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New Trees

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At first glance, the large-format color photographs from the series “New Trees” seem to depict everyday woody perennial plants, distinctive only because of their oddly oversized proportions. On closer inspection, however, it becomes apparent that these are not trees at all—they are cell phone towers disguised by telecom companies to blend in with urban and rural surroundings. Appropriating the compositional techniques of Bernd and Hilla Becher, while simultaneously moving away from the Bechers’ rigidly “objective” stance, Voit’s images humorously highlight the absurdity of the awkward camouflage. Voit calls attention to the ubiquity of communication and surveillance technology in the present moment, while also subtly hinting to the shifting role of the natural world in the digital age. Voit’s “New Trees” are neither entirely natural nor entirely social—they exist in a liminal space between the real and the artificial.

The Alphabet of New Plants

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Inspired by Karl Blossfeldt’s “The Alphabet of Plants (Original Forms of Art)” from 1928, Robert Voit playfully repurposes the obsessive indexicality of natural history images in his new body of work.  These close-up photographs of artificial plants highlight the tension between nature and its mass-produced simulacra. Extending the themes of his previous series “New Trees,” Voit again blurs the distinction between the natural and the social.

Brian Finke | “Four Years Photographing U.S. Law Enforcement,” It’s Nice That

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From Maisie Skidmore’s article for It’s Nice That:

Capturing citizen arrests, marshals wielding their weapons and almost theatrical scenes amid smoke, red cartoon-like explosives and doors left ajar, Brian’s photographs are an odd window into a world depicted primarily through news reports and the film industry. “I was surprised at their willingness to have me step inside their world,” Brian explains in the book, “but once there what I saw was a well-oiled machine – one that speaks to an American heritage of civil authority that has transcended nearly all facets of U.S. law enforcement­­­. I felt a strong connection between Marshals’ responsibilities and our civilian culture. I knew immediately that I wanted to make a book.”

View the original article

See the exhibition at ClampArt
Browse all of Brian Finke’s work at ClampArt

Via San Martino, Lazise

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Italy,
2009

Signed and numbered on label, verso

Chromogenic print on Kodak Endura paper

24 x 20 inches (60 x 50 centimeters)
(Edition of 4 + 2 APs)
Contact gallery for price.

61 x 50 inches (155 x 125 centimeters)
(Edition of 6 + 2 APs)
Contact gallery for price.

Spier Stellenbosch

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South Africa,
2006

Signed and numbered on label, verso

Chromogenic print on Kodak Endura paper

24 x 20 inches (60 x 50 centimeters)
(Edition of 4 + 2 APs)
Contact gallery for price.

61 x 50 inches (155 x 125 centimeters)
(Edition of 6 + 2 APs)
Contact gallery for price.