Michael Benson, Planetfall @Hasted Kraeutler

JTF (just the facts): A total of 18 large scale photographic works, framed in thick black wood and unmatted, and hung in the entry and the three rooms of the main gallery space. All of the works are digital chromogenic prints mounted on Dibond, made in 2012 from source material taken between 2000 and 2011. Square format dimensions range from 16x16 to 72x72, while the more panorama style works range in size from 17x51 to 50x107; some images are available in multiple sizes. The works have generally been printed in editions of 8 regardless of size, with a few exceptions in editions of 3. A monograph of this body of work was published in 2012 by Abrams Books (here) (Installation shots at right.)

Comments/Context: I have written before about the need for a more granular and comprehensive 21st century definition of "appropriation", and Michael Benson's newest show of space photography provides an opportunity to revisit these thorny questions once again. His awe inspiring images of celestial bodies knock your socks off with their grandeur, and then given their art gallery setting, they trigger a set of questions about his process and the application of his artistic intent. Is this what Saturn really "looks like"? How much did he tweak the colors or manipulate the content? Do we as an audience want him to show us the "truth" or express his personal vision? The fact is, while we can easily be impressed by the scientific facts on view, we don't really have a ready vocabulary to investigate and categorize the art side of Benson's works.

While it may not seem immediately obvious, I'd put Benson in a loosely held together "archive mining" bucket, along with growing group of artists as diverse as Zoe Crosher, Doug Rickard, Kate Steciw, and Penelope Umbrico. Starting with a body of source material (often digital, but sometimes analog like vernacular photos or postcards), they sift and sort, crop and rephotograph, edit and rework, order and reconsider, using the imagery as a jumping off point for their own artistic projects. Some stay "close" to the material, while others turn it into something nearly unrecognizable. This is a wholly different kind of appropriation than the old school Pictures Generation recontextualization we are used to; in many cases, the original context isn't hugely important to the conceptual basis of the new end result and there is often no inherent irony at work. The artists are mining archives for material they find exciting or simply useful, which can then be used to make downstream artworks. Photography purists tend to scoff at this camera-less process, pooh-poohing the effort as some kind of less than admirable short cut. I think this is a mistake; we are just seeing the birth of a new strain of photography that starts with the wealth of visual material already readily available (rather than newly clicking shutters) and we will naturally see the development of new and diverse technical approaches and measures of craftsmanship, some that will match our current definitional categories well and others that won't.

So back to Benson. His works start with raw imagery taken by NASA and European Space Agency probes and scientific missions, which he then meticulously stitches and tunes into large, vibrant art objects. Geysers on Enceladus, swirling flares on an eclipse of the Sun, flashes of comet impacts, many of his images show us something truly special or amazing, at least to the non-expert viewer. Others take the elegant rings of Saturn and turn them into abstractions of slicing cross section lines, perfect arcs, or sweeping electric blue stripes. Wavy Mars dunes in red sand turn into something akin to Edward Weston, while clouds on Earth flatten out like tabletops as they reach the upper atmosphere. In some cases, Benson is extremely crisp and literal, seemingly cleaning up a straightforward shot for better viewing/understanding; in others, his editing hand is much more visible, outer space becoming a forum for abstraction.

I think there is no denying the astonishing power of many of these images; the best have a soaring elegance and drama that most normal terrestrial subject matter will find hard to match. But until we clarify the conceptual boundaries of emerging archive mining strategies, I think we will struggle to find the right categorical place for works like Benson's. Photographic archive mining is here to stay, and we need to think carefully and rigorously about the spectrum of ways it can be successfully carried out. On the surface, Benson's approach stays very close to the science, but underneath, it isn't radically different from Internet scouring and repurposing; his chosen archive is different and certainly more specialized, but many of his foundational concerns and issues are exactly the same.

Collector's POV: The images in this show are generally priced based on size, ranging from $4200 for the smallest works to $25000 for the largest, with multiple intermediate prices in between. Benson's work has not yet become consistently available in the secondary markets, so gallery retail likely remains the best option for those collectors and space/science buffs interested in following up.

Rating: * (one star) GOOD (rating system described here)

Transit Hub:

• Artist site (here)
• Features/Reviews: NY Times (here), Time LightBox (here), Space.com (here), NBC Cosmic Log (here), Slate Behold (here)

Michael Benson, Planetfall
Through March 9th

Hasted Kraeutler Gallery
537 West 24th Street
New York, NY 10011

Michael Benson, Beyond @Hasted Kraeutler

JTF (just the facts): A total of 12 large scale photographic works, framed in black with no mats, and hung in the entry and the first two rooms of the gallery space. All of the works are digital chromogenic prints mounted on Dibond, made between 2003 and 2011. There are 11 single images, 1 triptych, and 1 video in the show. Square format dimensions range from 35x35 to 72x72, while more panorama style works range from 35x70 to 18x77; some of the images are available in multiple sizes. The works have generally been printed in editions of 8 regardless of size, with one exception in an edition of 3. (Installation shots at right.)

Comments/Context: Since the invention of the medium, photography and science have been inextricably intertwined. From the very beginning, photographs were used to document and illustrate physical phenomena, from Atkins' cyanotypes of British algae to Muybridge's motion studies (see Brought to Light, the terrific SFMOMA exhibit of a couple of years ago for more on 19th century scienfic photography, here). Decades later Tasker would use X-rays to plumb the depths of natural floral geometries and Abbott would set up elaborate experiments to examine the fundamental properties of physics. Unquestionably, all of these photographs had aesthetic value and became part of our visual education. And yet even today, the line between science and art continues to be a blurry one, open to interpretation and agrument - are certain pictures categorized as art or science? Do they belong in National Geographic or in a white cube? And are these questions even relevant?

Michael Benson's photographs of interstellar space fall into this art/science trap in a 21st century manner. Starting with digital files buried in space agency databases all over the world, Benson sifts and sorts hundreds of images, stitching together larger mosaics from thousands of fragments taken over time as a probe or spacecraft whizzed by something of interest. There is a meticulousness required of this kind of craftsmanship: correcting distortions, filling in gaps, matching, tweaking, synthesizing. Unlike Thomas Ruff's recent Cassini images which used the same kind of space imagery as a starting point for further simplification and manipulation, Benson stays close to the science, interpreting the data yes, but ultimately aiming at some definition of the heretofore invisible "truth".

His results are printed in vibrant color at monumental scale, further enhancing their power to astound: the sun is a fiery red ball covered in angry flashes, a tiny moon is dwarfed by the enormity of Jupiter, Saturn's rings create layered arcs and shadows, a swirling dust storm rushes across the face of Mars. These are incredible sights most of us have never seen, and it's hard not to be drawn into the sheer, cool, "otherness" of what is on display. Even the most jaded and skeptical of gallery goers will have to admit that these are intellectually interesting; they may not agree that they are "art" in any traditional or conceptual sense (and may discount them as a result), but as pure visual theater, they're pretty astonishing.

Collector's POV: The images in this show are generally priced based on size, ranging from $5500 for the smallest works to $25000 for the largest, with a few intermediate prices in between ($7500, $12500); the triptych is $18000. Benson's work is not consistently available in the secondary markets, so gallery retail is likely the only option for interested collectors at this point.

My favorite image in the show was Uranus with Rings, Voyager, January 24, 1986, 2010; it's the picture second from the right in the top installation shot. I liked the perfect, almost abstract geometry of the central white orb, surrounded by the cluster of tiny, delicate, nearly invisible rings.

Rating: * (one star) GOOD (rating system described here)

Transit Hub:

• Artist site (here)
• Features: Wall Street Journal (here), Photo Booth (here)
• Recent exhibit: Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum (here)
• Book: Beyond: Visions of Interplanetary Probes (here)

Michael Benson, Beyond

Through March 26th

Hasted Kraeutler Gallery
537 West 24th Street
New York, NY 10011