honorable mention
Austin Irving united states
title
NOT AN EXIT
- Hugh Ferriss, The Metropolis of Tomorrow, 1929
NOT AN EXIT is a collection of large format photographs that proposes a closer examination of the nondescript interiors that we routinely pass through; doorways and hallways, spaces intended for movement but here, somehow appear impenetrable. Irving transforms these dead ends into studies on the architecture—spatial and psychological—of confinement, straddling the boundary of absurdist and unsettling. Both banal and bizarre, the Kafkaesque quirks and the illusionistic geometry of these locations draw the eye deep into the picture, only to be thwarted in its progress through the space. Presented as close-to-life-size Type-C prints, the scale and repetitive compositional elements of these images evoke a methodology of clinical examination and categorization of the liminal spaces we routinely pass through and yet often never truly see. We are going somewhere and yet — there seems to be no way out.
Irving is based in Los Angeles where she lives with her husband and their dog, Kodak.
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entry description
“The character of the architectural forms and spaces which all people habitually encounter are powerful agencies in determining the nature of their thoughts, their emotions and their actions, however unconscious of this they may be.”- Hugh Ferriss, The Metropolis of Tomorrow, 1929
NOT AN EXIT is a collection of large format photographs that proposes a closer examination of the nondescript interiors that we routinely pass through; doorways and hallways, spaces intended for movement but here, somehow appear impenetrable. Irving transforms these dead ends into studies on the architecture—spatial and psychological—of confinement, straddling the boundary of absurdist and unsettling. Both banal and bizarre, the Kafkaesque quirks and the illusionistic geometry of these locations draw the eye deep into the picture, only to be thwarted in its progress through the space. Presented as close-to-life-size Type-C prints, the scale and repetitive compositional elements of these images evoke a methodology of clinical examination and categorization of the liminal spaces we routinely pass through and yet often never truly see. We are going somewhere and yet — there seems to be no way out.
about the photographer
Austin Irving (b 1984, NYC) is an internationally award winning visual artist who works with large format analog photography. Irving graduated cum laude with a BFA from the Department of Photography and Imaging at NYU’s TISCH School Of The Arts in 2006. Her artwork has been exhibited in galleries and museums in Hong Kong, India, Germany, Lithuania, France, and across The United States. Irving has participated in exhibitions at institutions such as MOCA, The Irvine Fine Arts Center, The Florida Museum of Photographic Arts, Virginia Tech, The International Photography Symposium, and The Katonah Museum of Art. Her work as been the recipient of the Architecture Master Prize, Aesthetica Art Prize, MonoAwards, American Photography Competition, Budapest International Foto Awards, International Photography Awards, PX3 Paris Photography Prize, Tokyo International Foto Awards, and the International Photography Competition at The New York Center for Photographic Arts. Her images have been featured in The LA Times, Wired, Slate, Architectural Digest, LA Weekly, PDN, Art Ltd., Artillery, TimeOut NY, The Herald Tribune, The Huffington Post, Frontrunner, Artsy, Voyage LA, Yatzer, and Artweek LA.Irving is based in Los Angeles where she lives with her husband and their dog, Kodak.
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