John R. Gossage, born New York City 1946 Search this
Medium:
gelatin silver print
Dimensions:
image: 10 1/2 x 13 1/4 in. (26.8 x 33.7 cm) sheet: 20 x 16 in. (50.8 x 40.6 cm)
Type:
Photography-Photoprint
Date:
1985
Gallery Label:
John Gossage's The Pond references a site, Walden Pond, made famous by Henry David Thoreau's 1854 book, Walden. Considering the different ways landscape is represented in art, Gossage noted that in literature it is usually the setting of a story, but in photography it can be the story itself. Yet a photographic image is always just a fragment of the world it captures. Using the book format, Gossage brings together many such fragments.
For Thoreau, the pond represented spiritual depth and the rejuvenating power of nature. Gossage's photographs likewise shape a metaphor about seeing and knowing the world through images.
