By Nancy Burson
Does the image lend itself to a whole new domain once you read the caption? Or does the blur insinuate something is not quite right here? I suppose Burson's body of work can only highlight and question that aspect of truth and of course whether images can stand alone, can speak without words...
Of course they can, but when you learn more about what lies beneath the subject matter, whether it be how the images came to be or the narrative behind an image that can only but provoke.. A weight, thoughts, emotions will follow when the viewer is fed more information. Pretty logical but it is when we learn of all the famous faces that amalgamate to form this face we immediately process this and seek to navigate the parts of the face that belong to whom. Here lies the power of Burson's work the parts meld so well that we cannot pinpoint the parts with enough certainty. Notions of these well known actresses face intermixed with others bewilders the viewer. The viewer who would ordinarily have no problem whatsoever identify the face of Diane Keaton but here the forms are so well conjoined that a new identity stares us in the face... So many other interesting factors are undoubtedly brought into play, Burson's Frankenstein beauties are fodder for endless debates...
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