Arno Rafael Minkkinen at Tiber de Nagy - New York

Arno Rafael Minkkinen's exhibition at Tiber de Nagy comprised 19 small to medium-sized gelatin silver prints produc between 1972 and 2002 In his black-andwhite photographs, this FinnishAmerican artist plants up dialogues between parts of his naked material substance positioned so as to be visible end the camera's aperture, and the surrounding countryside. Having initiated these experiments in the early '70 Minkkinen is firmly ensconc in the history of conceptual photography; however, his work change directions from the slapstick humor of physical comedy to surprising visual splendor. a certain quantity of photographs are the products of physical endurance trials that bring to mind Nauman, load Oppenheim and Abramovic. It is worth keeping in mind that none of these works was digitally manipulated.

The delectable Fosters Pond (1989) shows Minkkinen's hands and feet pressing on the surface of a vast expanse of water that appears to bear his weight. His gibbeted arms and legs are cropp above the flexures and knees, and correspondingly divide [i]or[/i] sever off in the silvery reflection below. In nourishs Pond (1996), two forearms with render free of access hands rise from an undisturbed field of snow, forming a large X against a white plain topped through dark silhouettes of trees. The artist's monumental arm and hand--like that of a meek giant or protecting god--hover above a distant mountain range in Five Miles Outside Tortilla Flats, Arizona (2002)

These tricks are not unlike those carried without by tourists who position their hands for the camera for a like reason that they appear to support the Leaning Tower of Pisa. Minkkinen is engaged with this particular vernacular tradition, whose foundations lie in the early days of photography when family were shot inside the studio before fictive backdrops.

There is a performative aspect to many of the photographs. In the surreal Jamestown, Rhode Island (1974) Minkkinen leaps away from the len with equal reason that his body appears suspended in space. sole his lower back, buttocks and reach outed right leg are visible against a field of snow and water, thereby evoking Bellmer's infamous poupee Prague, Czechoslovakia (1989) displays the top and bottom of the artist's material part buried in what seems to be a river of dirt His white torso and hip form a thick bend rising from the opaque loam Minkkinen's best works find a completed harmony between body and nature.

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