Natasha Egan
Descry
 
Antonia Contro and Maurizio Pellegrin
The Museum of Contemporary Photography, Columbia College
catalogue of the exhibition
Chicago 2001
 

[…] Also a part of the exhibition, the artists’ solo installations reflect a common fascination with the idea of discovery. In the museum’s East Gallery, Pellegrin’s
site-specific wall collage installation, Cameras, incorporates old cameras,
photo-related equipment, framed found photographs, a black curtain, and what appear to be either framed images or canvases completely wrapped in black cloth. For Pellegrin, the wrapping of objects and images--itself a signature style--is performed both to protect the object and to preserve its energy. Given the relentless barrage of images that inhabitants of industrialized countries have become accustomed to and adept at filtering--on television, in newspapers and magazines, on billboards--concealing visual signs appears as an effective way to distinguish particular meanings in an otherwise undifferentiated stream. The idea of an object or image contained and undisturbed conjures a sense of timelessness and even sacredness. It provokes the viewer to take a closer look, to imagine; it stimulates a desire for it to reveal itself. Although Pellegrin provides photographic paraphernalia surrounding the wrapped objects as clues to what he is concealing, this only adds to the mystique. […]