Symbolic Terrain Presents 30 Years of Images by Dan Kasser
by David Roth

Viewpoint Photographic Art Center is pleased to present Symbolic Terrain, a 30-year retrospective of the work of Dan Kasser. A member of the University of the Pacific faculty since 1985, Kasser mirrors in his work the evolution of post-WWII photography — from West Coast modernism to the latest innovations in digital image making.

In all, there are 65 works in the show. They range from “straight” black-and-white landscapes to highly manipulated digital images that employ surrealist, symbolist and Dada-like techniques of mixing imagery from disparate sources.

Like the photographers who influenced him — Joel Peter Witkin, Rick Dingus and others who use meticulously constructed set pieces as the basis for their photographs — Kasser makes images that communicate a distinct artistic and philosophical viewpoint. Many of his pictures comment on issues about which he feels strongly, such as man’s relationship to nature and the impact of technology on culture, consciousness and the environment. Other pictures reinterpret cultural and literary myths.

Though he began working under the influence of California modernists (Ansel Adams, Edward Weston, Wynn Bullock), Kasser, in the early 1980s, made an abrupt switch to nontraditional methods after studying original prints by Witkin, Dingus and others. From that point forward he has come to view the photographic print as more that just a document or a record of an event.

“Whatever I do, it has to have a strong personal element, something that shows my attitude and my relationship to the subject,” says Kasser. “For me, a straight photograph of a landscape just isn’t a viable option anymore. What’s important is making a statement about what you believe.”