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Victoria Pedersen Simplicity is the soul of elegant expression: it is inside a whisper or a sigh, a gesture or a touch, that meaning dwells. If there is such a thing as controlled abandonment, then James Nares has found a way to express it. Using a single light source, usually just a simple bulb, he records the repetitions of everyday movements such as drinking coffee, swinging one's arms, or punching the air on film, which he then transforms through a complex series of photochemical baths and bleaches called luminagraphics. Subjecting these photograms to tides of chemicals creates a suspension of muted tones and tinges in which his ideogrammatic forms reside. This new work is about energy, where movement is the key. Through his solitary, ritualized enactments in his studio, dubbed "Nareslab," Nares is attempting to connect with rhythms that are not apparent - like harnessing forces of nature. Although this may sound grand in design, the final form speaks with a quiet intelligence. This is his most complex and resolved work to date. As has been evident in his work all along, process is an essential element in the Naresian equation. In this new body of work, process has become a sweet secret that is only implied in the photographic base; it is not apparent. All we see is a vulnerable surface, like flesh, that is embodied with essence, with a force. In "Nareslab," the science of light and line have created highly personal poetics of gesture. Nares has formed his own alphabet inside these elegant tragedies; they speak to the rhythm of gesture like poetry to the rhythm of sound. The influence of Brice Marden can also be seen in Nares's work - like Marden, he creates ideogrammatic webs that register a critical state of flux. They represent series of sighs, shouts, and stillness, a suggestion of subtle forces directing the dance. |