SVSU Art Faculty Exhibit- Rebecca Zeiss

Rebecca Zeiss

Resonance of The Machinist, Untitled VI

Ultraviolet Printing Ink on Brushed Aluminum

2012

Professor Rebecca Zeiss’s piece Resonance of The Machinist, Untitled VI focuses on a single key still in its lock, and in the background a workbench. The image overall has an almost purplish tint that adds to the depth and tonal values of the image. In her piece, Zeiss creates layers of depth starting with the key and then to the bottom of the image to the layers of tools and equipment. The image is also large scale, as it invites the viewer in with it’s brushed aluminum shiny surface that reflects light, much like early daguerreotypes when photography first began.

As part of the faculty show Zeiss and the other faculty members were asked to prepare an artist statement to not only add to the meaning of their work but to also help students understand their process and perspective.

In her artist statement, Zeiss writes,

We all have expectations of what things should look like and we assume the camera will render to use those expectations. While one would consider camera optics to be revealing, they also may be used as a device of concealment. It is through the use of these optical choices that allow my work to present shifting visual illusions and allusions. This created incongruous space gives a sense of permitting real time and remembered time to cross paths. 

Through these trace images of objects which reference their culturally assigned historical context and draw from the aura of these remembered archetypes; we collectively understand, assign signifiers, and assemble the narratives to this investigation of cultural expectations and domestic space.

 Overall, the image has a feeling of antiquity much like the rest of Zeiss’s images in the SVSU Art Faculty Exhibit. To see more of Zeiss’s work including it’s sister piece, Resonance of The Machinist, Untitled II and Solicitor, please stop in and see the show continuing until February 7^th.

Alison Bur

Gallery Assistant

University Art Gallery

Saginaw Valley State University