2004 Future Pre-Purposed
Constructed Photographic Images
Smooth and sleek. Familiar and futuristic. Keith Cottingham's images appear real to the eye, yet they're nowhere to be found.
The architectural interiors and female figures of "Future Pre-Purposed" do not exist. The photographs, constructed from drawings, wax structures, and a variety of computer techniques, only appear to capture authentic spaces and characters. They're actually composites that draw upon religious, utopian, and secular places, as well as different races, age, and genders. Are we in the past, present, or future? Based on montage, the artworks are puzzle parts reconstituted as "real fictions."
"People construct reality. Yet reality folds back and constructs what it means to be a person. "Future Pre-Purposed— A Constructed Utopia" explores this intertwined circular process of perceiving, defining, and constructing reality and us. By fabricating "real" lived places, the images tease out how social space is produced and experienced. These are photographs of no-where, no-time, and no-body. By looking at this virtual no-where, we are forced to look back upon our own world anew and see how we can re-infuse it with mystery and meaning."
