What are dream images? Are they merely random and ephemeral? Or, are they subconscious glimpses into a reality we cannot comprehend? It’s a puzzle with no definite answer. A labyrinth with no planned course. Phantasmagoria includes photographs and experimental works by the New Orleans duo Louviere+Vanessa. Although well versed in traditional processes, these two choose to explore the fringes of film. Works in this exhibition are extracted from nine separate series: Heretic, Resonantia, Counterfeit, Folie a Deux, Oblivion Atlas, We’re Wolves, Instinct/Extinct, Chloroform, and Creature.
Jeff Louviere and Vanessa Brown combine the mediums and nuances of film, photography, painting, and printmaking. They utilize Holgas, scanners, 8mm film, destroyed negatives, wax, gold, and blood. They have a long fascination with themes of duality and paradox: beauty as horror, creation as destruction, the personal as a universal.
(Image: Valde, 2006, gampi paper, wax, and blood)