CORY REYNOLDS | DATE 6/18/2018

The photographic object as a record of performance in 'The Shape of Light'

"Process, planning and making are integral to Barbara Kasten's practice," Shoair Mavlian writes in Shape of Light: 100 Years of Photography and Abstract Art, "and in her early output the photographic object could be thought of as a record of a performance, a dialogue between the artists, the objects and the hot sensitive paper." Pictured here is "Photogenic Painting, Untitled 74/13" (1974) from Kasten's 1974-77 Photogenic Paintings series, in which the artist lay large sheets of chemically treated paper outdoors, then arranged textiles or her fiberglass sculptures on top of the paper, manipulating the materials to emphasize their three-dimensional qualities.