Making it Real

Truthfulness in
Photographic Images

September 18 through
November 15, 1998

Jorge Ribalta (Spanish, born 1963). Untitled #60, 1989.
Gelatin silver print,19 7/8 x 23 7/8".
Courtesy Zabriskie Gallery, New York.

For photographers, reality has always been an intriguing proposition. An aura of factual truth -the sense that "the camera doesn't lie" - has surrounded photography from its beginnings, even with compelling evidence to the contrary. The artists in Making it Real claim as their creative ground the tension between photography's expectation of reality and its subversion. Using an array of deliberately low-tech approaches, they offer illusion while providing the means to see through it. By making simulated reality their subject and deliberately exposing their set-ups, the thirty-one artists whose work is featured in this exhibition produce photographs that are both deceptive and precise descriptions of reality.

Opening Reception
Friday, September 18, 7 &endash; 9 pm
7 pm, Patrons & Benefactors Preview

8 pm, Public Opening
in the Museum

Panel Discussion
Artists in the exhibition - including James Casebere and Abelardo Morell - will discuss their work and the issues raised by the exhibition's theme.
Saturday, September 19, 10 am-12 noon
Campbell Hall 153

Co-sponsored with the McIntire Department of Art with support from Arts Enhancement Funds

First Sundays Gallery Talk
by Suzanne Foley, curator
Sunday, October 4, 2 pm
in the Museum

Gallery Talk
Vik Muniz, guest curator
Tuesday, November 3, 5 pm
Reception follows in the Museum.

Among the artists represented in the exhibition are Tina Barney, Zeke Berman, James Casebere, Fischli and Weiss, Joan Fontcuberta, Mike Kelley, David Levinthal, Abelardo Morell, Jorge Ribalta, Cindy Sherman, Laurie Simmons, Sandy Skoglund, Hiroshi Sugimoto, and Boyd Webb. Guest curator for the exhibition, Vik Muniz is an artist, writer, and associate editor of Blind Spot. An illustrated catalogue with essays accompanies the show.

Making it Real is a traveling exhibition organized and circulated by Independent Curators Incorporated (ICI), New York, a non-profit traveling exhibition service specializing in contemporary art. The exhibition, tour, and catalogue are made possible, in part, by grants from the Lannan Foundation and the National Endowment for the Arts. Presentation of the exhibition at the Bayly Art Museum is supported by Arts Enhancement Funds from the Office of the Provost.

Images and Text Copyright, 1997
The Rector and Visitors
of the University of Virginia
Charlottesville

Bayly Art Museum
University of Virginia, Rugby Road
Charlottesville, Virginia 22903
804-924-3592