David Zwirner will present photographs by James Welling at The Art Show 2020. Organized by the artist, the presentation will explore his use of what he refers to as “pathological color” across several recent bodies of work.
Since the 1970s, when he was a student at the California Institute of the Arts, Welling has become known for a relentlessly evolving body of images that consider both the history and technical specificities of photography. Emerging at a time when the medium focused on its capacity for mimesis, Welling’s work signaled a break with traditional ideas of photography by shifting attention to the construction of images themselves. While the artist produces discrete series, the subject matter of which ranges widely, his work is united by an examination of what might be termed “states of being” produced by photographically derived images and by an inquiry into how such states are, in turn, read by the viewer.
To coincide with this presentation, David Zwirner Online will present James Welling: Pathological Color, an online exhibition that highlights Welling’s process, featuring a selection of photographs which will be on view at the fair, along with additional works chosen by the artist that expand on the series.