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Both as a title and a concept, “Strange Magic” only partially echoes Creative Time’s 2006 summer group show, “Strange Powers,” which featured psychics, mediums and mystics—a.k.a. artists. In contrast, this show highlights optical illusions and abstract photography minus the mysticism.
Eileen Quinlan comes closest to conjuring up a conundrum with her “Smoke & Mirrors” series: photographs of atmospheric hues trapped in shards of broken glass. Almost too neatly constructed, these images lack a much-needed dose of chaos and confusion. Likewise, Liz Deschenes’s Moire #13 and Moire #4 are slick updates of an optical illusion that makes repeated patterns appear to vibrate and move. Staring at these images will certainly induce a headache, but that won’t erase memories of 1960s Op Art or 19th-century optical toys.
Amnesia is in fact the major magic trick of this show. You have to forget Sarah Charlesworth’s 1980s photomontages to appreciate Sara VanDerBeek’s appropriation of art history icons; and Anne Collier’s Woman with Camera (2006), two enlarged photos of movie stills from the much-analyzed film The Eyes of Laura Mars, replicates the early work of Richard Prince. More in the spirit of a séance, Amy Granat’s Interflowerzone (Hello Cowgirl) #1—an installation using distressed film footage, a photogram and the image of a lily—raises the ghost of Stan Brakhage in a darkened room of the gallery. All of the artists in “Strange Magic” push the medium of photography beyond its objective boundaries. Unfortunately, since several generations of photographers have already undertaken this task, it is time to push more.
