Preface by Alexandra Posen; Foreword by Colin Cheney; Introduction by Scott Indrisek; Essay by Zac Posen
As Susan Sontag wrote in her masterful critique, On Photography, "Any inventory of America is inevitably anti-scientific, a delirious 'abracadadabrant' confusion of objects in which jukeboxes resemble coffins." Her words about the magical detritus of everyday life speak to artist Stephen Posen's love of the visual world.
Exploring photography with a painter's eye, Posen has revolved his painting process around the ontology of photography for forty years. In Ellipsis: Dual Vision, his first monograph, the artist comes full circle with a series of 174 paired photographs. Blurring the lines between realism and abstraction, Posen uses the photograph as a poet uses the word, each image acting as both the symbol and subject of a larger idea.
Posen has paired the photos based on color, form, content, or some ineffable interface. It is the viewer that is charged with filling in the blanks between the images. The diptychs are playful, poetic, and endlessly compelling complements of visual energy, demonstrating the mastery of Posen's eye as both photographer and editor. Teasing elusive connections with his provocative pairs, Posen invites us to participate in the expression of his work and offers a new way of seeing the world, without any preconceived context.
About the Authors:
Stephen Posen received his BFA from Washington University and his MFA from Yale University. Some of his solo and group exhibitions include Jason McCoy Gallery, Robert Miller Gallery, and O.K. Harris Gallery in New York; the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art; the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts; the Akron Art Museum in Ohio, the Philbrook Art Center in Tuscon, Arizona; and the Chicago Art Institute. His work is in the collection of The Guggenheim Museum, NYC; the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Art, Philadelphia; Chase Manhattan Bank; J.B. Speed Museum in Louisville, Kentucky; and the Virginia Museum of Fine Art, among others. He lives and works in New York City with his wife, Susan.
Alexandra Posen is a visual artist. She is a graduate of Brown University who studied physical theater and mask work at the legendary l'Ecole Jacques Lecoq in Paris before returning to New York to form the performance group Atlas Mason and to work with a host of visual theater artists. She cofounded and was creative director of her brother's label leading it to become a significant global fashion brand. Since 2011, Posen has devoted herself to her studio practice where she creates mixed media artworks. She lives in Red Hook, Brooklyn with her artist husband, Nils Folke Anderson and their two children.
Scott Indrisek is the executive editor of Modern Painters and the former senior editor of Anthem magazine. His writing has appeared in The Believer, Bookforum,BlackBook, Whitewall, ARTNews, and many other publications. He lives in Bedford-Stuyvesant, Brooklyn with two erudite cats.
Zac Posen is the creative talent and head of House of Z LLC, the international fashion company. He was raised in Soho, New York, and is a graduate of St. Ann's
School in Brooklyn and attended Central Saint Martin's at the University of the Arts–London. He is considered one of the premier fashion designers working today. He lives in New York City with his partner and their three dogs.
ISBN: 978-0-9903808-4-9 | 216 pages | 11 x 10.2" | hardcover | 174 4/c photographs
