Ellen Brooks at Leslie Tonkonow

Ellen Brooks's exhibition of photographs at Leslie Tonkonow followed a logical progression from her series shown at the same venue in 2000. The earlier images were exterior shots of elaborate forts and tents made of blankets, cardboard and sticks, often set outdoors. The new works show the view from inside similar enclosures, sometimes through openings in the tent, other times directly through the fabric walls, illuminated from behind.

In the 1980s Brooks appropriated images from books and magazines--often of natural elements such as bonsai trees, crystals and birds--photographing and re-photographing them through a screen that created the effect of pointillism or pixelation. Nature is present in the new works as well--snow, leaves, the night sky--although the fabric of the tents veils the subjects, much like the screens Brooks photographed through in her earlier series.

All 15 works in the show are Iris prints, ranging from 20 by 24 inches to 82 by 59 inches. Mounted on aluminum and affixed with magnetic strips nearly flush with the wall, the photos resemble windows or portals. For example, in Untitled (Blue Window) the faint outline of a window, framed with silhouetted leaves is partially visible. A veil of white dots, like constellations, layers the surface of the image, a result, once again, of the dot-patterned fabric through which the photo is shot.

A small (20 by 24 inch) image, Untitled (Opening), was shown in a grid with five other similarly sized Iris prints. It was shot through cotton batting that strongly suggests snow. Only a sliver of the outside world--green foliage--is visible through a triangular opening. The effect is to stress the photographer's role as voyeur, hidden in the safety of the shelter, but with a surreptitious view to the outside world.

Utilizing digital imaging, Brooks chose a perfect medium for these works--they are slightly pixelated in sections, adding another "veil" through which the subject is seen; it is mediated first through the camera, then by the fabric and finally through the digitalization process. The resultant abstracted images are, nevertheless, rooted in reality. Brooks's recent series is both visually stunning and conceptually sound.

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