CHRISTOPHER WILLIAMS
Born 1965, Los Angeles, California; lives in Los Angeles, California

Christopher Williams's work in photography, sculpture, performance, film, video, and graphic design is highly conceptual and often addresses hierarchies of power, object fetishism, and conventions of representation. For one triptych, he photographed a Kiev 88 camera, a cheap eastern European knockoff of a Hasselblad, in front three-quarter view, back three-quarter view, and profile in a commercial studio in Los Angeles; the camera used to take the photographs was of the highest precision quality; the photographs were developed using a rarefied color process— all resulting in three conspicuously glamorous, perfectly staged "headshots." The high-end technical treatment is at odds with the Soviet-era product that is being represented. The title, as in all of Williams's work, inventories its subject's history: Kiev 88, 4.6 lbs. (2.1 kg) Manufacturer: Zavod Arsenal Factory, Kiev, Ukraine. Date of production: 1983–87. Douglas M. Parker Studio, Glendale, California. March 28, 2003 (Nrs 1–3).

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Kiev MC Arsat (Zodiak-8) 30mm f3.5, 1:3.5, Product Aperture f/3.5, Serial Number 870701, Medium Format Camera Lens, Douglas M. Parker Studio, Glendale, California. August 4, 2005, 2005. Black-and-white fiber print, 16 x 20 in. (40.6 x 50.8 cm). Collection of the artist; courtesy David Zwirner, New York