Out with the spectacle

Wednesday, August 25, 2010

By Kayla Diane Sanders

Jackson Hole, Wyo.-My meeting with Thomas Macker began with a computer, a plasma ball and the sound of lightning from space. The display is part of his upcoming exhibit, Western Heritage, which focuses on expansion, consumption and New Age.

While I thought I was going to be looking over a few of his photos, I was surprised to see that he uses more than a camera to convey his ideas. The consumption portion consists of an array of seed signs that he took while riding through agrarian landscapes. What is special about these signs is that they advertise genetically modified seeds, which sprout controversy as much as produce. “The signs are usually beautiful,” he said, but the politics they represent are not.

After spending only a few minutes with Macker, I found that he is not only talented, but also incredibly intelligent. Everything he does artistically is done with thought: unlike artists who count on “beautiful mistakes,” each aspect of his work is created with intention. For example, he showed me a photo of the Tetons with a digital road sign in front that reads, “Dusk till Dawn.”

Initially, I didn’t take much from this photo, but after Macker explained that the sign was solar powered, I saw the irony. Being a solar-powered sign, it will not work from dusk till dawn. Macker’s intent was to also show the irony of the Tetons being behind that sign because those mountains will always be there. “I’m trying to remove the spectacle,” he said, referring to this photo and another of post-action Old Faithful where tourists are turning and walking away.

Although Macker is leaving at the end of summer to return to Cal Arts in California to get his MFA in photography and media, he, like the rest of us, loves Jackson Hole and his work shows the area in a different light than many photographers. He takes photos of scenes that are strange in their familiarity, but wants it to be known that he isn’t trying to be a jerk.

“I don’t believe in intolerance,” he said, while clicking through a slide show of photos taken in the valley. “I’m just trying to show the multifaceted, the different representations.” Macker’s exhibit is called Western Heritage because he wants to explore the idea of the “romance of the conquered, the wild, or sublime and the forgotten preserved territory of the West.”

Thomas Macker’s opening reception is 7 to 9 p.m., Friday at  Teton Artlab.


‘Glitter Strobe Light Bouncy Ball and Stars’ by Thomas Macker.tetonartlab.com; 699-0836.
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Out with the spectacle | Planet JH News Article: General Music Arts and Culture

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