Gallery 1 — MAG Galleries

From the Current Exhibition:
Squint: Recent Photography by Chris Komater

The first eight images in this gallery are from the series, STAVROS AT HIS BATH. According to the exhibition statement, the series “features Stavros as its subject, a large bearish man. Stavros is seen emerging from his tub, floating in the sea, sprawled on his bed, but rendered in such slow resolution as to obliterate details of personality of identity. Komater shares intimate moments in Stavros’ day, but he asks his viewers to fill in the details. Komater frustrates our voyeuristic impulses, and critiques of, this particular body. In an age of accessible images of nakedness and ubiquity of selfies, Komater distracts us from the nude form and focuses our attention instead on how we look at it. What exactly do you want to see?”

(ALL IMAGES, 2016, Digital C-print 30” x 38”)

The following two images in the SQUINT exhibition are from Komater’s series SEXTING, which “consists of large but extremely low-resolution enlargements of graphic images shared over the internet through the course of the artist’s recent dating experiences.

From a distance. it is almost possible to make out who’s being described, but as the viewer is drawn closer, the images fall apart into pixelated, near-abstract grids of colored squares….The viewers titillation is ultimately frustrated by the experience of trying to give form to one’s imagination.”

“STUDY FOR A SERIES: LOVE is inspired by Evard Munch’s 1893 exhibition of the same name. Munch exhibited six paintings that explored, “the struggle between man and woman called love.” Munch’s expressive and intensely personal treatment of the psychological turmoil over a century ago finds in our era an equivalent in the selfie and Facebook, where intimate moments are documented, made public, discussed and analyzed. Even though Komater’s images are stripped of detail, they still convey meaning—familiar archetypes of beauty and desirability.”

Liz, 2018, Digital C-Print, 30” x 38”

16:9. “For his most current series, 16:9, Komater has produced a body of very low-resolution photographs, 16 pixels wide by 9 pixels high. The imagery suggest forms, but the viewer completes the work by imbuing it with intent, definition and meaning. Inspired by today’s polarized views of reality, with large group of people dismissing what is happening in front of their eyes, he has created work that may be interpreted in any way the viewer chooses.”
(All images in the 16:9 series areDigital C-prints, dated 2022 and measuring 10” x 15”.)