Surreal Scenes Unfold in Sandy Skoglund’s Vibrant and Otherworldly Photographs

Art
Photography

#Sandy Skoglund
#surreal

Surreal Scenes Unfold in Sandy Skoglund’s Vibrant and Otherworldly Photographs

November 29, 2023

Kate Mothes

“Revenge of the Goldfish” (1981). All images © Sandy Skoglund, courtesy of Paci Contemporary, shared with permission

For more than five decades, Sandy Skoglund has explored a fusion of photography, installation, and conceptual art. The artist’s elaborately detailed scenes, built from a wide variety of materials, from furniture to papier-mâché to food, take months—sometimes years—to complete. One iconic image portrays two children in a blue bedroom, surrounded by bright orange goldfish, while in “Radioactive Cats,” we find ourselves peering at a couple in a gray kitchen as they go about normal activities among a clowder of glowing, green felines.

A new exhibition, The Imaginary Worlds of Photography, at Palazzo del Duca in Senigallia, Italy, celebrates Skoglund’s career through a survey of her remarkable photographs, emphasizing her attunement to the relationships between hues and contrasts, her subjects, and elements of each set. Often combining sculptural methods with a photographic aesthetic related to commercial advertising, she welcomes us into surreal and uncanny tableaux where instead of a clear narrative, we find realms of baffling wonder.

The Imaginary Worlds of Photography continues through June 2, 2024. Find more of Skoglund’s work on her website and Instagram.

“The Cocktail Party” (1992)

“Radioactive Cats” (1980)

“Atomic Love” (1992)

“Breathing Glass” (2008)

“Fresh Hybrid” (2008)

“The Wedding” (1994)

“Walking on Eggshells” (1997)

“Winter” (2018)

#Sandy Skoglund
#surreal

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