Once, while at a busy shopping mall, My shoelace got caught in the escalator.
As the steps gradually rose to the top, the shoelace stayed persistently lodged in the machine. I had to step to the side (while being pulled toward the ground) and let people jostle past me before finally wrenching my shoe from the escalator’s grasp. In this moment the daily patterns that I use to avoid scrutiny (and the flow of human traffic) were broken. Mall-goer’s attention was focused on my awkward display, rendering my social camouflage useless and rocketing adrenaline through my veins. I switched from being one of many to an individual and back again.This crossroads of emotion that happens at this highest point of self consciousness, is where you’ll find Alex Kisilevich’s latest work Kallima.
The photos in Kallima (titled for the butterfly with wings that resemble dead leaves) contain examples of fakery, and disguise. A man is covered in a costume made of sticks,a woman has a mop stuck up her dress that acts as hair, and a cabinet is covered in the same pattern as the wall behind it. In all cases we are shown the disguise in a state where its use is apparent, but its function is not fully at work. It is no effort to identify the subject while in their disguise. Kisilevich’s camera has a clinical deadpaness to it. It is not the flushed face frenzy of escalator embarrassment that he’s after, but the breaking of the illusion that happens. In Monster on Wall, fake flowers spread across the picture plane with a slight anthropomorphism, as if Kisilevich caught camouflage in the act. In Sasquatch, the elusive mythical beast, always blurry in photos, continues to avoid the camera’s gaze by placing its face against the wall.
In each photo ‘surface’ plays a strong role, recalling theme’s in Kisilevich’s earlier work. The depth of field in the photos is shallow forcing us to remain close to the picture plane taking in the stick costume, the furry beast, or the patterned wall paper. We are reminded that surfaces are what we use to engage with the world and the way we deploy them is significant.In Wood-Paneling, Kisilevich gives us the meeting point between two pieces of faux-wood paneling, revealing the facade. This photo is “all surface.” but that’s not to say it doesn’t resonate.
While these images exist in a stylized, humorous environment, They remind us that failed patterns equal death. If the Kallima butterfly fails to blend into dead leaves it is vulnerable to predators. If an investor fails to see economic patterns they can go bankrupt. If we don’t recognize the social patterns around us we can suffer a social death;a somewhat smaller threat, that always feels large.
