Last year the lengthy process of digitizing the entire photographic slide collection of the Art and Art History Department at Carleton was completed, essentially rendering the physical slides obsolete. Concerned to see these pedagogical tools that I had grown fond of relegated to oblivion, I rescued several thousand slides thinking there must be some way to put them to good use. I present an initial response to that query in See, taking the form of watercolor drawings, digital prints and a projection installation that all fall under the title of Selections from the Translucent Archive.
The Archive recontextualizes the slide collection in an idiosyncratic taxonomy that reconsiders how art and architecture is categorized and framed. I am especially interested in how the technology used to present visual material changes over time, and how the means of accessing visual information informs the content of what we see.
A similar dilemma informs the selection of imagery. Most of the images I start with are representative, if frequently obscure or peripheral examples, of the heyday of Modernism. My augmentations evoke a tussle between the forward thinking progressive impulse embodied in much of the work and a paradoxical nostalgic reverie for that early 20th century idealism.
Hovercraft #3, 2017
digital print
Hovercraft #4, 2017
digital print
David Lefkowitz, Professor of Art
Carleton College, B.A., University of Illinois, Chicago, M.F.A
David Lefkowitz teaches a range of courses in painting, drawing, and contemporary studio practice. His own work in painting, installation, and mixed media (including cardboard, sticks, sheetrock and Styrofoam) addresses paradoxes of perception both monumental and mundane. Much of the work explores the blurry boundaries between mediated and direct experience, often centered on perceived tensions between the human-built environment and the natural world.
Recent solo exhibits include “Austerity Plans” at the Soo Visual Art Center in Minneapolis (2014), “The Nirthfolde Visitors Bureau” at the Northfield (MN) Arts Guild (2013), 'Other Positioning Systems" at the Rochester Art Center (2009), and gallery shows in New York and Chicago. His paintings of trompe l’oeil wall fixtures appeared in “Lifelike” at the Walker Art Center in Spring 2012.