Take Two, D.H.O.M.S., Vol. I, No. 2 1973 - 2001

Curator: This dense image, titled "Take Two, D.H.O.M.S., Vol. I, No. 2" is the work of Bruce Conner. Editor: It strikes me as a kind of surrealist factory, all rendered in meticulous detail. Curator: It’s an etching, quite small actually, made up of collaged and re-photographed Victorian engravings. The title hints at Duchamp's "Large Glass" and its bachelor machine. Editor: Right, it’s this fascinating layering of existing printed material. Conner's labor isn't about creating images from scratch but manipulating and re-presenting them. How are we meant to consume this excess? Curator: Perhaps the symbolic weight of these repurposed images is precisely the point – a commentary on historical memory and the burden of past forms. Editor: I see it more as an exploration of mechanical reproduction and the relentless churning of visual culture. Curator: I find it fascinating how a material process can reveal deeper cultural meanings. Editor: And that symbolic readings cannot ignore the art’s means of production.