BRENDAN REGAN
PHOTOGRAPHIC IMAGES

"Amalgamate" was a site-specific installation exhibit at the Kitchenette Gallery in Phoenix, AZ, in April 2008. The show was a collaboration with artist Ryan Haselman. The installation consisted of roughly 3,200 color photographs, each 4" x 6". The premise arose from a discussion of how spatial relationships affect viewers when interacting with works of art. The gallery's layout and size posed an interesting backdrop to discover visitors' common viewing experience. The subject of the installation was a landscape with each wall of the gallery covered with photographs. Ryan and I set out to deconstruct two locations, one in Arizona and one in Illinois. It was these two vistas that were reassembled into one viewpoint that filled the gallery. The result was a merging of detailed fragments from each location that produced one cohesive image. Within the installation, regions were created as sections of each landscape aligned. Individual photographs could also be viewed as separate entities within the piece. The only visual constant was the horizon line, which was comprised of seven separate series from both states wrapping around the gallery. Above and below the horizon, the sky and ground were assembled from the two topographies from Arizona and Illinois. The final montage addressed space, time, geographic locations, topography, narrative, environmental concerns, agriculture, and the notion of a shared/individual viewing experience. Below are examples of the final piece.