Ellen Sandor & (art)n

This project began with a shared love for the work of André Kertész, who was profoundly attuned to everyday life, which he penetrated beyond, in varied and commanding bodies of work. I became very excited when I heard that Stephen Daiter Gallery was exhibiting one of the original funhouse mirrors that Kértesz used in his Distortion series, in an exhibit of Kertész's works at the gallery in March 2005. The Distortions (1933), are one of Kertész's most alluring and confounding bodies of work. I was very familiar with the Distortions, but the first time I had the opportunity to study them first hand was at the Richard and Ellen Sandor collection.

More than 30 years ago Richard, Ellen, and I began to exchange our thoughts and feelings about historic photography, contemporary photography, and photography on the cutting edge from both realms. As a student of photography and sculpture, Ellen ended up taking photography into the future with the remarkable invention and subsequent development of the PHSCologram. As a scientist, economist, and collector, Richard has always had an eye for the unusual potential in the commonplace, which undoubtedly informed his sensitivity to Kertész's work, and the subsequent collection of many of his photographs. Kertész's talent for seeing the unexpected in ordinary things is something many other photographers have missed. Because of this shared sensibility, the Kertész photos and the unique visual moments they capture were immediately exciting to all of us.

With Kertész.'s funhouse mirror in Chicago, Ellen, Richard, and I spent an afternoon making group portraits together, interacting with Kertész's distorted, reflective, historic object. We created a series of photos through the transfer of High Definition Digital video to chromogenic prints. The obvious conclusion for this project was to consummate the process in a PHSCologram image.

The (art)n collaborative group for the PHSCologram The Other Window: Distortion .06 represents three generations of SAIC graduates. With thanks to Ellen and Richard Sandor, (art)n and Stephen Daiter Gallery.