ABQ Arts, July 4, 2005

From the Art Review: “Iron Camera and Its Images United through the Earth”

California artists Kim Garrison and Steve Radosevich create images using a tool that is symbolic, functional and meditative. Their Exhibit, United Catalysts: Explorations with the Iron Camera,” shows in the Harwood Art Center main gallery July 1-31. Garrison says the Iron Camera, like any other camera, can take a photograph. However, the artists seek an experience beyond the standard photographic process. The iron camera becomes a ritualistic device that facilitates a meditative experience. Since there is no viewing lens on the camera, its own unique perspective is revealed only after the image has been developed. Since the camera is made of the earth’s chief component – cast iron – the camera and its subjects are symbolically linked. The camera was built by Radosevich to photograph the earth’s natural processes: birth, growth, decay and death.

Garrison says when she and Radosevich set out to make images, they really have to be committed to take a photograph due to the massive weight of the camera and its accessories. Two specially modified backpacks are required to transport the equipment into the desert, where images are made. “Part of the whole experience is to slow the process down,” says Garrison.

Combining the spirit of scientific inquiry with elements of alchemy and shamanism, Explorations with the Iron Camera invites viewers to explore the artists’ displays of painting, sculpture, tools, photography and field book reports.

Garrison and Radosevich have worked together as a collaborative team since 2001. Both are from Southern California, and they currently divide their time between Los Angeles and the Nevada desert. -- by Greg Johnson