FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Martin Gantman: Old Friends
February 14 - March 1, 2008
Reception: February 14, 2008 7:00 to 9:00pm
Los Angeles Center for Digital Art
107 West Fifth Street, Los Angeles, CA 90013
Contact: Rex Bruce
(323) 646-9427
E-mail, lacda@lacda.com
Web site, http://lacda.com/exhibits/gantman.html
Gallery hours, Wednesday – Saturday, 12-5pm
Martin Gantman, "Sintra 11.7.2", Digital Print, 23"x34", 2002 (Image Side).
The Los Angeles Center for Digital Art is proud to present a solo exhibition by Martin Gantman presenting the first showing of his project Old Friends. Using as a starting point his visits to various foreign cities, Gantman has created a series of post cards that portray the stories of unexpected meetings with his friends during his international travels. These travels are virtual and the stories he creates are fictional as well, but Gantman assiduously researches the specifics of each location and uses that knowledge to lace the narratives with an aura of the place where they occur.
Each card begins with the photograph of a common object on its image side using objects that are called by a word that is also a common proper name. By means of this deceit Gantman interlaces the stories on the text side of the card, about his “running into his old friends,” with sly references back to the photographed image. Thus the post card becomes a vehicle for commentary on the intangible nature of naming and language, as well as the notion of representation in general.
The original post cards having been mailed, the exhibition consists of large archival prints showing both sides of the cards Gantman has created.
Martin Gantman, "Sintra 11.7.2", Digital Print, 23"x34", 2002 (Text Side).
