Jeff Cowen at Seine 51
Cowen presents a series of black and white photos. The grainy, slightly out of focus images depict women, abstract forms, a statues, and even a boat. The mood is somber; each photo reflects the wear and tear of time rather than the short instant in which light hits a negative. Each photo is slightly manually manipulated by the artist; his process is visible in stray marks and in the rings at the corners of each image (where each large sheet of paper was held down during the exposure process). The finished works do not aspire to classical precision. In a piece such as Nathalia, 2009 (350 x 258 cm, tirage argentique), the corners may be ripped and the paper on which the images are printed is inexactly cut from a larger roll. Nevertheless this ripping gives the images a certain frailty that complements the content of the works. Certain photos in the show, including Nathalia, are printed twice, at slightly different exposures, and subsequently exhibited as diptychs. Cowen denies the authority of a singular “best” image that most “defines” his subject matter. For him, making images is as much a process of searching for the ineffable as it is a finished product.