Slide Show

It all started with Monet, my longtime love of waterlilies, and my fascination with trompe l'oeil. The slide was a gift from a friend who knew that Monet was my favorite painter growing up. At first, I was only interested in the slide for its center, the painting. And then the slide as an object became my focus. I only used the lightbox to view the side. Since now the image is less important, the container has taken primacy. Preserved within delicate borders of paper and plastic and metal, its beveled edges, colored dots, and academic language are merely decorative when removed from the documentational context. But where is the work? The slide reminds us of the work but as it fades or changes with time, as the digital screen has taken over, it becomes more and more removed from the original and especially the experience of the original. The slides themselves, like amber, hold not the work but the reminder of what was considered worth preserving.