"There's no other time to do this, and indeed one thing I know better now than I did before is that surrender is the shortest prayer."
This online presentation brings the viewer into selected moments of Farrah Karapetian's solo exhibition "The Photograph is Always Now" -- now closed early due to the public due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
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"THERE IS...SOMETHING THAT I'VE NOW HAD THE CHANCE TO WORK OUT IN THE STUDIO: MOMENTS THAT APPEAR STILL TO ME PHOTOGRAPHICALLY, FOR WHICH THERE IS NO PHOTOGRAPH, TRUTHS FOR WHICH THERE'S NO DOCUMENT, AND A BODY FOR WHICH THERE'S NO LONGER ANY REFERENT."
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Installation views of "THE PHOTOGRAPH IS ALWAYS NOW" | Diane Rosenstein Gallery
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![she [Karapetian] has been making cameraless images that explore the physical potential of photography and the medium’s relationship to three...](data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAAAAAP///yH5BAEAAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAIBRAA7)
she [Karapetian] has been making cameraless images that explore the physical potential of photography and the medium’s relationship to three dimensionality. This formal investigation leads to extremely beautiful photograms that seek to connect with the viewer on a bodily level.
Rebecca Morse, Curator of Photography, LACMA
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Among the precedents for her practice: Rauschenberg’s experimental processes; Lotte Jacobi’s abstract, rhythmic “Photogenics” of the 1950s, cameraless captures of materials moving above photographic paper; and Charles Ray’s simple translations of everyday experience into specific objects of specific scale.
1. Robert Rauschenberg Bible Bike (Borealis),1991 ©Robert Rauschenberg Foundation | Collection of Museum Ludwig, Cologne. 2. Charles Ray Light from the left, 2007 ©Charles Ray | Collection of Philadelphia Museum of Art. 3. Lotte Jacobi Photogenic Figure,1946 -1955 ©University of New Hampshire | Collection of Detroit Institute of Arts.
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This figurative tableau in four vertical panels hangs in the transept of Karapetian's gallery-as-cathedral. Her "helpers" - the nurses, doctors, healers and janitors who cared for her father - are gathered as if in a Baroque allegory by Peter Paul Rubens. The unseen patient is inferred by gaze and gesture. Created using appropriation, drawing and painting, its consequence is for photography.
"In every one of its ways of becoming, it is photographic - analogue and digital, no binary there."
- The artist talks about "The Helpers," 2020
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AVAILABLE TO BUY
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Inquire About Works In This Exhibition
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"I WAS HOPING TO REMIND THE PEOPLE WHO WOULD LIVE WITH THE SIGN OF THE LONGEVITY OF LOVE."
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What You Have To Remember
Over the past decade, Karapetian's work has involved signs, and often with built-in lighting. "What you have to remember" also references the calligraphic roundels overhead at Istanbul's Hagia Sophia.
The glowing white script is written with the Instagram "neon" font and gently makes its promise: "Always Always Always."
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The artist talks about "What you have to remember"
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AVAILABLE TO BUY
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Phone Call 3, 2019, Unique gelatin silver photograph, 24 x 20 inches (detail)
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Inquire About Works In This Exhibition
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"BEFORE YOU BLOW OUT A CANDLE, YOU BREATHE IN. THIS IS THE MOMENT BEFORE THE WISH. I HOPE IT IS PREGNANT WITH THAT PAUSE...I HOPE THE DISTANCE BETWEEN MY LIPS AND THE FLAME FEELS LIKE TIME."
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AVAILABLE TO BUY
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The Choice, 2020, Two unique chromogenic photographs, 46 x 60 inches (detail)
- VIDEO TOUR OF EXHIBITION
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"WHAT'S THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN PRAYER AND PROTEST? IN BOTH CASES, YOU SHAKE YOUR FIST AT THE SKY."
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Farrah Karapetian, Riot Police, 2011
Karapetian works on the agency of the individual in situations beyond their control. "Riot Police," 2011, was based on a news image and created through performance. It was inspired by the relief sculpture of ancient Greek pedimental archictecture.
"Riot Police," 2011, Chromogenic development print (photogram) from a performance, 96 x 156 inches (243.84 x 396.24 cm). (Installation view in A MATTER OF MEMORY: PHOTOGRAPHY AS OBJECT IN THE DIGITAL AGE, —eorge Eastman Museum, Rochester, NY)
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Inquire About Works In This Exhibition
![she [Karapetian] has been making cameraless images that explore the physical potential of photography and the medium’s relationship to three...](https://artlogic-res.cloudinary.com/w_620,h_620,c_limit,f_auto,fl_lossy,q_auto/ws-artlogicwebsite0001/usr/images/feature_panels/image/items/0c/0c2da14bddc543848039dc46caa9cbab/fka_nightwatch.jpg)
