2014 Catalogue Archive

Through his diverse range of work, photographer Christopher Williams keenly probes and exposes the complex nature of images in the realm of photography, often using the world of advertising as a starting point. Here, the act of taking a photograph is the subject of the image, as a pair of male hands changes the shutter speed on a camera. Like much of Williams work, this seemingly banal image becomes more complex upon further inspection (and after a moment to read the lengthy title). The hands are, in fact, those of a hand model (named in the title) and the camera (also named in the title) was produced in Germany during the 1960s. Williams’ resulting photograph is, thereby, a commentary on the means and ends of image production, yet, the image itself reveals more than the collection of items and conditions listed in the title. Williams’ work has been exhibited at Contemporary Art Gallery, Vancouver; Kunstverein Braunschweig; SECESSION, Vienna; and Whitney Biennial 2006: Day for Night. His work can be found in the permanent collections of Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York; Guggenheim Museum, New York; Hirshhorn Museum, Washington, D.C.; Carnegie Museum of Art, Pittsburgh; Walker Art Center, Minneapolis; and Whitney Museum, New York, among others. Williams’ work is currently the subject of a major retrospective at MoMA in New York.
JUNE 19, 2012