IN THE ABSENCE OF OTHERS

For decades Nic Nicosia has created psychologically-loaded, artificial realities through staged photographs that involve elaborate sets and costumes. To create his recent body of work, Nicosia made small dioramas and then populated them with clay figures. He then photographed these scenes, printing them at various sizes that obscure their sense of scale. Here, two near-identical figures point at each other in a gesture of acknowledgment or accusation in a sparse, yet emotionally charged, scene. Nicosia’s work is well represented in museum collections throughout the US.