Sam Kyser
My practice is centered on an exploration of the physical and
cerebral spaces that exist on the borders of the modern-day
environment, and how these occurrences are represented and
interpreted as photographic objects. This involves a constant
negotiation between the seemingly opposed concepts of
representation and abstraction, singularity and multiplicity, and
a commitment to and a suspicion of the practice of photography.
The medium of photography becomes a way to collect and
recontextualize the aesthetic choices and anomalies of others
present in my surroundings. By manipulating the spatial plane
of my photographs, skewing the traditional separations between
painting, photography, and sculpture, and juxtaposing them
with one another in open-ended compositions, I both subvert
and enhance the spatial illusions that comprise the underlying
transactions that occur between the photographic image
and the viewer. I attempt to create an ever-evolving cycle of
seduction (through artifice) and alienation (through photographic
representation) for the viewer to exist in. Together these
discordant elements can coalesce into something whole and
offer an alternative at once referential, material, and abstract.