Transgressions and Amplifications: Mixed-Media Photography of the 1960s and 1970s

July 23, 2022 – Jan. 8, 2023, New Wing Galleries

At a time when the black-and-white camera image dominated the field of photography, a small cadre of American artists began developing new approaches to the medium that brought photography into conversation with other art forms. Against the backdrop of the Vietnam conflict and social justice movements, these artists incorporated historic photo processes but also printmaking, collage, and new technologies such as photocopying and Verifax, even bringing photography off the wall with books and sculptural pieces.

Transgressions and Amplifications: Mixed-Media Photography of the 1960s and 1970s examines this inventive work as it developed into the 1960s and 1970s and reinvigorated the vocabulary of photography. Several key practitioners settled in New Mexico, making them important touchstones for the museum’s collection and reinforcing the state’s reputation as a place for creative innovation. Among the artists with work in the exhibition are Thomas F. Barrow, Darryl Curran, Robert Fichter, Betty Hahn, Robert Heinecken, Joan Lyons, Jerry McMillan, Joyce Neimanas, Bea Nettles, Keith A. Smith, Michael Stone, and Alex Traube. Much of the art is drawn from the museum’s collection with significant loans from the University of New Mexico Art Museum and additional pieces from the Center for Creative Photography, George Eastman Museum, and other generous lenders.

Thomas J. Barrow, Discrete Multivariate Analysis, 1981, gelatin silver print photograms, with automotive lacquers and epoxy enamel, 16 × 19 3/4 in. Collection of the New Mexico Museum of Art. Gift of Frank and Patti Kolodny, 1990 (1990.1.1ab). © Thomas Barrow. Photo by Cameron Gay.