featured in the viewing room: karen neems
spatial choreography
fEBRUARY 28 - APRIL 8, 2016
In her newest body of work, Karen Neems takes static, mundane objects and photographs them from the perspective of looking down. She layers images, adding additional translucent film, which further enhances the illusion of space. “Circles represent the eternal whole and in every culture are an archetypical form representing the sun, the earth, the moon, and the universe,” says Neems, who sees the irony of elevating these ordinary objects into the realm of celestial bodies. As she also notes: "the circular form, with neither a beginning nor end, implies the idea of movement, and symbolizes the cycle of time and perpetual motion." The elements of her work have a certain familiarity, but the composition transcends the importance of their identification.