CURTIS MANN
CURTIS MANN
KUSSENEERS GALLERY – De Burburestraat 11, 2000 Antwerp, Belgium – www.kusseneers.com
© Curtis Mann & Kusseneers Gallery © All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form by any electronic or mechanical means (including photocopying) without permission in writing from the publisher.
Born in 1979 Dayton, Ohio. Curtis Mann lives and works in Chicago, Illinois. He received his MFA in Photography from Columbia College, Chicago, in 2008.
With photos from sites of conflict, Curtis Mann explores how photography does – and does not – tell the truth, by manipulating the intended meaning and function of found photographs. He reconfigures the context of the photograph, bringing attention to image, object and memory. With details erased and bleached into a sea of white like the glaring desert sun, his photos tell a story just as intriguing as one packed with information. Mann explores the viewer’s ability to fill in negative space, both physical and psychological. By using bleach as if it were paint, his ambitious large grids get a gorgeous painterly quality in the way the image flutters between representation and abstraction.
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STATEMENT In the Modifications series, found photographs of unfamiliar and conflicted places throughout the Middle East and Northern Africa are subjected to a process of selection and erasure. By simply painting on enlarged color photographs with clear acrylic and then bleaching the image, new and abstract meanings are created from these family snapshots, travel photographs, and casual documentations. Thus, the photograph is physically and contextually altered; as a result, the work has the ability to oscillate between image and object, photography and painting, real and imagined. I am constantly trying to force the medium to function outside of its initial utility and use its malleable nature as a way of coming to an ulterior understanding of the complex and the unfamiliar. This new reading attempts to shift and expand the limits on how we perceive and understand the fragmented world in which the photograph attempts to represent. Curtis Mann
Exhibition view booth Kusseneers Gallery at the-solo-project 2009, art fair in Basel, Switzerland
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In the MODIFICATIONS series, found photographs of unfamiliar and conflicted places throughout the Middle East and Northern Africa are subjected to a process of selection and erasure.
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Building, Standing (Beirut), 2008 clear acrylic varnish and graphite on bleached chromogenic print, edition of 5 + 2 a.p. (all slightly different) Âą 26,5 x 32 cm / Âą 10.5 x 12.5 in
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Abstract #6, Soldier (Baghdad), 2007 clear acrylic varnish and graphite on bleached chromogenic print, edition of 5 + 2 a.p. (all slightly different) Âą 43 x 50 cm / Âą 16.9 x 19.7 in
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Connection #1 (Somewhere, Israel), 2007 clear acrylic varnish and graphite on bleached chromogenic print, edition of 3 + 1 a.p. (all slightly different) Âą 40,5 x 30 cm / Âą 15.9 x 11.8 in
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Thought, Collective (Somewhere, Israel), 2006 clear acrylic varnish and graphite on bleached chromogenic print, edition of 3 + 1 a.p. (all slightly different) Âą 36 x 41 cm / Âą 14.2 x 16.1 in
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Attempt, Connection (Somewhere, Israel Series), 2007 clear acrylic varnish and graphite on bleached chromogenic print, edition of 5 + 1 a.p. (all slightly different) Âą 40,5 x 35,5 cm / Âą 16 x 14 in
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Curits Mann expands the boundaries of the medium of photography, while at the same time reflects on the fragility of the photographic image as a source of information.
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Loudspeaker (Beirut), 2008 clear acrylic varnish and graphite on bleached chromogenic print, edition of 5 + 2 a.p. (all slightly different) Âą 51 x 60 cm / Âą 20 x 23.5 in
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On Horizon (Palestine), 2007 clear acrylic varnish and graphite on bleached chromogenic print, unique Âą 28 x 35,5 cm / Âą 11 x 14 in
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Remains Of A Home (Incursion Series), 2007 clear acrylic varnish and graphite on bleached chromogenic print, edition of 3 + 1 a.p. (all slightly different) Âą 28 x 35,5 cm / Âą 11 x 14 in
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Photographer Scratch (Beirut), 2008 clear acrylic varnish and graphite on bleached chromogenic print, edition of 3 + 1 a.p. (all slightly different) Âą 61 x 51 cm / Âą 24 x 20.1 in
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Two Attempts (Olive Harvest, Palestine), 2008 DIPTYCH clear acrylic varnish and graphite on bleached chromogenic prints, edition of 3 + 1 a.p. (all slightly different) Âą 51 x 69 cm + 51 x 71 cm / Âą 20.1 x 27.2 in + 20.1 x 28
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Landlocked, Checkpoint (Unknown & Palestine), 2008 DIPTYCH clear acrylic varnish and graphite on bleached chromogenic prints, edition of 3 + 2 a.p. (all slightly different) ± 51 x 70 cm + 51 x 71 cm / ± 20.1 x 27.6 in + 20.1 x 28
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Abstract #7, Tank Soldier (Incursion Series), 2008 clear acrylic varnish and graphite on bleached chromogenic print, unique ± 43 x 50 cm / ± 16.9 x 19.7 in
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Two People (Somewhre, Israel Series), 2008 clear acrylic varnish and graphite on bleached chromogenic print, unique ± 52,5 x 64 cm / ± 20.7 x 25.2 in
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A Gathering, Planar (Somewhere, Israel Series), 2007 clear acrylic varnish and graphite on bleached chromogenic print, edition of 3 + 1 a.p. (all slightly different) Âą 40 x 50,2 cm / Âą 15.7 x 19.8 in
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How little needs to remain to convince us? Curtis has taken this a bit further, wondering how we can accommodate so easily the radical scale shifts within photographic images. When he isolates figures of people, for example, they always seem way too small.
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Redrawing, Planar (Somewhere, Israel), 2008 clear acrylic varnish and graphite on bleached chromogenic print, unique Âą 50 x 63,5 cm / Âą 19.7 x 25 in
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Entrance (Beirut), 2008 clear acrylic varnish and graphite on bleached chromogenic print, edition of 3 + 1 a.p. (all slightly different) Âą 54 x 68 cm / Âą 21.3 x 26.8 in
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Floating #3, Satanding (Olive Harvest, Palestine), 2008 clear acrylic varnish and graphite on bleached chromogenic print, unique Âą 40 x 53 cm / Âą 15.7 x 20.9 in
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Cube Hovers (Beirrut Happenings), 2008 clear acrylic varnish and graphite on bleached chromogenic print, edition of 3 + 2 a.p. (all slightly different) Âą 51 x 48 cm / Âą 20 x 18.9 in
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Rebuild (Somewhere, Israel), 2007 clear acrylic varnish and graphite on bleached chromogenic print, unique ± 48 x 65 cm / ± 18.9 x 25.6 in
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Wanderings (Refugee Camp, Nairobi), 2008 clear acrylic varnish and graphite on bleached chromogenic prints, edition of 2 (all slightly different) 72 individual photographs, each ± 20,5 x 25,5 cm / 8 x 10 in - framed as one work: ± 149 x 338 cm / ± 58.7 x 133.1 in
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detail :Wanderings (Refugee Camp, Nairobi), 2008
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After The Dust When You Come Over The Hill (Beirut), 2009 clear acrylic varnish and graphite on bleached chromogenic prints, edition of 3 (all slightly different) 84 individual photographs, each ± 20,5 x 25,5 cm / 8 x 10 in - framed as one work: ± 149 x 391 cm / ± 58.7 x 153.9 in
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This is Khurdistan in Iraq, a region that is very complex in it’s sovereignty and had been chemically attacked by Sadam years ago, that history is hidden inside of a very banal landscape photograph.
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Untitled, 2010 clear acrylic varnish on bleached chromogenic print, unique Âą 77 x 102 cm / 30 x 40 in
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detail of the installation Untitled, Foldings (Guided Tour, Golan Heights), 2010 clear acrylic varnish on 22 bleached chromogenic prints on a shelf Âą 4 meter long each photograph 12,7 x 17,8 cm / 5 x 7 in
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installation Untitled, Foldings (Guided Tour, Golan Heights), 2010 clear acrylic varnish on 22 bleached chromogenic prints on a shelf Âą 4 meter long, unique each photograph 12,7 x 17,8 cm / 5 x 7 in
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Removal detail #1 (Roadblock - between Palestine and Israel), 2010 clear acrylic varnish on bleached chromogenic print, unique Âą 50,5 x 40,5 cm / 20 x 16 in
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Removal detail #2 (Roadblock - between Palestine and Israel), 2010 clear acrylic varnish on bleached chromogenic print, unique Âą 50,5 x 40,5 cm / 20 x 16 in
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A photograph is supposed to be a moment captured in time, perhaps a stark depiction of truth. However, as Mann modifies the photograph, he literally highlights the ambiguity and inexorable complexities of being able to understand, and sift through the myriad things we hear and believe about what goes on in the Middle East.
Removal detail #3 (Roadblock - between Palestine and Israel), 2010 clear acrylic varnish on bleached chromogenic print, unique Âą 50,5 x 40,5 cm / 20 x 16 in
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Removal detail #4 (Roadblock - between Palestine and Israel), 2010 clear acrylic varnish on bleached chromogenic print, unique Âą 50,5 x 40,5 cm / 20 x 16 in
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Removal detail #5 (Roadblock - between Palestine and Israel), 2010 clear acrylic varnish on bleached chromogenic print, unique Âą 50,5 x 40,5 cm / 20 x 16 in
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Curtis Mann is constantly trying to force the medium to function outside of its initial utility and use its malleable nature as a way of coming to an ulterior understanding of the complex and the unfamiliar. This new reading attempts to shift and expand the limits on how we perceive and understand the fragmented world in which the photograph attempts to represent.
Removal detail #6 (Roadblock - between Palestine and Israel), 2010 clear acrylic varnish on bleached chromogenic print, unique Âą 50,5 x 40,5 cm / 20 x 16 in
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Removal detail #7 (Roadblock - between Palestine and Israel), 2010 clear acrylic varnish on bleached chromogenic print, unique Âą 50,5 x 40,5 cm / 20 x 16 in
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Removal detail #8 (Roadblock - between Palestine and Israel), 2010 clear acrylic varnish on bleached chromogenic print, unique Âą 50,5 x 40,5 cm / 20 x 16 in
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Exhibition view ‘Going To Pieces’ at Kusseneers Gallery, Antwerp, October 2011
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detail: Fall Into Pieces, 2011
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Fall Into Pieces, 2011 Synthetic polymer varnish on bleached chromogenic development prints 146 x 207,5 cm / 57.5 x 81.75 in
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Diminishing Perspective, 2011 Bleached chromogenic development print 111 x 72,5 cm / Âą 43.7 x 28.5 in
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The Station, 2011 Bleached chromogenic development print 111 x 72,5 cm / Âą 43.7 x 28.5 in
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Passage, 2011 Synthetic polymer varnish on bleached chromogenic development prints 35,5 x111 cm / 11 x 44 in
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The Boy, 2011 Synthetic polymer varnish on bleached chromogenic development print 61 x 50,5 cm / 24 x 20 in
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Exhibition view ‘Going To Pieces’ at Kusseneers Gallery, Antwerp, October 2011
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Split, 2011 Synthetic polymer varnish on bleached chromogenic development prints 167 x 234 cm / 65.75 x 92 in
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All of the little scrapes, scratches, crumples and peeled areas in Mann’s work function as a way to keep the viewers around just a little bit longer, engaged long enough that maybe a different part of their brain might start reconsidering initial ideas or understandings.
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detail Split
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Jambiya 1 (yellow), 2011 Bleached chromogenic development print 76 x 50,5 cm / 30 in x 20 in
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Jambiya 2 (blue), 2011 Bleached chromogenic development print 76 x 50,5 cm / 30 in x 20 in
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Untitled, 2011 Synthetic polymer varnish on bleached chromogenic development print 61 x 50,5 cm / 24 x 20 in
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View (east), 2011 Bleached chromogenic development print 50,5 x 40,5 cm / 20 x 16 in
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View (west), 2011 Bleached chromogenic development print 50,5 x 40,5 cm / 20 x 16 in
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Exhibition view ‘Going To Pieces’ at Kusseneers Gallery, Antwerp, October 2011
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Smile, 2011 Synthetic polymer varnish on bleached chromogenic development print 50,5 x 40,5 cm / 20 x 16 in
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Stencil, 2011 Synthetic polymer varnish on bleached chromogenic development print 50,5 x 40,5 cm / 20 x 16 in
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Interlaced, 2011 Bleached chromogenic development print 76 x 78,5 cm / 30 x 30.75 in
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BIOGRAPHY
SELECTED GROUP EXHIBITIONS
1979 Born in Dayton (Ohio, USA) Lives and works in Chicago.
2011
2010 EDUCATION 2008 2003
Columbia College of Chicago - MFA, Photography, Chicago, IL University of Dayton - BS, Mechanical Engineering, Dayton, OH
SELECTED SOLO EXHIBITIONS 2011
2010
2009
2008
2005
Going To Pieces, Kusseneers Gallery, Antwerp, Belgium Resurfaced, Luce Gallery, Torino, Italy Making Oneself, Making Oneself, Kavi Gupta Gallery, Berlin, Germany Everything After, Kavi Gupta Gallery, Chicago, IL Something After, Almine Rech Gallery, Brussels, Belgium Altered States, Kansas City Jewish Museum of Contemporary Art, Kansas City, MO Modality, Foster Gallery at the Noble and Greenough, Dedham, MA 12x12, Modifications, Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago New Work: Curtis Mann, Kusseneers Gallery at the-solo-project 2009, Basel, Switzerland 12x12, Modifications, Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago, Modifications, Kusseneers Gallery, Antwerp, Belgium Modifications, Kusseneers Gallery at the-solo-project 2008, Basel, Switzerland Artifacts, Remnants, O Gallery - Dayton, OH
2009
2008
2007
2006
2005 2004
After the Gold Rush, Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York Erasure, Magnan Martz Gallery, New York Microwave, eight, Josée Bienvenu Gallery, New York Whitney Biennial 2010, Whitney Museum of American Art, NY, February 25 - May 30, 2010 Armory Art Show, w/ Kavi Gupta Gallery, New York American ReConstruction: An exhibition of new photography, Curated by Mike Hoeh, Winkleman Gallery, New York Altered Appropriations: Making Strange, Guggenheim Gallery at Chapman University, curated by Jody Zellen, Orange, USA Standing On The Shoulder Of Giants groupshow at the Temporary Gallery with Kusseneers Gallery, Cologne, Germany Midwest Photographers Project II - Museum of Contemporary Photography, Chicago, IL Bad Moon, Andrew Rafacz Gallery, Chicago, IL Troposphere - Curated by Sophie Lvoff - Homestead House, New York, NY Almost Reality - Dayton Visual Arts Center, Dayton, OH MFA Thesis Exhibition, Raw Space, Columbia College, Chicago Are We There Yet, Hyde Park Art Center - Curated by Dawoud Bey, Chicago, IL Are We There Yet, GASP - Curated by Dawoud Bey, Boston, MA Strange Habit, Ispace - Curated by Luke Batten, Chicago, IL The Ubiquitous Image, NY Photo Festival - Ccurated by Lesley Martin, Brooklyn, NY Next Art Fair with Harold Arts, Merchandise Mart, Art Chicago, Chicago, IL It's All Relative, South Union Arts, Chicago, IL Silverstein Photo Annual, 10 Artists/10 Curators, Silverstein Gallery, New York, NY Concerning Tomorrow, Harold Arts - Curated by Jason Lazarus - Chicago, IL Synched, Museum of Contemporary Photography, Chicago, IL New Art 2007, Orleans St Gallery - Curated by Adam BrooksSt Charles, IL Weisman Exhibition, Hokin Gallery, Chicago, IL Art LA, Lisa Boyle Gallery, Los Angeles, CA Bridge Art Fair, w/ Columbia College Chicago, Chicago, IL Aqua Art Fair - Lisa Boyle Gallery - Miami, FL New Trends in Chicago, Curated by Brian Ulrich/Greg Stimac Version Fest, Chicago, IL Hey Hot Shot Exhibition, Jen Bekman Gallery, New York, NY Horvath Exhibition, Rike Gallery - University of Dayton, Dayton, OH Honors Arts Exhibition, Berry Scholars Gallery, University of Dayton, Dayton, OH
exhibition view ‘Modifications’ at the Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago
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