LUNAR
Solo Show, Tinney Contemporary, Nashville TN
January 14 - February 26
Carla Ciuffo’s transportive, digitally-manipulated photographs conjure otherworldly vistas; hazy pastel dreamscapes dusted with stars, accentuated by flashes of brilliant reds and blues. Silhouetted visitors are dwarfed by massive observatories, the telescopic apparatus of science-fiction-turned-reality; geodesic domes housing the hi-tech lenses capable of capturing light from stars a billion miles from earth.
Coincidentally, the “lunar” topographies of the desert–where urban sprawl and light pollution don’t yet reach–are the precise places where this sort of image making is possible. Ciuffo’s approach treads the boundary between documentary and experimental arts. This involved pilgrimages to various sites of cosmological significance, including Kitt Peak National Observatory, Meteor Crater, Mt. Lemon Sky Center, and more.
Ciuffo’s innovative image making process, along with her utilization of experimental printing and installation techniques, create a layered and immersive environment. A custom “Lunar” aroma by award winning scent designer Christopher Brosius (I Hate Perfume) adds an olfactory element while shifting surfaces created by photographic overlays, video projection, and ambient sound yield a sublime space for escape and reckoning. To learn more about this amazing aroma, visit I HATE PERFUME, where it’s now available to purchase.
Here, 50,000 year old craters, light from distant stars, cutting-edge imaging technologies all coexist. At a time when the world is, once again, turning towards the cosmos, Ciuffo turns her imaginative gaze earthward in constructing these cosmic portals that collapse time and space. The exhibition undertakes a metadiscourse of the creation and circulation of imagery so integral to an understanding of our place in the universe.
Highlighted Works
For experimental work, works in progress and moving artworks visit my Instagram feed at instagram.com/carlaciuffoworks
NYTimes photographer/frequent contributor.
Special Projects:
Ada Limón - Portraiture of newest United States Poet Laureate
The Kids are All Right - Margaret Renkl
The Woods are still Lovely, Dark and Deep - Margaret Renkl
Nashville Voyager July 12, 2021
https://nashvillevoyager.com/interview/life-work-with-carla-ciuffo-of-east-nashville/
Summer 2022
Stasis Installation/21 artworks/Norwegian Cruise Line Prima/Launching summer 2022
21 selected large format artworks from the Stasis series have been installed aboard Norwegian Cruise Line’s newest ship, Prima, the first of six new ships within the new Prima Class.
Bound
Golden Hour
P O R T A L S | TINNEY CONTEMPORARY | JANUARY 19 - MARCH 9
I created the “Portal” as a circular sculpture for digital and video art; an object to receive visual narrative, a mutual exchange between story and screen. I wanted my stories to reflect from a specific source, and provide a different experience than a traditional projection. Each portal offers the viewer a display of light, dimension and moving parts. A receptacle for imagery and tiny films, the current portal construct has an 18 inch diameter and is is hand crafted from wood and each is fitted with a thick acrylic medallion center. Portal is meant to be a small semi-private viewing experience, insisting the viewer lean in and watch three dimensions at play.
