Hailing from Southern California, John Divola is heavily influenced by an aesthetic prevalent in this dusty corner of America; manmade structures at odds with their overwhelming surroundings … a landscape that can quickly swallow what man puts in its path.
Currently showing at New York gallery Maccarone, Theodore Street Project is a series of photographs that document a decaying home in Moreno Valley, California, between 2008 and 2013; man and nature reversing the progressive march of civilisation. Initially capturing shots with an 8 x 10 view camera, Divola returned with a Gigapan scanning device — developed for NASA’s Mars Rover cameras — that captures 120 images during an exposure of up to 20 minutes, before digitally compositing a single super-high-resolution photograph. The results are absorbing works that take their audience out into the desert, into the degenerating structure; vandalism, natural erosion, Divola’s additive paintings and eerie cameos, narrative steeped in unpredictability and unease.
John Divola, Theodore Street Project, runs at Maccarone, New York, till 23 April.
JOHN DIVOLA
Landscape for Antonioni, 9_8_2010, 4:56PM – 5:17PM, 33.94522, -117.138789, 2010
Pigment print on rag paper, mounted to Dibond
42 x 96 inches (106.7 x 243.8 cm) Edition 1 of 5
JOHN DIVOLA. Theodore Street, 33.94522, -117.138789, 6/16/2010, 2:22PM -2:27PM, 2010
Pigment print on rag paper, mounted to Dibond
48 x 92 inches (121.9 x 233.7 cm) Edition 1 of 5
JOHN DIVOLA. Theodore Street, 33.94522, -117.138789, 9/19/2010, 12:02PM -12:18 PM, 2010
Pigment print on rag paper, mounted to Dibond
48 x 92 inches (121.9 x 233.7 cm) Edition 1 of 5
JOHN DIVOLA
Theodore Street, 33.94522, -117.138789, 5/6/2012, 3:00PM -3:13PM, 2012
Pigment print on rag paper, mounted to Dibond
46 x 96 inches (116.8 x 243.8 cm) Edition 1 of 5
JOHN DIVOLA
Dark Star D, 2008
Pigment print on rag paper, mounted to Dibond
40 x 50 inches (101.6 x 127 cm)
JOHN DIVOLA
Dark Star B, 2007
Pigment print on rag paper, mounted to Dibond
40 x 50 inches (101.6 x 127 cm) Edition 2 of 3
JOHN DIVOLA
Theodore Street, 33.94522, -117.138789, 1/27/2012, 3:31PM -3:3:54PM, 2012
Pigment print on rag paper, mounted to Dibond
45 x 60 inches (114.3 x 152.4 cm) Edition 1 of 5
JOHN DIVOLA. Theodore Street, 33.94522, -117.138789, 5/6/2012, 3:00PM -3:13PM, 2012 [Detail]
Pigment print on rag paper, mounted to Dibond
46 x 96 inches (116.8 x 243.8 cm) Edition 1 of 5
JOHN DIVOLA. Theodore Street, 33.94522, -117.138789, 1/27/2012, 3:31PM -3:3:54PM, 2012 [Detail]
Pigment print on rag paper, mounted to Dibond
45 x 60 inches (114.3 x 152.4 cm) Edition 1 of 5
JOHN DIVOLA
Theodore Street, 33.94522, -117.138789, 5/20/2012, 6:24PM – 6:42PM, Solar Eclipse 5/20/2012 6:38 PM, 2012
Pigment print on rag paper, mounted to Dibond
30 x 60 inches (76.2 x 152.4 cm) Edition 1 of 5
JOHN DIVOLA. Theodore Street, 33.94522, -117.138789, 7/9/2010 5:13 PM – 5:26PM, 2010
Pigment print on rag paper, mounted to Dibond
48 x 58 inches (121.9 x 147.3 cm) Edition 1 of 5
All images courtesy of the artist and Maccarone.
JOHN DIVOLA
Dark Star C, 2007
Pigment print on rag paper, mounted to Dibond
40 x 50 inches (101.6 x 127 cm) Edition 2 of 3
