Scry: Robert Collier Beam

From reading signs in the dirt, to looking through the darkest skies, our engagement with the landscape has always led to a temporary cultural understanding of who and where we are in relation to it.

This inherent urge to look out, in order to ground our presence, resonates with our cultural obsession with the photograph as a form of reality. Before photography’s ability to fix light, various objects were used as a means of mediation between scientists and artists with the intention of producing an idea of truth. The photograph, record, or artifact as an object is void and empty. However, our ability to afford these objects power to transcend our cultural perception interests me deeply.

SCRY – the act of looking into an object to see visions; is a collection of sites, field notes, and observations of our presence within the landscape. Responding to our intentions of utilizing the land as a point of departure and looking through it as a means of understanding and discovery.

The work presented was made in Finland, along the southern coast of England and west Texas with assistance from the Dallas Museum of Art.

Opening Reception: Friday, May 5, 7-10pm
Exhibition: May 5 – June 3, 2017
Hours: Saturdays, 12-5pm or by appointment