#craigslistmirrors

[jforemanart]

Little Craig at the beach. #craigslistmirrors #mirror #owl #babyowl #owlart #funnyart #artistsoninstagram #jforemanart #artofinstagram https://www.instagram.com/p/BqQrlnpg9HL/?utm_source=ig_tumblr_share&igshid=5ks8yk2bufla

[artruby]

Highlights from the @craigslistmirrors blog. 

[10oclockdot]

http://craigslistmirrors.tumblr.com/

I'm completely entranced by this tumblr a friend just showed me.  And given my longstanding interest in mirrors, mirrors, mirrors, and Black Mirrors, this shouldn't surprise anyone.

Craigslist photos have always offered glimpses into circles of private desperation, but this tumblr collects, in essence, pictures of pictures.  Or, more precisely, picture planes attempting to represent other picture planes in such a way as to elude the inherent reflexivity of this action.  In most of these photos, we witness an aesthetic struggle between the nature of the mirror and the exigencies of display; many of the sellers want to illustrate the mirror's reflectivity without capturing certain reflections.  How does one depict the essential nature of the mirror while minimizing the image it reflects?  Avoidance strategies multiply.  Some take the mirror outside so that it can reflect sky; some contort their bodies off to the side, out of the way.  Some compose the mirror with objects in front of it to-be-reflected.  And others seem unselfconscious that the mirror reflects them, yet they often mask their presence in some way.  Surprising beauty, strangeness, and banality emerge in these photographs, often all at once.

There's an urgent allegory in this about something, but I can't quite put my finger on it.  I don't know why I find these evasions and curious compositions of actual and virtual space so compelling, but I do.  Perhaps the mystery of it amplifies my fascination.  Anyway, this collection is filled with a conceptual richness and unspoken currents of pain that would make it right at home in an art museum.  But I'm glad it remained on the internet.  This is where it belongs.

[ju571n3-blog]

craigslistmirrors is doing great things for contemporary art