Susana Reisman Selective Affinities

Susana Reisman presents two bodies of work that reflect on the abundance of photographic imagery in “a society devoted to the image”. In these companion series, Reisman finds a fresh way to consider iconic images from the history of art and takes a critical look at the role the photograph plays in the exchange of information and material culture.

In Domestic Disclosures Reisman uses food and household objects to create still life portraits that combine references to famous artworks with the aesthetics of food styling and product photography. For each work, the artist enacts a sculptural gesture and then documents it as a photograph. The resulting images effectively bring to light the mental archive of images we carry with us that subconsciously influence the way we view the world. Reisman’s work encapsulates Marshall McLuhan’s assertion that “we look at the present through a rear-view mirror”.

Collections on eBay 2004/2009, explores the ubiquity of the photographic image and its persuasive influence on consumption. Appropriating photographs of collections posted for sale on eBay, Reisman creates a kind of synchronic ‘snapshot’, a ‘collection of collections’, that reflects, through material goods, our values and desires as a society. Supported by the Ontario Arts Council