Friday, December 9, 2016

BELINDA FUENTES REVIEWS DAVID MAISEL


            In History’s Shadow, David Maisel uses a fresh medium of an x-ray as art to discuss themes of history. Not originally Maisel’s photographs, he has re-photographed this work in order to call it his own. Although the use of an x-ray is common in the work of art historians, the use as an artwork creates a new perspective of the tool, the mundane becomes innovative. Images such as GM3, 2010 show the detail orientation of the x-ray in which the inward shapes of the horse can be seen forming together. Time as a theme and idea is evident in that these images span over different time periods and are now apart of the contemporary world. The combination of the photographs and the x-ray creates a sense of space and depth due to the sharp contrast with only black and white and no middle gray. Forming a new image through the x-ray includes GM2, 2010 and GM5, 2010 through the overlaying image of the front and back of the head due to the transparency of the medium. “The x-ray has historically been used for the structural examination of art and artifacts much as physicians examine bones and internal organs; it reveals losses, replacements, methods of construction, and internal trauma that may not be visible to the naked eye.” The realism of the x-ray image allows for the images for instance GM21, 2010 of a hand to seem as if it has veins and bones. Ultimately, this project makes the invisible, visible.



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