Collections Spring 2011 Volume 87 | Page 7

NOW ON VIEW Do You See What I See? Todd Herman Chief Curator and Curator of European Art The Presence of Absence, now on view in Gallery 15, is an exhibition of 31 photographs, drawn from a private collection, which in many ways is a counterpoint to the photography on display in Who Shot Rock & Roll. In Who Shot Rock & Roll, the power of the images is in their ability to capture and document the energy, performance, and celebrity of rock and roll music. Recognition and immediacy are paramount. In The Presence of Absence, the familiar is disguised and the image within the photograph is symbolic of a larger unseen narrative. Soon after photography was invented in the early decades of the 19th century, artists began to play with the medium to challenge the pervasive criticism that photography was little more than a mechanical device that replicated the real world. Through manipulation of both subject and process, artists were able to create images that did not simply mirror visual reality or document the mundane but created thought-provoking and emotionally charged imagery—as potent as any painting or sculpture. The Presence of Absence celebrates photographers who challenge our perception of the ‘reality’ depicted in a photograph by capturing what is both present and absent—what we see and what we don’t see. In some cases we are shown what cannot be seen with the naked eye, and in others we are confronted by the familiar in a completely new guise. We are forced to contemplate and imagine the reality that lies outside the boundaries Lee Friedlander (American, born 1934) Canyon de Chelly, 1983 of the photograph and its image— whether it’s Robert F. Hammerstiel’s subtle photograph of a soiled tablecloth or the beautiful but unsettling image of a light switch at a Dachau crematorium complex by Andrea Robbins and Max Becher. While these photographs can be dark, weird and strange, they are also beautiful, exciting, and poignant. The Presence of Absence remains on view through May 1. columbiamuseum.org 5