TROY – Artist Tara Fracalossi’s solo exhibition, “An Atlas,” will be on display at the Arts Center of the Capital Region through Saturday, April 22.
Fracalossi’s work explores the nature and meaning of images and archives through photography and super enlargements of original postcards.
Fracalossi’s ongoing work, “Postcards to Myself,” is a byproduct of the pandemic’s early isolation when she turned to her iPhone to document her daily small world happenings while using online consumer printing services and the U.S. Postal Service. Currently in its second year, the series further explores the nature of image making while questioning ideas of what photographic “quality” means.
The exhibit is as unique as it is thought-provoking. The postcard imagery will capture the eye and the enlargements will make one wonder why they’re projected to sizes that expose their colorful imperfections.
Looking closely into the enlargements, one can view the print grains, line and color variation. True imperfections, when blowing up an image that is perhaps seen as clear or abstracted on the outside, are seen up close and personal.
It is a reminder that nothing is perfect. When paper quality is altered over time, it deteriorates. Fleeting moments in life must be experienced and captured mentally, physically and socially. Otherwise all will be lost.
Displayed on two long shelves are 35 4-by-6-inch postcard-sized photos mailed to the Arts Center daily from Fracalossi. Her snapshot subjects, sharp in focus, abstracted, blurred, or a pattern, vary based on her interests and what she did on that day. Intriguing imagery includes a printed receipt hanging from a blue gas pump, the bottom section of a wind-blown American flag, dog fur with leash, and snow on a curb.
Also hanging on the gallery walls are large scale “super enlargements” of postcards. Several digital prints are framed while the “supers” are either draped down like a colorful cloth and horizontally hung. Each gallery pillar contained a black and white archival print from the “Postcards to Myself (Memorial II 11/5/22, 2/18/23)” series.
