THE PICTURE UNIVERSE | ZOE LEONARD

Forty-seven copies of the anthology on photography titled “The picture universe: 25th anniversary U.S. Camera, 1961,” published in 1960, constitute the body of work created by Zoe Leonard, an American artist and photographer based in New York.

The Picture Universe (2016) is a conceptually interdisciplinary work: in the process of its creation, the artist engages photography, installation, and sculpture on different representational levels.
The ambiguous identity in which this work is situated is made possible by an interdisciplinary intent applied at the beginning, in the design phase. Various elements are positioned one above the other, each with its own autonomous identity when taken individually. Additionally, the installation is designed with a method akin to sculptural practice, achieving a final and ‘complete’ form through the union of individual components. Lastly, Leonard manages to involve another discipline by choosing old photography manuals as the books to stack.

Materially, The Picture Universe presents itself as a column, a kind of layered pillar. Placed closed, the books are not leaf-through and lose their original functionality.
On a conceptual level, in this so persistent and obstinate repetition, a strong statement is hidden: by invoking all these disciplines and their respective characteristics, Leonard demonstrates how the act of observing and understanding reality is, in fact, a complex and never superficial process.

Leonard has presented this work on several occasions, and each time the number of stacked books increases depending on how many the artist has managed to find. The act of continuing to collect volumes over the years, thus creating ever-different versions, implies in itself the creation of new artworks. These works are similar but different from the previous ones as they are richer in meaning.

Zoe Leonard
The Picture Universe, 2016
47 books, 96.8 x 21.9 x 29.2 cm (38 1/8 x 8 5/8 x 11 1/2 inches)
© Zoe Leonard. Courtesy the artist, Galerie Gisela Capitain, Cologne and Hauser & Wirth.

23/12/2023