Exhibition Review: Brea Souders, "Vistas"
Untitled #33 (from Vistas), 12 x 17 inches
Written by: Hana Kaneko
A new exhibition featuring Brea Souders’ latest series, “Vistas,” opened at the Bruce Silverstein Gallery Thursday. This beautiful collection of hand-colored photographs portrays phantom-like shadows of human beings in the breathtaking landscape of the national parks of the American West. The photographs were originally taken from Google Sphere’s 360-degree images, from the perspective of individuals observing the natural world around them. Souders takes these views, prints them and applies watercolors to resemble hand-colored travel postcards of an older time.
Untitled #24 (from Vistas), 21.5 x 30 inches
The process of hand-coloring calls to a bygone era of photography born in the late 19th century. It was inspired to overcome the natural limitations of black-and-white images’ illusion of reality. Color places photographs in the real, more present world. “Vistas” is a clash between the technological world and the innate natural world of humanity. Souders portrays the irony of our new reliance and incorporation of the virtual world takes us farther away from the natural world.
Untitled #1 (from Vistas), 12 x 17 inches
The boundaries of artistic tradition and definition in our current age are no longer so clearly defined. We live in a society governed by fragmentation, speed and mass abundance of cultural expression. Where the evolution of physical land takes hundreds of years, humanity changes in a blink of an eye. The way we represent nature today shifts day by day, in so many different directions. “Vistas” is a reflection on these social, ecological and technological relations between humanity and nature.
Through the editing process the algorithm detaches the human body, with the final product being a silhouette etched into the landscape. In some of Sounders’ images, the shadow blends into the rock, reflecting the union between human and nature. The viewer’s position in relation to these landscapes suggests a witnessing of their own selves, reconstructed into archetypal forms inhabiting the land. There is an almost primitive reference in these grounded silhouettes, similar to cave drawings etched into stone and left as evidence for our speculation. The pictures reveal their own makings with the shadows of their original authors out in the natural world. But when we look at these pictures, we inevitably see ourselves, costumed, performing, taking on fantastical identities rooted in imagination.
Untitled #38 (from Vistas), 21.5 x 30 inches
“Vistas” opened at the Bruce Silverstein Gallery on July 8 and runs until Aug. 20. There will be an opening reception and book signing event on July 15 from 4-8 p.m.
