Relativity 31 2017

Carl Chiarenza made this gelatin silver print collage, titled Relativity 31. Chiarenza has long been associated with a social landscape of photography and visual art. His works use the mundane to explore how our social conditions shape the artistic production. This image creates meaning through visual codes using simple shapes and blocks of colour. Without knowing the exact date, it's difficult to place it in its cultural context. However, the black and white photography and abstraction suggest this collage may have been influenced by early avant-garde movements, such as Dada and Surrealism. We might ask, does this critique of art institutions reflect a shift in the perception and role of art during the modern era? Is it challenging social norms? As historians, it is our role to interpret art, researching and contextualizing its place within society, understanding that the meaning of art is contingent on its social and institutional context.