Danielle Ezzo
Danielle Ezzo, Figure Study 1, from The Intentional Object, 2014 – 2016.
Danielle Ezzo, Figure Study 4, from The Intentional Object, 2014 – 2016.
Danielle Ezzo, Figure Study 11, from The Intentional Object, 2014 – 2016.
Danielle Ezzo, Figure Study 12, from The Intentional Object, 2014 – 2016.
Danielle Ezzo, Figure Study 13, from The Intentional Object, 2014 – 2016.
Danielle Ezzo, Figure Study 14, from The Intentional Object, 2014 – 2016.
Danielle Ezzo, Figure Study 20, from The Intentional Object, 2014 – 2016.
The visual relationship to the figure highlights many interesting contradictions: the organic and the artificial, the grotesque and the delicate, the somatic and the psychological. Each layer builds upon a recognition of the familiar yet all the while being deeply unknown; disrupting the expectation of how the photograph behaves. Through the translation of the portrait you are left with something surprisingly even more human.
The Intentional Object, derived from Husserl’s theory of phenomenology, posits that evidence can, in some cases, only be experienced and not seen. In this way, the image reveals the gestures made in digital retouching as a way to both begin to unpack the nature of this methodology, but also sever it from its intended industry. This work adds to the contemporary conversation around the question, “What is a photograph?” in hopes to divulge new ways of approaching photography and its relationship to the ever-evolving digital landscape.
This project also speaks to the body and how we view ourselves through the lens of culture. Instead of removing physical attributes — a bruise, tattoo, a beauty mark — the image highlights only these features. Each portrait is a portrait of “imperfections.” By reversing commercial anesthetization, each image becomes a bold statement proudly finding beauty through artifact.
Danielle Ezzo navigates the photographic medium with a discursive interest in the “edges” of photography and it’s relationship to the historical, technological and the ever-growing “new aesthetic” and how it meets the human form. Her practice involves connecting visceral, optical and conceptual relationships with one another by creating a new visual taxonomy for looking at the figure through a post photographic lens.
She has received praise from Rayko Photo Center, Soho Photo, and written about in The Boston Globe, BKN Magazine, Tate (online), and Lenscratch. Her work has been exhibited internationally at such galleries as Daniel Cooney Fine Art, Dose Projects, The Far East Museum of Fine Art in Russia, as well as The Santa Barbara Museum of Art. She recently lectured at the academic conference HISTART’14 in Istanbul, Turkey and is published in The New Inquiry.
Danielle is a MFA graduate at Lesley University College of Art & Design. She lives in Brooklyn.
