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Aliens at Goblin Valley
Artist: Robert Kawika Sheer
Price: $2,600.00
Medium: Photography
Ship From Milwaukee, WI

More Details

Creation Date: 2002
Materials: Chromogenic Print
Dimensions: 20" x 16"
Condition: Excellent condition.
Finish: Framed
About the Item: Artwork Size: 20" x 16"
Frame Size: 30 5/8" x 26 5/8"

"Aliens at Goblin Valley" is a photographic performance by Robert Kawika Sheer, signed lower right and numbered lower left 31/250. The photograph is set amid a mushroom-like rock formation. Star trails streak through the blue night sky, creating an appropriate backdrop for the shadowy figures that stand in front of the rocks. The figures, which resemble extraterrestrials as they have appeared in representations in popular culture, have large heads and eyes with long arms and fingers. The photographer has created an otherworldly scene befitting the photograph’s bizarre subject.

Using a 4x5 camera, Sheer achieves the effects of presence and the passage of time captured in a single image by using a long single exposure lasting from forty-five minutes to seven hours. No digital manipulation or multiple exposures are used in the creation of his works. After the photographer opens the shutter of the camera, he enters the frame of the picture, becoming a performer in the scene. Because he is using low-intensity moonlight to illuminate the night, Sheer can enter the camera’s view without the negative recording his movement. As far as he knows, Sheer is the only photographer in the world performing this style of photography. Through this ghostly image, which the artist calls a “Spirit Shadow,” the photographer is a performer in the image. "Aliens at Goblin" Valley is a performative event, carefully staged for preservation in the future.