Mike & Doug Starn
Wetterling Gallery is proud to present the celebrated American artists Mike + Doug Starn. Since the 1980s, their conceptual approach to photography, and use of unorthodox techniques, has broadened notions of what is accepted as a photograph. In a signature manipulation of materials and form, the twin brothers apply innovative printing techniques, and a vast array of materials including transparency film, plexiglass, layered fused glass panels, gilded colored carbon prints, scotch tape, wax and pushpins, to create, and intensify, their metaphorical landscapes. Concerned largely with themes of chaos and interdependence the brothers explore the physical and philosophical interconnections between subjects such as leaves, trees, snowflakes, and religious icons, with human memory, perception and thought. Working collaboratively in photography since the age of thirteen, their innovative techniques, and unique combination of sculpture, painting, and video, have defied categorization, and earned them a position of eminence within the history of art.
Iggy and Franz will be the Starn brothers seventh exhibition with the Wetterling Gallery. The last years the Starn’s has been working on a new body of work consisting of photographic portraits and paintings, utilizing old record albums. The album covers are selectively painted over, retaining recognizable features of the original cover art. The covers have been magnetized and the LPs are still inside. The albums are meant to be taken down and played on a turntable, allowing further engagement with the artwork. Utilizing iconic but ultimately superseded technological components as a gridded backdrop, the Starn brothers create a body of work that celebrates the constant cultural significance of music.