Steven Foster
By Fred Camper
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The “Studies” are mounted here in four groups, each with considerable space between the pictures; the arrangements are unique to this exhibit. One soon notices that the pictures–mostly of figures, natural objects, or details from urban life–are mounted to resemble musical notes on a staff. These stark, small images are closer equivalents to musical notes than most photographs, and the musical arrangement encourages one to look at their relationships. At the same time, observing each group is different from listening to music: one cannot “hear” a picture in an instant, and since each photo remains a separate point in space, the group as a whole is never forced into a single rhythm. Moreover one can read these arrangements in any order.
The Wall of Lamentation is even more emotionally suggestive. Foster dedicates this series of 12 to several departed family members, and the images are intense enough to be haunting both individually and in combination. Many show backlit figures facing away from us, as if standing on the threshold of another world. Also depicted are urban walls, a lone leaf, and a man lying corpselike. The living subjects all seem to be receding, one subject seems dead, and walls obstruct our vision. Only the leaf and a fish underwater seem alive.
Among her 11 works at Lallak + Tom is High Rise, a three-sided wooden tower containing 24 photographs of eight different bird nests; the nests get smaller as the tower goes up. The totemlike arrangement suggests that nests are festish objects to be worshipped; yet, like much of Coolen’s work, the piece is leavened by humor: the title’s reference to a skyscraper redefines each nest as a “floor,” suggesting an ironic contrast between the birds’ humble self-made homes and urbanites’ manufactured offices and residences.
