For the last thirty years, Casebere has devised increasingly complex models that are subsequently photographed in his studio. Based on architectural, art historical and cinematic sources, his table-sized constructions are made of simple materials, pared down to essential forms. Casebere's abandoned spaces are hauntingly evocative and oftentimes suggestive of prior events, encouraging the viewer to reconstitute a narrative or symbolic reading of his work.
In more recent years, his subject matter focused on various institutional spaces and the relationship between social control, social structure and the mythologies that surround particular institutions, as well as the broader implications of dominant systems such as commerce, labor, religion and law.
In more recent years, his subject matter focused on various institutional spaces and the relationship between social control, social structure and the mythologies that surround particular institutions, as well as the broader implications of dominant systems such as commerce, labor, religion and law.
Website: http://www.jamescasebere.com/group6.html
Commentary:
Casebere's recreation of space is so intensely realistic that we lose the sense that what we're looking at is a fabricated scenario. The emptiness is eerie, almost like we're the only ones who have ever been in this space or ever seen it. The spaces he chooses to represent seem to have a religious quality to them - as if we're in a church or a chapel - we have to keep quiet or pretend like we're not even there. His use of light and flooding of the space adds to the eeriness and gives the sense that we're supposed to stay back. It isn't a space we can easily navigate or be a part of.
Casebere's recreation of space is so intensely realistic that we lose the sense that what we're looking at is a fabricated scenario. The emptiness is eerie, almost like we're the only ones who have ever been in this space or ever seen it. The spaces he chooses to represent seem to have a religious quality to them - as if we're in a church or a chapel - we have to keep quiet or pretend like we're not even there. His use of light and flooding of the space adds to the eeriness and gives the sense that we're supposed to stay back. It isn't a space we can easily navigate or be a part of.