TATIANA KRONBERG
DREAM BODY
MARCH 1-APRIL 13
Wilhem Röntgen's (1845-1923) accidental discovery of new mysterious rays that he dubbed “X” in 1895 spurred spiritualists at the time to assign these unknown wavelengths the supernatural ability to capture the subtle bodies expressed in vibrations emitted by all matter. To demonstrate this abstract but real phenomenon of spontaneous radiation, Röntgen made the first photograph of the inside of the human limb. He used his wife Anna’s hand, rendering it transparent.
This adoption of transparency and fractured states is present in Rayism, a brainchild of romantic partners and artists Natalia Goncharova and Mikhail Larionov, who worked together during the time of Russian Futurism. Goncharova and Larionov rendered visible the normally imperceptible reflected rays by focusing on light as subject matter. Their compositions are characterized by intersecting linear forms made of rays that resonate and diffract off objects, giving a dream body to the unseen and in-between.
A bright orb of electricity, known as ball lightning, floated through the open window of my father’s bedroom in Gorky, Russia, when he was a boy. It circled around and left through the same window, leaving him unharmed but inspired to become a physicist. This memory, fractured in every re-telling, resonates in Dream Body as a quick flash of light. While making photograms in the darkroom, I substitute my father’s body with my own and use a number of objects, masks, and refracting tools to draw with light on the surface of the photo paper. My body is one of these devices —another aperture—while the paper acts as a recorder.
– Tatiana Kronberg, 2019
321 Gallery presents Dream Body, a solo show of new photograms by Tatiana Kronberg. Born in St. Petersburg, Russia, and based in Brooklyn, the artist employs photograms, performance, and sculpture in an exploration of images as active events. This is her first exhibition with 321 Gallery. Her work has been exhibited throughout the US in solo shows at Adds Donna, Chicago; Essex Flowers, New York; and Joan, Los Angeles. Her work has also been exhibited at Shanaynay, Paris; International Center of Photography, New York; Motel, Brooklyn; and Artists Space, New York. She holds an MFA from Bard-ICP in Advanced Photographic Studies.