In her conceptual practice—which incorporates photomontage, painting, and writing—Ostoya revisits the histories of lesser–known avant–garde movements in East-Central Europe in parallel with their well–known Western counterparts, pairing pseudomorphic (visually similar) subjects into compelling new images. In this work she plays with the idea of true and false tears, juxtaposing a 1931 picture by photographer Germaine Krull of model Wanda Hubbell with a still from Dutch artist Bas Jan Ader’s 1970 silent film I’m Too Sad to Tell You. Using the photographic image as purveyor of memory and symbol of modern culture, Ostoya opens history to uncharted narrative paths.
Gallery label from New Photography 2013, September 14, 2013–January 6, 2014.
