“I’m inspired by cooking and food, Matisse, and being in the ocean, among other things,” the artist Daniel Gordon says. Gordon’s photo collages, or, more accurately, pictures of sculptures made of photo collages, can look like layered casseroles of art historical references and finely diced printed matter. “I begin with an idea of something I’d like to make, search for images online, print them, and then construct a three dimensional tableau that is then lit and photographed with a large format camera,” he explains. Improvisation is central to his constructions, which combine newly found images with the scraps of old, previously used pictures, and often feature grotesque, cartoonish anatomies.
Gordon was included in MOMA’s seminal “New Photography” show in 2009, and his recent “Still Lifes, Portraits, and Parts” series is on view this month at Wallspace gallery. Here’s a selection.
