Steve Rood: Potato
22 May, 2012 - 1 July, 2012
AV Gallery
Steve Rood, Cube (2012)
The question of what could be a relevant form of the photographic portrait in the context of digital media has occupied Steve Rood’s practice for the last twelve years. This recurring theme has provided a cross-point where traditional photography intersects with digital media and its processes.
Steve Rood, Beach (2012)
Peter Galassi wrote that 'since the photographic medium has been digitised, a fixed definition of the term "photography" has become impossible'. In an age where photography is no longer necessarily about the printed photograph, photography has become an unfixed description of a set of visual conventions. Rood’s work explores the application of photographs to digital media; the still image on screen, by definition, becomes a moving image. His work suggests that the transition of photography from film to digital format may not necessarily be related to video and cinematic conventions, but holds other possibilities.
In Rood’s work, a representation of New Zealand Identity and how it may be generated through the use of found imagery is explored. Themes such as land, water, and childhood immigration are bundled together to create an unstable experience, conveyed through combinations of seemingly unrelated imagery and their erratic screen behaviors. Juxtapositions are created that propose questions about meaning and relevance, inviting the viewer to question how their concepts of identity are generated, stored and portrayed.
This exhibition embraces the impossibility of any fixed definition of New Zealand identity, and invites the viewer to encounter the work as an experience in itself, rather than as a didactic resource, becoming a small part in the dialogue about New Zealand identity.
Steve Rood was born in Upper Hutt and studied photography at the Royal Academy in Holland before completing a Master of Fine Art at Auckland University of Technology, specialising in photography and digital media. Rood has worked for a number of years as professional photographer and interactive designer. Nowadays, he teaches art, photography, design and digital media. His research is about finding contemporary roles for photography, by both looking to the future, and with one eye on the past.