Andrea Meislin Gallery Announces SPECIAL EFFECTS Exhibition

Andrea-Meislin-Gallery-Announces-SPECIAL-EFFECTS-Exhibition-20010101

Andrea Meislin Gallery today announced Special Effects, Ofri Cnaani's third solo exhibition at the gallery, featuring a new series of cyanotypes, prints and a media installation, titled Magic on Hold, which explores how trickery is generated. An assemblage of low-fi moviemakers, photographs of slides, cameras and other devices give the viewer a rare sense of visual unrest.

An opening reception for the artist will take place on Thursday, April 26,from 6-8 pm.

On May 5, 2012, Andrea Meislin Gallery will present a live radio play, written and performed by Cheryl Kaplan, titled Press Hold To Talk, based on Cnaani's works.

Cnaani's cyanotypes invent often enigmatic scenarios as film celluloid, silhouettes, paper cut-outs, tiny objects and broken glass are placed over blue photosensitive paper. This photographic print process is known as a blueprint. Cnaani's photographic work and prints are a continuation of her live-cinema performances. Oddly, Cnaani is working in photography without a camera. Her interest in technological failure has led her to create images that belong neither to conventional photography nor to painting. Magic on Hold features a series of moviemakers that act as projection devices located on transparent tabletops. While appearing sculptural, the installation directs the viewer's gaze away from the tabletop to the space of the gallery, where shadows and imagery abound in constant movement.

Cnaani is interested in experimental photographic and cinematic depictions of light that promote states of flux while making no attempt to hide the means of production. Equal attention is paid to projector and image as the tension between reality and illusion is explored. Ultimately, Cnaani's image-making devices and prints give the viewer a glimpse backstage, to look, eye to eye, at where trickery lives.

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