Word: hofer
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...gain something from such a dislocation, so too do the photographs. There are 11 photographs, all from the last four years--nine that are 120 centimeters square and two that are slightly smaller. The nine square photographs are on loan from the Sonnabend Gallery, in New York, with which Hofer has had a long association. The two smaller squares, both photographs taken within the Bibliotheque Nationale de France, are courtesy of the Rena Bransten Gallery, in San Francisco. The photographs exhibited are selections from three different series that Hoferhas done, one of libraries, one of museums, and one of office...
...consistent size of the images confirms Hofer's documentary aim. In several of the library photographs, we can almost make out the titles on the sides of the books, but not quite. The size almost seems to have been chosen with this aim in mind. This aim crystallizes when "Deichmanske Bibliothek Oslo III" is juxtaposed with "Wikingsmuseum Oslo I," which portrays an old Norse ship that leaps out of the frame, prow-forward. The singularity of purpose in this image, taken with the well-composed light streaming in from windows, imparts a striking ecclesiastical quality to the work. Hofer refrains...
Articles of furniture bring out what is exceptional about Hofer. In "MOCA Los Angeles," Hofer presents a modern conference room, where we glimpse the reflection of an overhead projector and a person's head. What is striking is the sequence of ergonomic chairs and their shadows on the left-hand side. We see chairs reappear in a lecture hall, mustering for a march against the grand piano that stands on the stage. Hofer inverts the relationship between the animate and inanimate and thus makes us that much more aware of the rooms we inhabit...
...three-dimensional quality of Hofer's work is brought out in the closing triptych of the "Kunsthalle Karlsruhe." In this photograph, a room is portrayed from three different angles. There are barely sufficient points of commonality to establish that this is indeed a single room. As we make the identification, the room, flooded with light, springs out in what must be every realtor's dream; we are transported from the empty room we stand in to the empty room that is being sold...
...produce a work of art inspired by Malcolm X, you must first get the approval of the licensing agency. One day the U.S. Supreme Court will look at these issues. I hope it will hold that free speech is more important than the right to perpetual profits. STEVE HOFER Indianapolis...