Author Description

Amy Adler's photographs examine notions of authorship by exploring the relationships between artist, subject, and viewer. Her inventive method of creating glossy cibachrome prints of pastel drawings demonstrates how the hand of the artist can be used to manipulate the image and our interpretation of it. She selects photographs from her personal collection, and in some instances from magazines, then makes a life-sized pastel drawing of the figure. She proceeds to create a unique photograph of the work and destroys the original drawing. The end result is ghostly realistic, yet cartoonish. Although Adler's drawing style is neat, compact, and carefully shaded, she is not dedicated to an accurate reproduction. In some instances, additional elements (e.g., a baseball cap) after our perception of the character. When Adler applies this method of redrawing to images of herself, she assumes the role of both photographer and model. Adler's working method gives her the freedom to re-construct her identity. She is able to test how the inclusion or exclusion of different pictorial elements and or gestures alter the perceptions and assumptions of the audience. Since we never see the original photo that the finished work is based on, the artist retains total control over the information provided. The completed piece is a partial drawing, partial photograph, partial documentation, and partial fabrication of reality.