Mel Bochner
Misunderstandings (A Theory of Photography) from Artists & Photographs , 1970
Artwork Type: Prints
Medium: Offset envelope, containing ten offset cards
Dimensions: Composition: 6 in x 9 in
Dimensions: card (each): 5 x 8 inches (12.7 x 20.3 cm); envelope: 6 x 9 inches (15.2 x 22.9 cm)
Accession #: 19780558A
Department: Art Council
Credit: Collection of University Art Museum, University at Albany, State University of New York on behalf of The University at Albany Foundation , purchase of Art Council
Related Exhibitions:
Affinities and Outliers: Highlights from the University at Albany Fine Art Collections
Persuasive Images: Selected Works from the Art Collections at the University at Albany
Copyright: © Mel Bochner
Object Label:
Show Object Label(s)Mel Bochner’s (b. 1940, American)
Misunderstandings (A Theory of
Photography), 1970 series of offset
lithographs dissects the subjective
“rules” that have governed the medium
of photography. Bochner made this
work at a time when photography was
being questioned and defended as a
formidable medium in art. Six of the
quotations on the cards are sourced
from literature, and three are invented
by Bochner and question the framework
and rules that artists, critics, and
historians have ascribed to the field. By
creating ambiguity among actual and
forged sources, the artist questions the
authenticity of representation that is
inherent to the photographic medium.
–Affinities and Outliers: Highlights from the University at Albany Fine Art Collections
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