Stevens's work has, for some years now, been concerned with
the idea of ‘'everything'. This interest has its origin
in the 19th Century plein-air tradition of artists drawing their
subject matter from their local surroundings. But today this
has become problematic. What now constitutes ‘'local'
includes images spanning horizons that stretch from our own
interiors to the farthest regions of space. The appearance of
reality itself has multiplied to include high-speed and time-lapse,
x-ray and infrared, the cinematic, the virtual and the prosthetic.
Stevens is haunted by the thought that there may now be more
images in the world than there are things that they depict or
represent. How can we find meaning in this plethora of visual
material, a way through this forest of signs? Instead of offering
specific answers to these questions, Stevens is more interested
in looking at how we attempt to understand the totality of this
landscape. He sees something definingly human in our need to
order and make sense of that which is beyond our grasp. |
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