Phillip Maisel: Serengeti Green

Document

Chicago, IL

June 19 - July 18, 2015

“Part of the allure of Phillip Maisel’s work is the challenge of deciphering exactly what you are looking at. He tips, stacks, slides, and tucks everyday materials––paper, glass, mirrors, tape, Plexiglas––into intriguing, multi-layered scenes staged for the camera’s lens, blurring the boundaries between sculpture, photography, and collage. Intuitively and meticulously constructed, these sculptural arrangements display a Bauhaus-inspired attention to balancing the elements of line, form, and color. They are, however, fleeting constructions, items positioned precariously against walls only to be dismantled once photographed.

Maisel often subtly reorients the same cast of objects through a series of images, playing with the variable effects of color, form, surface, reflectivity, opacity, and translucence on these mise-en-scènes. As the same elements reappear in multiple works, they gain distinct visual traction with each altered formation. By photographing digitally, he can immediately review and evaluate each image. This process fundamentally informs the way materials are shifted and repositioned for subsequent photographs, which are ultimately presented as groupings or sequences.”

- Excerpt from exhibition text by Allie Haeusslein, San Francisco, June 2015

Full text & exhibition brochure PDF

REVIEW: Chris Reeves for New City Art