Victor Landweber: American Cameras
A photographic series by Victor Landweber challenges the representation and meaning of vintage cameras.
Landweber has turned the lens on the object that is known for image making itself. The camera. Removed from context Landweber challenges their representation and function, as the camera becomes a static object. Without the life that comes with human interaction, the focus is shifted to the colour and surface of the camera.
The large-scale prints shine with the colours of the cameras they hold. Presenting their subjects directly the images asked the viewer to contemplate the camera pictured and the nature of photography itself.
Landweber has been practising photography since the 1960s and his work is included in major public collections including California Museum of Photography, Metropolitan Museum of Art, Seattle Art Museum and San Francisco Museum of Modern Art.
Landweber’s American Cameras series remains on display at Joseph Bellows Gallery in San Diego, USA until Saturday 6 September 2014.
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Viewers may be interested in knowing that these photographs of cameras were made in 1983 using conventional color film and printing. No Photoshop; no computer. The glowing aura around the cameras is an actual image of light and is entirely photographic.