Christopher Williams: Normative Models

Deeply political and historical, Christopher Williams’ photographs evoke a subtle shift in our perception by questioning the communication mechanisms and aesthetic conventions that influence our understanding of reality. Deploying a style of photography that references multiple sources and precedents, including the carefully composed and well-lit images of the 1920s New Objectivity movement, the photo-conceptualism that he encountered as a student at CalArts in the 1970s, and the advertisement industry, Williams creates layered works that critically, but also playfully, reveal the conditions of the medium in post-industrial society.

Each of the two volumes in this slipcased publication by Christopher Williams (born 1956) comprises an identical image sequence, but each contains a different text: the first volume includes Brecht's The Trial of Lucullus, and the second David Crowley's essay "Applied Fantastic: On the Polish Women’s Magazine Ty I Ja."