The New Chancery of the U.S. Embassy in Moscow
The New Chancery Art Collection
Joseph Bartscherer
Aztec Sandstone and Basalts
1996-97
5 black and white photographs mounted on aluminum; 96 x 200 in.
In the series Nevada (1994-97), Bartscherer divides views of barren but highly dramatic rock formations into several vertical parts. In addition to splitting a single image, he also connects several disparate locations and geologic events, which provides a wealth of visual information about the different types of rock formations and the history of how the dramatic mountain-desert terrain came to be.
As a photographer, Bartscherer strives to heighten a viewer's awareness of the myriad ordinary incidents that take place daily in our environment (how light falls on tree bark, how a plant grows), as well as monumental events of history, such as the formation of rivers and mountains or the building of cities. He implies that both types of occurrence impact upon us profoundly, although humans may not be present in the pictures.
Source: Judith Tannenbaum. Joseph Bartscherer 'Forest'. New York: Marian Goodman Gallery, 2000.
Bryan Hunt
Precog III
1996
Cast aluminum; 96 x 60 x 20 in.
In this sculpture, rock actually becomes water in an image that Hunt has recently introduced into his sculptural vocabulary, the "turbe," the swirling and foaming rapids formed when a body of rushing water runs violently into another body of water or an obstacle in its way. Perhaps with the metaphor of nature in tempestuous flux in mind, Hunt has made surfaces more gestural than ever before. Indeed, he calls attention to the spontaneity of his mark-making in the title Precog, an abbreviation of precognition, implying doing without thinking.