SHAPE OF LIGHT: Intersection of Digital Art and the Mind Photography by Myles Kleinfeld
Photographers are beginning to use the camera lens to present a new vision of the world.
It is the ideal medium of modernity. Today’s artists no longer define themselves by their choice of medium. They are free to shape light however they choose.
The world we see is made of light reflected by the things we look at. Photography records this light, holding and shaping these fleeting images. Myles Kleinfeld explores the world with his camera and works with light to create abstract work. He has prioritized shape, form and expression over recognizable subject matter and uses the camera lens to transform reality. In other areas of his work, he uses photographic materials and his computer to create images with little obvious reference to the real world. His images incorporated strong effects of light and shadow to reproduce the world in sharp detail. By looking closely and exploring new perspectives, his images hovered at the limits of abstraction, presenting a new vision of the modern world. He uses natural forms to create abstractions. By presenting objects as fragments, traces, signs, and memories, they move beyond their medium’s ability to reproduce reality. Instead he has explored photography’s capacity to create new realities through the manipulation of light. His works reduce what we see to its essentials and prioritize form over creative expression.
Minimalism claims that art should have its own reality and not be an imitation of anything else. Minimalist artists make no attempt to represent the outside world, their experiences or emotions. They want the viewer to respond only to what is in front of them. This concept can be problematic for photography, a medium that is by nature representational. Myles’s work shown here engages with the aesthetic simplicity of minimalist art, presenting carefully selected volumes, shapes and lines. They focus on looking at the forms within the image so that the source or subject matter becomes irrelevant. These works create order through repetition and highlight the form and structure of the world around us.
