Opening reception for Joshua Kessler: Frame Rate [FotoFocus Biennial]

A series of abstract, color-driven photographs and micro-videos by Joshua Kessler serve as a meditation on how technology has so fundamentally changed the way that we consume and experience imagery. Since the first recorded image ever taken by Joseph Nicéphore Niépce in 1826, the basic elements of photography have not changed. In its most reductive form, photography is a study of light, shadow, and shape. What has evolved is how we view the resulting images, whether they are daguerreotypes nestled in a velvet box, framed salt prints, or, most recently, pixels on a screen. Frame Rate is a meditation on the pure joy of experiencing light, shadow, and shape while commenting on the way we encounter imagery today—whether it be a single-framed photograph, an Instagram-style grid, the liquid flow of a Facebook feed, or snappy micro-videos. The essential DNA of image-making has stayed the same, but the volume and speed with which we consume it has changed.