{ Jim Kazanjian }

I feel like I could stare at these images for hours and be constantly finding new details; I cannot imagine how long it must take to create these images. And while an appreciation for the tediousness and attention to detail each work manifests is surely welcomed, it does seem a bit beside the point, that is, slightly to the left of it. For Kazanjian has created these monstrosities of architecture that prompt you to wonder, in their present decay or destruction, whether they were actually built according to any definitive blueprint or are merely the dilapidated constructions of an eccentric scavenger. Does their decay reveal the arbitrariness of their construction or create the appearance of it? And can we, looking at these images, even imagine an era when these buildings were grand and glorious? Would that feel like a forced nostalgia? And so might there be something of a critique of social nostalgia therein? Might we be led to ask: "Was there ever a pristine time when all was beautiful and whole? Or have we been working with rotted logs and rusted pipes from the beginning? But given Kazanjain's bleak backdrops, do we even have a choice of whether or not to abandon this ramshackle existence? And go where?"


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