Acropolis 64 1989

Carl Chiarenza made this gelatin silver print, Acropolis 64, with light and paper, and a certain amount of…violence? It’s a photograph, yes, but it’s also a really physical object. You can tell he didn’t just *take* a picture, he *made* it. Look at the textures – the crinkled surfaces, the torn edges. It’s easy to imagine Chiarenza manhandling the materials, bending and breaking them to create these forms. I’m especially drawn to the structure in the middle. At first it appears to be a fluted column but on closer inspection it could be anything, maybe a stack of folded paper? The whole image exists in this liminal space between representation and abstraction, between order and chaos. It reminds me a little bit of some of Kurt Schwitters’ Merz collages, those layered assemblages of found materials. Both artists seem to be saying something about the beauty and fragility of the world, and the way that art can transform even the most humble materials into something meaningful.