Statement | Photographs

Malcolm Lubliner — The Garden of Arbitrary Volition.

I began working on The Garden of Arbitrary Volition series in the early 1980s. The images, some of which began with dreams, were originally conceived as small theater pieces conceptually related more to the art of assemblage than to the traditional still life. The idea was to question the nature of perception by using an array of objects and elements not typically seen in the still life form. As examples, in the image titled Caste Correction, the object at center stage is an old fashioned art lamp, the kind that was once commonly used to light framed works of art. I wondered what would happen if the lamp was given the opportunity to change roles and become the star of the show. In Standard Inquiry, a young water buffalo finds itself in a surreal environment and seems mystified by an electrical adapter with sexual undertones.

The original photographs were done in black and white and three of the images were designed, in part, to take advantage of a now discontinued Kodak material called Translite that was manufactured initially in the early 1930s for use in backlit product ads. It was made by layering silver emulsion on both sides of sheets of frosted acetate that I backed with chrome Mylar, a combination that added a slight dimensional glow to the images when viewed under direct light.

These current works explore the same themes as the earlier work but add the complex dimension of color. In them I’ve also experimented with more surreal ideas of subject selection and composition. They ask more focused questions about the peculiar and arbitrary relationship we humans have with war, politics and nature.