Cubist Party (Seen From Three Sides Of A Cone) 2004

John Hilliard made this gelatin silver print, “Cubist Party (Seen From Three Sides Of A Cone),” and it just messes with your eyes. It’s like a gathering of ghosts wearing geometry on their heads. Are they at a party, or are they trapped in some kind of geometric purgatory? You feel like you're seeing something, but you're not quite sure what, and the shapes refuse to resolve into a clear image. I wonder if Hilliard felt like he was throwing shapes around, trying to find an image, layering faces and geometries. It's a bit like when Picasso was figuring things out, taking reality and slicing it up, showing you everything at once. Is it a party, or a deconstruction of one? Artists are always remixing what came before. Maybe Hilliard wants us to embrace the confusion, to see not just one truth, but many, all tangled up together.