Containing Complexity, 2003, 48x24”, camera-less Fujiflex C-print, Courtesy the artist

CAROL PFEFFER

Containing Complexity & Surface Interface Dynamics / This project examines the issues of containing complexity. The work explores the irregular and idiosyncratic as metaphor for difficulties and how they can be organized.

The work uses the formal elements of line, color, and form to highlight the areas of “leaks” where complexity overwhelms the container.

These camera less prints illustrate the surface dynamics of a liquid / solid interface. The work “stops time” and allows the viewer to visually ingest the spreading coefficient.

I used a methyl benzene adhesive between two non-porous silicon dioxide surfaces. This allows the spreading speed to be visually captured. The print is made by treating the “sandwich” as a film alternative in the darkroom. I remove the negative carrier from an enlarger and substitute the work above the condenser. This creates a projection, which I then expose onto the emulsion-coated surface. The print is then reversed by paper negative transfer. 

CAROL PFEFFER has studied Law, Physics, Philosophy, and the Visual Arts and holds degrees from Boston University and the Western New England College School of Law. A resident of Irvington, NY, Carol has shown her work at the Westchester County Council for the Arts Bridge Gallery in White Plains, NY; the Fredericksburg Center for Creative Arts in Fredericksburg, VA; the Women Made Gallery in Chicago, IL; the Paramount Center for the Arts in Peekskill, NY; and in NYC at the Museum of Modern Art and Exit Art. Her work has been published in Photo District News, Art and Science Collaborations, Arts Alive, Physics in Canada , Physics World, and New York Arts Magazine. She currently works as a staff attorney at the Legal Center Family Court Domestic Violence. Prior to her work there she worked as an administrative law judge and assistant district attorney for the special Victims Bureau. She has served as a teaching assistant to Village Voice critic Vince Alletti, and continues to study art at the International Center for Photography, Women’s Studio Workshop, National Gallery of Art, Whitney Museum of Art, and here at the Center for Photography.