Marfa Photo Essay by Allison V. Smith

Blue Eyes Magazine has just published a really amazing set of photos by Allison V. Smith. For fans of Smith, some of the 23 photos are familiar, but there are many new images in the essay as well. All the photos are from the Marfa area. (Allison tells me that she is stretching the boundaries of town.) Actually, the cover shot for the essay, selected by Blue Eyes Magazine, is from Marathon. It is a quintessential Smith/Marfa photo; the geometry of a deserted racetrack is contrasted against the rugged terrain of the high desert. The work is very powerful and shares similarities with Donald Judd's - Smith identifies simple geometry, and sometimes, repetition, and allows it to exist in the landscape. And she does this without mimicking Judd, a trap that sometimes seems hard to avoid. Smith is represented by Barry Whistler Gallery in Dallas. The essay is viewable online here: Marfa Photo Essay