Aziz + Cucher

(American, Aziz, b. 1961, Cucher b. Peru, 1958)

George, 1994

Maria, 1994

The large-format photographs of the collaborative team Aziz + Cucher present hermetically sealed bodies and faces. Using computer software, the artists remove human features while meticulously creating a painterly illusion of depth and volume where there used to be eyes, mouth, and ears. Disturbingly mute, Maria is an eerie indicator of a meeting of identity and technology, undermining the familiar genre of photographic portraiture as well.

Anthony Aziz (born Lunenburg, Massachusetts, 1961) and Sammy Cucher (born Lima, Peru, 1958) met as graduate students and started collaborating in 1990. Their large-scale, digitally manipulated images have been exhibited internationally, including at the Frankfurter Kunstverein, Frankfurt; New Langton Arts, San Francisco; New Museum of Contemporary Art, New York; The Photographer’s Gallery, London; and the Venice Biennale (Venezuelan Pavilion, 1995). Among their grants and awards is a Ruttenberg award from the Ansel Adams Center for Photography, San Francisco. Aziz earned his BFA from New York University’s Experimental Theater Wing (1983). Both Aziz and Cucher received MFAs from the San Francisco Art Institute (Aziz, 1990; Cucher, 1992).

Bryan-Wilson, Julia, and Barbara Hunt. Bodies of Resistance: Aziz + Cucher, Oladélé Ajiboyé Bamgboyé, Rina Banerjee… New York: Visual AIDS, 2000.

Roegiers, Patrick, and Fabrizio Caleffi. Aziz Cucher: Unnatural Selection. Milano: Photology, 1996.