Scott Cowan / 17 Pictures

Scott Cowan, in his first photography exhibition, has selected 17 images from a body of work that will eventually contain 10,000 photos. The chosen work illustrates humor, raw tension, claustrophobia, and strangely grotesque excess within and without what is typically thought of as 'common' cultural objects. They are clearly fixed ‘facts’ of the real world but impartially recorded within the order and clarity imposed or allowed by the camera. While less focus is placed on direct narrative, the starting point is an egalitarian or evenhanded place where no one object contained within the picture has direct precedence over the other. The emphasis is on shape, color, form, symbol, texture and fragments of space. With this in mind these images re-think about what is considered successful, beautiful, or visually important. It is as if the aesthetic qualities are not a separate issue to resolve apart from the objects themselves.