This work belong to the series “Altered Landscapes,” which helped establish longtime Buffalo resident John Pfahl as a renowned conceptual photographer. Using materials such as thread, balls, fruits, and lights, he made subtle alterations to the landscape that create optical illusions. To make Blue Right-angle, Albright-Knox Art Gallery, Buffalo, New York, Red Right-angle, Albright-Knox Art Gallery, Buffalo, and Yellow Right-angle, Albright-Knox Art Gallery, Buffalo, New York, Pfahl applied pieces of colored tape to the columns, walls, and floor of the neoclassical portico on the Albright-Knox’s eastern façade. When photographed from a specific vantage point, these pieces of tape form straight lines that seem to float near the surface of the photo, behind which the architecture recedes into the background. The illusion underscores the difference between real and represented space, while simultaneously drawing our attention to (and brightening up) the architecture of the museum. Although designed to serve as a container and backdrop to works of art, the museum here appears as a work of art in its own right, worthy of our close attention.  

Label from Window to Wall: Art from Architecture, November 18, 2017–March 18, 2018