As ICA’s exhibition “Barbara Kasten: Stages” opens at the Museum of Contemporary Art in Los Angeles, Los Angeles Times critic David Pagel takes a closer look at Kasten’s deceptive photographs:
“Long before phones became cameras and digital devices became our constant companions, the Chicago artist [Barbara Kasten] began her exploration of the interface between three-dimensional reality and its two-dimensional representation.
In Philadelphia, the exhibition included nearly 80 works that Kasten (born in 1936) made from 1972 to 2016. In the PDC show, the time span is the same but the number of works has been whittled to about 50. This makes for a curious chronology: Forty-four works give visitors a good sense of what Kasten was up to from 1972 to 1988. Then there’s a two-decade gap. It’s followed by nine works Kasten has made since 2007.”