version of ourselves. Everything feels the same and what is left is a cultural construct of how we have built our identities through images. This series of Dismembered representations also connote larger issues in my Latin America, where we have become ‘no one’ in the midst of our social and political crisis. In the end, it seems anyone can disappear, and no one will ever give us answers.
Limited Edition Prints Available through: Assembly. Patricia Conde Gallery. Kopeikin Gallery. Edelman Gallery. Etherton Gallery. Circuit Gallery
Unique cutout Silver Gelatin Works
Variable Sizes
1/1
2018-1029
“Paradoxically, Cartagena’s approach involves the destruction, rather than the preservation, of the photographs. With a sharp blade, he excises details, either allowing the voids to remain or reconfiguring the original composition by moving the cut fragments. He then organizes the altered photographs into a series of grids. The grids emphasize a repetition of forms that make the individual photographs both strange and familiar. Cartagena’s arrangements reveal that seemingly crucial aspects of a photograph—a face or a figure—are both central and incidental to our ability to understand the works. He compels us to consider how meaning in a photograph is structured and how photography has come to structure the meaningful events of our lives. In his final act as artist-archivist, Cartagena creates a new context for the altered photographs by bringing them into the museum. The former castoffs have now become unique objects created by the hand of the artist. In the context of the museum, Cartagena situates the photographs in the exalted domain of art”. — Heather A. Shannon, Ph.D. Associate Curator George Eastman Museum
In Photo Structure, through a meticulous and potentially failure-prone process, I am stripping these physical images from their direct representations by removing figures to create unique cutout silver gelatin prints. The result, Photo Structure, is a photographic structure that emerges from within the image and speaks to how we build what we see in most photographs. The photographic medium has used format, material, aesthetic and lighting structures to create a standard version of ourselves. Everything feels the same and what is left is a cultural construct of how we have built our identities through images. This series of Dismembered representations also connote larger issues in my Latin America, where we have become ‘no one’ in the midst of our social and political crisis. In the end, it seems anyone can disappear, and no one will ever give us answers.
Limited Edition Prints Available through: Assembly. Patricia Conde Gallery. Kopeikin Gallery. Edelman Gallery. Etherton Gallery. Circuit Gallery
Unique cutout Silver Gelatin Works
Variable Sizes
1/1
2018-1029
“Paradoxically, Cartagena’s approach involves the destruction, rather than the preservation, of the photographs. With a sharp blade, he excises details, either allowing the voids to remain or reconfiguring the original composition by moving the cut fragments. He then organizes the altered photographs into a series of grids. The grids emphasize a repetition of forms that make the individual photographs both strange and familiar. Cartagena’s arrangements reveal that seemingly crucial aspects of a photograph—a face or a figure—are both central and incidental to our ability to understand the works. He compels us to consider how meaning in a photograph is structured and how photography has come to structure the meaningful events of our lives. In his final act as artist-archivist, Cartagena creates a new context for the altered photographs by bringing them into the museum. The former castoffs have now become unique objects created by the hand of the artist. In the context of the museum, Cartagena situates the photographs in the exalted domain of art”. — Heather A. Shannon, Ph.D. Associate Curator George Eastman Museum
In Photo Structure, through a meticulous and potentially failure-prone process, I am stripping these physical images from their direct representations by removing figures to create unique cutout silver gelatin prints. The result, Photo Structure, is a photographic structure that emerges from within the image and speaks to how we build what we see in most photographs. The photographic medium has used format, material, aesthetic and lighting structures to create a standard version of ourselves. Everything feels the same and what is left is a cultural construct of how we have built our identities through images. This series of Dismembered representations also connote larger issues in my Latin America, where we have become ‘no one’ in the midst of our social and political crisis. In the end, it seems anyone can disappear, and no one will ever give us answers.
Limited Edition Prints Available through: Assembly. Patricia Conde Gallery. Kopeikin Gallery. Edelman Gallery. Etherton Gallery. Circuit Gallery
Unique cutout Silver Gelatin Works
Variable Sizes
1/1
2018-1029
“Paradoxically, Cartagena’s approach involves the destruction, rather than the preservation, of the photographs. With a sharp blade, he excises details, either allowing the voids to remain or reconfiguring the original composition by moving the cut fragments. He then organizes the altered photographs into a series of grids. The grids emphasize a repetition of forms that make the individual photographs both strange and familiar. Cartagena’s arrangements reveal that seemingly crucial aspects of a photograph—a face or a figure—are both central and incidental to our ability to understand the works. He compels us to consider how meaning in a photograph is structured and how photography has come to structure the meaningful events of our lives. In his final act as artist-archivist, Cartagena creates a new context for the altered photographs by bringing them into the museum. The former castoffs have now become unique objects created by the hand of the artist. In the context of the museum, Cartagena situates the photographs in the exalted domain of art”. — Heather A. Shannon, Ph.D. Associate Curator George Eastman Museum
In Photo Structure, through a meticulous and potentially failure-prone process, I am stripping these physical images from their direct representations by removing figures to create unique cutout silver gelatin prints. The result, Photo Structure, is a photographic structure that emerges from within the image and speaks to how we build what we see in most photographs. The photographic medium has used format, material, aesthetic and lighting structures to create a standard version of ourselves. Everything feels the same and what is left is a cultural construct of how we have built our identities through images. This series of Dismembered representations also connote larger issues in my Latin America, where we have become ‘no one’ in the midst of our social and political crisis. In the end, it seems anyone can disappear, and no one will ever give us answers.
Limited Edition Prints Available through: Assembly. Patricia Conde Gallery. Kopeikin Gallery. Edelman Gallery. Etherton Gallery. Circuit Gallery
Unique cutout Silver Gelatin Works
Variable Sizes
1/1
2018-1029
“Paradoxically, Cartagena’s approach involves the destruction, rather than the preservation, of the photographs. With a sharp blade, he excises details, either allowing the voids to remain or reconfiguring the original composition by moving the cut fragments. He then organizes the altered photographs into a series of grids. The grids emphasize a repetition of forms that make the individual photographs both strange and familiar. Cartagena’s arrangements reveal that seemingly crucial aspects of a photograph—a face or a figure—are both central and incidental to our ability to understand the works. He compels us to consider how meaning in a photograph is structured and how photography has come to structure the meaningful events of our lives. In his final act as artist-archivist, Cartagena creates a new context for the altered photographs by bringing them into the museum. The former castoffs have now become unique objects created by the hand of the artist. In the context of the museum, Cartagena situates the photographs in the exalted domain of art”. — Heather A. Shannon, Ph.D. Associate Curator George Eastman Museum
In Photo Structure, through a meticulous and potentially failure-prone process, I am stripping these physical images from their direct representations by removing figures to create unique cutout silver gelatin prints. The result, Photo Structure, is a photographic structure that emerges from within the image and speaks to how we build what we see in most photographs. The photographic medium has used format, material, aesthetic and lighting structures to create a standard version of ourselves. Everything feels the same and what is left is a cultural construct of how we have built our identities through images. This series of Dismembered representations also connote larger issues in my Latin America, where we have become ‘no one’ in the midst of our social and political crisis. In the end, it seems anyone can disappear, and no one will ever give us answers.
Limited Edition Prints Available through: Assembly. Patricia Conde Gallery. Kopeikin Gallery. Edelman Gallery. Etherton Gallery. Circuit Gallery
Unique cutout Silver Gelatin Works
Variable Sizes
1/1
2018-1029
“Paradoxically, Cartagena’s approach involves the destruction, rather than the preservation, of the photographs. With a sharp blade, he excises details, either allowing the voids to remain or reconfiguring the original composition by moving the cut fragments. He then organizes the altered photographs into a series of grids. The grids emphasize a repetition of forms that make the individual photographs both strange and familiar. Cartagena’s arrangements reveal that seemingly crucial aspects of a photograph—a face or a figure—are both central and incidental to our ability to understand the works. He compels us to consider how meaning in a photograph is structured and how photography has come to structure the meaningful events of our lives. In his final act as artist-archivist, Cartagena creates a new context for the altered photographs by bringing them into the museum. The former castoffs have now become unique objects created by the hand of the artist. In the context of the museum, Cartagena situates the photographs in the exalted domain of art”. — Heather A. Shannon, Ph.D. Associate Curator George Eastman Museum
In Photo Structure, through a meticulous and potentially failure-prone process, I am stripping these physical images from their direct representations by removing figures to create unique cutout silver gelatin prints. The result, Photo Structure, is a photographic structure that emerges from within the image and speaks to how we build what we see in most photographs. The photographic medium has used format, material, aesthetic and lighting structures to create a standard version of ourselves. Everything feels the same and what is left is a cultural construct of how we have built our identities through images. This series of Dismembered representations also connote larger issues in my Latin America, where we have become ‘no one’ in the midst of our social and political crisis. In the end, it seems anyone can disappear, and no one will ever give us answers.
Limited Edition Prints Available through: Assembly. Patricia Conde Gallery. Kopeikin Gallery. Edelman Gallery. Etherton Gallery. Circuit Gallery
Unique cutout Silver Gelatin Works
Variable Sizes
1/1
2018-1029
“Paradoxically, Cartagena’s approach involves the destruction, rather than the preservation, of the photographs. With a sharp blade, he excises details, either allowing the voids to remain or reconfiguring the original composition by moving the cut fragments. He then organizes the altered photographs into a series of grids. The grids emphasize a repetition of forms that make the individual photographs both strange and familiar. Cartagena’s arrangements reveal that seemingly crucial aspects of a photograph—a face or a figure—are both central and incidental to our ability to understand the works. He compels us to consider how meaning in a photograph is structured and how photography has come to structure the meaningful events of our lives. In his final act as artist-archivist, Cartagena creates a new context for the altered photographs by bringing them into the museum. The former castoffs have now become unique objects created by the hand of the artist. In the context of the museum, Cartagena situates the photographs in the exalted domain of art”. — Heather A. Shannon, Ph.D. Associate Curator George Eastman Museum
In Photo Structure, through a meticulous and potentially failure-prone process, I am stripping these physical images from their direct representations by removing figures to create unique cutout silver gelatin prints. The result, Photo Structure, is a photographic structure that emerges from within the image and speaks to how we build what we see in most photographs. The photographic medium has used format, material, aesthetic and lighting structures to create a standard version of ourselves. Everything feels the same and what is left is a cultural construct of how we have built our identities through images. This series of Dismembered representations also connote larger issues in my Latin America, where we have become ‘no one’ in the midst of our social and political crisis. In the end, it seems anyone can disappear, and no one will ever give us answers.
Limited Edition Prints Available through: Assembly. Patricia Conde Gallery. Kopeikin Gallery. Edelman Gallery. Etherton Gallery. Circuit Gallery
Unique cutout Silver Gelatin Works
Variable Sizes
1/1
2018-1029
“Paradoxically, Cartagena’s approach involves the destruction, rather than the preservation, of the photographs. With a sharp blade, he excises details, either allowing the voids to remain or reconfiguring the original composition by moving the cut fragments. He then organizes the altered photographs into a series of grids. The grids emphasize a repetition of forms that make the individual photographs both strange and familiar. Cartagena’s arrangements reveal that seemingly crucial aspects of a photograph—a face or a figure—are both central and incidental to our ability to understand the works. He compels us to consider how meaning in a photograph is structured and how photography has come to structure the meaningful events of our lives. In his final act as artist-archivist, Cartagena creates a new context for the altered photographs by bringing them into the museum. The former castoffs have now become unique objects created by the hand of the artist. In the context of the museum, Cartagena situates the photographs in the exalted domain of art”. — Heather A. Shannon, Ph.D. Associate Curator George Eastman Museum
In Photo Structure, through a meticulous and potentially failure-prone process, I am stripping these physical images from their direct representations by removing figures to create unique cutout silver gelatin prints. The result, Photo Structure, is a photographic structure that emerges from within the image and speaks to how we build what we see in most photographs. The photographic medium has used format, material, aesthetic and lighting structures to create a standard version of ourselves. Everything feels the same and what is left is a cultural construct of how we have built our identities through images. This series of Dismembered representations also connote larger issues in my Latin America, where we have become ‘no one’ in the midst of our social and political crisis. In the end, it seems anyone can disappear, and no one will ever give us answers.
Limited Edition Prints Available through: Assembly. Patricia Conde Gallery. Kopeikin Gallery. Edelman Gallery. Etherton Gallery. Circuit Gallery
Unique cutout Silver Gelatin Works
Variable Sizes
1/1
2018-1029
“Paradoxically, Cartagena’s approach involves the destruction, rather than the preservation, of the photographs. With a sharp blade, he excises details, either allowing the voids to remain or reconfiguring the original composition by moving the cut fragments. He then organizes the altered photographs into a series of grids. The grids emphasize a repetition of forms that make the individual photographs both strange and familiar. Cartagena’s arrangements reveal that seemingly crucial aspects of a photograph—a face or a figure—are both central and incidental to our ability to understand the works. He compels us to consider how meaning in a photograph is structured and how photography has come to structure the meaningful events of our lives. In his final act as artist-archivist, Cartagena creates a new context for the altered photographs by bringing them into the museum. The former castoffs have now become unique objects created by the hand of the artist. In the context of the museum, Cartagena situates the photographs in the exalted domain of art”. — Heather A. Shannon, Ph.D. Associate Curator George Eastman Museum
In Photo Structure, through a meticulous and potentially failure-prone process, I am stripping these physical images from their direct representations by removing figures to create unique cutout silver gelatin prints. The result, Photo Structure, is a photographic structure that emerges from within the image and speaks to how we build what we see in most photographs. The photographic medium has used format, material, aesthetic and lighting structures to create a standard version of ourselves. Everything feels the same and what is left is a cultural construct of how we have built our identities through images. This series of Dismembered representations also connote larger issues in my Latin America, where we have become ‘no one’ in the midst of our social and political crisis. In the end, it seems anyone can disappear, and no one will ever give us answers.
Limited Edition Prints Available through: Assembly. Patricia Conde Gallery. Kopeikin Gallery. Edelman Gallery. Etherton Gallery. Circuit Gallery
Unique cutout Silver Gelatin Works
Variable Sizes
1/1
2018-1029
“Paradoxically, Cartagena’s approach involves the destruction, rather than the preservation, of the photographs. With a sharp blade, he excises details, either allowing the voids to remain or reconfiguring the original composition by moving the cut fragments. He then organizes the altered photographs into a series of grids. The grids emphasize a repetition of forms that make the individual photographs both strange and familiar. Cartagena’s arrangements reveal that seemingly crucial aspects of a photograph—a face or a figure—are both central and incidental to our ability to understand the works. He compels us to consider how meaning in a photograph is structured and how photography has come to structure the meaningful events of our lives. In his final act as artist-archivist, Cartagena creates a new context for the altered photographs by bringing them into the museum. The former castoffs have now become unique objects created by the hand of the artist. In the context of the museum, Cartagena situates the photographs in the exalted domain of art”. — Heather A. Shannon, Ph.D. Associate Curator George Eastman Museum
In Photo Structure, through a meticulous and potentially failure-prone process, I am stripping these physical images from their direct representations by removing figures to create unique cutout silver gelatin prints. The result, Photo Structure, is a photographic structure that emerges from within the image and speaks to how we build what we see in most photographs. The photographic medium has used format, material, aesthetic and lighting structures to create a standard version of ourselves. Everything feels the same and what is left is a cultural construct of how we have built our identities through images. This series of Dismembered representations also connote larger issues in my Latin America, where we have become ‘no one’ in the midst of our social and political crisis. In the end, it seems anyone can disappear, and no one will ever give us answers.
Limited Edition Prints Available through: Assembly. Patricia Conde Gallery. Kopeikin Gallery. Edelman Gallery. Etherton Gallery. Circuit Gallery
Unique cutout Silver Gelatin Works
Variable Sizes
1/1
2018-1029
“Paradoxically, Cartagena’s approach involves the destruction, rather than the preservation, of the photographs. With a sharp blade, he excises details, either allowing the voids to remain or reconfiguring the original composition by moving the cut fragments. He then organizes the altered photographs into a series of grids. The grids emphasize a repetition of forms that make the individual photographs both strange and familiar. Cartagena’s arrangements reveal that seemingly crucial aspects of a photograph—a face or a figure—are both central and incidental to our ability to understand the works. He compels us to consider how meaning in a photograph is structured and how photography has come to structure the meaningful events of our lives. In his final act as artist-archivist, Cartagena creates a new context for the altered photographs by bringing them into the museum. The former castoffs have now become unique objects created by the hand of the artist. In the context of the museum, Cartagena situates the photographs in the exalted domain of art”. — Heather A. Shannon, Ph.D. Associate Curator George Eastman Museum
In Photo Structure, through a meticulous and potentially failure-prone process, I am stripping these physical images from their direct representations by removing figures to create unique cutout silver gelatin prints. The result, Photo Structure, is a photographic structure that emerges from within the image and speaks to how we build what we see in most photographs. The photographic medium has used format, material, aesthetic and lighting structures to create a standard version of ourselves. Everything feels the same and what is left is a cultural construct of how we have built our identities through images. This series of Dismembered representations also connote larger issues in my Latin America, where we have become ‘no one’ in the midst of our social and political crisis. In the end, it seems anyone can disappear, and no one will ever give us answers.
Limited Edition Prints Available through: Assembly. Patricia Conde Gallery. Kopeikin Gallery. Edelman Gallery. Etherton Gallery. Circuit Gallery
Unique cutout Silver Gelatin Works
Variable Sizes
1/1
2018-1029
“Paradoxically, Cartagena’s approach involves the destruction, rather than the preservation, of the photographs. With a sharp blade, he excises details, either allowing the voids to remain or reconfiguring the original composition by moving the cut fragments. He then organizes the altered photographs into a series of grids. The grids emphasize a repetition of forms that make the individual photographs both strange and familiar. Cartagena’s arrangements reveal that seemingly crucial aspects of a photograph—a face or a figure—are both central and incidental to our ability to understand the works. He compels us to consider how meaning in a photograph is structured and how photography has come to structure the meaningful events of our lives. In his final act as artist-archivist, Cartagena creates a new context for the altered photographs by bringing them into the museum. The former castoffs have now become unique objects created by the hand of the artist. In the context of the museum, Cartagena situates the photographs in the exalted domain of art”. — Heather A. Shannon, Ph.D. Associate Curator George Eastman Museum
In Photo Structure, through a meticulous and potentially failure-prone process, I am stripping these physical images from their direct representations by removing figures to create unique cutout silver gelatin prints. The result, Photo Structure, is a photographic structure that emerges from within the image and speaks to how we build what we see in most photographs. The photographic medium has used format, material, aesthetic and lighting structures to create a standard version of ourselves. Everything feels the same and what is left is a cultural construct of how we have built our identities through images. This series of Dismembered representations also connote larger issues in my Latin America, where we have become ‘no one’ in the midst of our social and political crisis. In the end, it seems anyone can disappear, and no one will ever give us answers.
Limited Edition Prints Available through: Assembly. Patricia Conde Gallery. Kopeikin Gallery. Edelman Gallery. Etherton Gallery. Circuit Gallery