Beth Herzhaft

Portfolio
Artist Statement
Online Information











THE INDECISIVE MOMENT
I am currently working on a series of contemporary photographic landscapes I call "area photography".

The subject matter I gravitate toward is unspectacular, and the images are a mischievous reaction to "epic" photography. There is a tension between meaning and meaninglessness that is expressed in this work.

This series is an exploration of the ephemeral, the peripheral. I am looking for the monumental in the yard: neglect's found aesthetic. Through the juxtaposition of spatial elements, use of color and light, and choice of subject, a sort of "discovered" narrative emerges, highlighting incompleteness as a condition of everyday life.

In area photography there is no "decisive moment": what is captured is a comma rather than an exclamation point. Others may see fit to "de-ordinarize" their imagery, engineering it to produce a fantastical effect. I reject this convention.

There is both a sense of idealism and anxiety in this work, and it is my hope that both the beautiful and the absurd can coexist in this work.


BethHerzhaft.com