Janiene Ferrante

Tuesday, April 5, 2011

artist report - James Casebere

James Casebere was born in Lansing, Michigan in 1953. He received his BFA from Minneapolis College of Art and Design in 1976 and his MFA from Cal Arts in 1979. He currently lives with his wife and daughter in Brooklyn.

Casebere is considered a pioneer in the field of constructed photography. In his studio, he builds complex table-sized models that imitate typical architectural spaces and then photographs them. The most interesting thing about his work is that most of the photographs appear as though they were taken in an actual full-sized space, as opposed to simply taking pictures of a model. Unlike the real world, however, they are devoid of any sign of life. Their emptiness is meant to evoke a haunting sense of fear in the viewer as well as comment on the cultural connotations attached to certain places.

Aside from building for the sake of photography, James also created large-scale installations up until 1991. Just as his photographs trick the mind into seeing a space a certain way, his sculptural works force the viewer to question their reality and view things differently, perhaps unnaturally.

His early work focuses on “images of the suburban home” which then progresses to archetypal institutions such as jails, schools, libraries, etc. The source material for his more recent work expands beyond suburbia and out across the globe to places like Germany, Africa, and the West Indies. Post 9/11 he shifted his focus to Spain and the Eastern Mediterranean.

His work is collected by many museums worldwide, including the Whitney, and is featured in several solo and group exhibitions in the United States and internationally.

Source 1 / Source 2