Maria

Maker Aziz + Cucher (Anthony Aziz + Sammy Cucher) Aziz b. 1961 Luneburg, MA, Cucher b.1958 Lima, Peru

Date1994

MediumDigital chromogenic development print

Dimensionsframe: 54 1/8 in x 44 1/4 in x 1 1/2 in; image: 49 3/4 in x 39 5/8 in

Credit LineMuseum purchase

Object number1998:150

About the ArtistThe large-format photographs of the collaborative team Aziz + Cucher present hermetically sealed bodies and faces. Using computer software, the artists remove human features while meticulously creating a painterly illusion of depth and volume where there used to be eyes, mouth, and ears. Disturbingly mute, Maria is an eerie indicator of a meeting of identity and technology, undermining the familiar genre of photographic portraiture as well.

Anthony Aziz (born Lunenburg, Massachusetts, 1961) and Sammy Cucher (born Lima, Peru, 1958) met as graduate students and started collaborating in 1990. Their large-scale, digitally manipulated images have been exhibited internationally, including at the Frankfurter Kunstverein, Frankfurt; New Langton Arts, San Francisco; New Museum of Contemporary Art, New York; The Photographer's Gallery, London; and the Venice Biennale (Venezuelan Pavilion, 1995). Among their grants and awards is a Ruttenberg award from the Ansel Adams Center for Photography, San Francisco. Aziz earned his BFA from New York University's Experimental Theater Wing (1983). Both Aziz and Cucher received MFAs from the San Francisco Art Institute (Aziz, 1990; Cucher, 1992).