Curator: Dr. Maurice Berger, Senior Research Scholar, CADVC

Organized by the Center for Art, Design and Visual Culture, UMBC

This exhibition and catalog will focus on a recent cycle of 50 color photographs by New York artist Dana Hoey—Experiments in Primitive Living. Insects, old women, tools, and instruments of survival, such as the emergency radio, the flashlight, or the compass, inhabit these images—a vividly imagined world withering under five different weather conditions: ash, freeze, thaw, flood and drought. Hoey employs various photographic styles to shift the mood and intensity of these photographs: commercial product shot, scientific photo, portrait and epic narrative all interrelate on the walls of the exhibition. Because the subjects in the pictures are also on equal ground and of equal detail—for example, the spore and the face merit the same size and resolution— Experiments in Primitive Living exemplifies the camera's ability to inform, to sell, to explain, or to tell a story.

As Hoey writes of the series, "in this possible world, there is a power vacuum, an absence of infrastructure, and now the overlooked have stepped in. Old women may rule, silently. The small detail may outlast the large story. The icicle may outlive the guitar player." In the end, Experiments in Primitive Living serves as a powerful commentary on a fragile world changed by recent events, including the tragedy of September 11th, the perils of global warming, and the global economic meltdown. A supplementary exhibition featuring examples from several of Hoey’s other recent projects will complete the project, including Profane Waste and One Pro, Two Amateurs.

Top Photos (details): ASH - Double Check, 2007. THAW - Salamanders, 2008. FREEZE - Helmet, 2007. THAW - Julia, 2006. ASH - Rainbow Bug, 2008. FREEZE - Fallen, 2007. DROUGHT - Ayler, 2008. DROUGHT - Dakota Firepit, 2008. 19.75 x 27.75 inches. Courtesy of the Artist and Friedrich Petzel Gallery, New YorK.