Maggie Preston

San Francisco-based Maggie Preston's practice represents an exploration of the basic concepts of the photographic medium and engages the complexities of its representational value. The technical strategies and critical approaches employed by Preston at once explore the process and materiality (or aesthetic translation) of photographic objects, as well as their presentation and social reception.

Whether pausing development and frustrating the promise of narrative, utilizing basic photographic materials as subject matter, or referencing the architecture of a newly minted gallery, Preston’s alchemical twists and turns, by design, enliven our perception of the photographic as well as its exhibition space.

She states: “The super-proliferation of images has left us inured to them; thus desensitized, we simply look through a photograph, seeing only its subject. I'm interested in what happens when this subject is interrupted or removed, and the image is simply created with the very 'stuff' of photography.”

The title, An Unfixed Form, references the perpetual advancement of the photographic medium, its technical aspects always changing and evolving. For Preston, the subject of photography encompasses the multitude of ways that exist to capture an image, and this exhibition serves as a sort of metaphor for the ever-unfixed state of the medium.

Friday, March 2 — Saturday, April 21, 2012
Opening Reception: Friday, March 9, 5 - 8 pm

Support for this exhibition has been provided by: Grants for the Arts/San Francisco Hotel Tax Fund; the National Endowment for the Arts, a federal agency; and the Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts.

Click on images to view a larger size.

• All image credits: Maggie Preston