Canon inkset, Q-tips  © Meggan Gould

INDUSTRY STANDARD

~

MEGGAN GOULD & ANDY MATTERN

Artists Gould and Mattern reconsider standard tools and conventions used when creating images to produce new work that pushes the boundaries of what we think of as a photograph.

August 12 – September 24, 2022 

COLORADO PHOTOGRAPHIC ARTS CENTER

1070 BANNOCK ST, DENVER, CO 80204

Art exhibit viewing times: Tues. – Fri. (11 am – 5 pm); Sat. (noon – 4 pm)

PROGRAMMING & OPENING RECEPTION

ARTIST PANEL DISCUSSION

ABOUT THE EXHIBITION

In different ways, artists Meggan Gould and Andy Mattern reconsider guidelines and tools used in the creation of a photograph to produce work that explores old and new standards of the medium. By examining the processes in which images can be made both Gould and Mattern produce compositions that do not fit within the boundaries of what we think of as a photograph.

Inspired by the once-popular “Kodaguide” — handheld reference cards used to determine exposure and other camera settings — Mattern photographs these vintage picture making aids individually and meticulously dissects them with a digital process. In covering up much of the technical numbers and explanatory text, Mattern removes the essential information once utilized to create a correct photograph and instead leaves the viewer with a single word from the original instructions. Delivering a new way to view these traditional image making tools.

The Sameness of the Screen series harkens to a less entwined relationship between user and computer with cyanotype prints made from photographs of the original desktop patterns found on early Apple computers. This series uses a 19^th century printing process to create new images from the simplicity of 20^th century computing.

Gould’s work is a study in playful resistance, an attempt to infuse flexibility into the often rigid structures of photography. Gould frees pigmented ink from its normal environment in photographic practice. She physically drains the ink from the printer to dye thread that is then stitched into unfixed photosensitive paper and fabric, as well as colorizes other domestic objects that are arranged, photographed, and printed with appropriate color accuracy.

Their separate investigations come together in this two-person exhibition Industry Standard, creating a visual conversation about how photographic tools and conventions can be rethought in order to expand the notions of what we can expect and accept from the medium.

EXHIBITION PREVIEW

ABOUT THE ARTISTS

Meggan Gould is a photographer living and working outside of Albuquerque, New Mexico, where she is an Associate Professor of Art at the University of New Mexico. She is a graduate of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, where she studied anthropology, the SALT Institute for Documentary Studies, where she studied non-fiction writing, and Speos (Paris Photographic Institute), where she finally began her studies in photography. She received an MFA in photography from the University of Massachusetts – Dartmouth. Her photographs have been featured in solo and group exhibitions throughout the United States and internationally. Her multifaceted practice uses photography, drawing, sculpture, and installation in an open-ended dissection of vision and photographic tools.

Andy Mattern is a visual artist working in the expanded field of photography. His work is held in the permanent collections of SFMOMA, New Mexico Museum of Art, Museum of Fine Arts-Houston, and others. His projects have been favorably reviewed in publications such as Artforum, The New Yorker, Camera Austria, and Photonews. Mattern currently serves as an Associate Professor of Photography at Oklahoma State University. He holds an MFA in Photography from the University of Minnesota and a BFA in Studio Art from the University of New Mexico. He is represented by Elizabeth Houston Gallery in New York.