Snake Eyes: Terri Weifenbach and John Gossage
Between 1998 and 2001 artists Terri Weifenbach and John Gossage spent time together photographing around and in the valley near Lana, an idyllic town in Italy. For Terri, Lana is a familiar subject. Gossage on the other hand considers himself a guest, "To this place of nature and beauty; it is not my normal subject, but it is hers." In this way and in many others the project encourages contradiction as the starting point for dialog. As a collaborative project Snake Eyes explores the creative possibilities of approaching the same subject from different perspectives. First and foremost Snake Eyes questions the correctness of the fiction that photographs made from a single perspective tell the complete truth about a subject. Combining two individual perspectives Terri and John create a dialog between and among images that directly challenges the viewer to question the idea that photographs are documents; complete representations of subject. Terri Weifenbach's photographs possess the ability to absorb the viewer in compositions that are welcoming and full. Such compositions are in harmony with a palette of vibrant colors and hues unique to Terri's vision. Gossage's photographs are images found and collected then rendered in a multitude of black and white tones. John's imagery is exploratory, inquisitive and above all declarative for the value of things less sought. The spirit and design of this exhibition are drawn from the artists' book of the same title. Snake Eyes the book, (published in 2001), is a folio, designed conceptually and structurally to contrast and compare Terri and John's photographs. In as much as gallery walls are able to convey these ideas we have attempted to carry them through.
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