Elizabeth Cemborain derives her work from the practices of Op Art and constructivism, stressing the relationship between form and function. Her digital photographs come from a peculiar manipulation of images. The artist takes straightforward videos of complex, modern urban landscapes. For this series, she uses New York City’s Times Square as the epicenter. She creates a moving and active pan of the camera over each of the buildings in the city’s skyline. From this, she chooses still frames that show a pattern of shapes which she intentionally over-manipulates, enhancing their geometries and colors. The result is an optical vibration that eliminates all objective reality. What is left is the abstract remnant of the city and the superimposed geometrical edges of the metropolitan scene. This is dominated by a vibrant, strong composition of successive stripes that melt into and burst from the surrounding areas of the city. There is an illusionistic and flashing pulsation of lines. The color captures a specific time and season; New York in Spring at 5:30 pm. Warm hues show the impressionistic approach to the images. In pure illusionistic movement, her video brings out the fleeting passages and perceptual effects of the city.

Milagros Bello, Ph.D.