Oscar Palacio + Light Work

One of the benefits to the museum being closed is that the Addison’s curatorial staff has had more time to pursue “outside” projects from serving as guest jurors, to presenting lectures, to writing articles for various art publications. An example of the latter is an essay in the current Light Work Annual (Contact Sheet No. 152) by curator Allison Kemmerer about new work by Oscar Palacio. Palacio was an Edward E. Elson artist-in-residence at the Addison in 2005. His new series of photographs, some of which were created while an artist-in-residence at Light Work in 2008, focuses on national monuments and historic sites and what they say—or don’t say—about American history and our national identity. In her essay, Kemmerer wrote:

“These photographs suggest that history is an ongoing dialogue between past and present, between traditional interpretations of events and the emergence of alternative perspectives, between the keepers of the eternal flame and those who wonder what other fires are burning underground, just outside the frame.”

To view other works by Palacio, check out the photographs in the Addison's collection, like Grass Over Asphalt of 2002 [illustrated] and the artist’s website at: http://www.oscarpalacio.net/.


Posted by Jaime DeSimone
Charles H. Sawyer Curatorial Fellow