Gil Kofman, Passage 6:43 PM (Dodd Hall), 2009-2010, archival inkjet print, 20.5" x 30"
"Artist Explores UCLA's Many Inside Passages"
By Jessica Nazar
Do you recognize this hallway?
Faculty and students often overlook this corridor as they rush through it to get to a humanities lecture or take a shortcut to LuValle Commons. But Los Angeles artist Gil Kofman entered through the doors of UCLA’s Dodd Hall one day and made an unexpected discovery.
"My customary invasion, I soon realized, was subverted by something more subtle, nuanced, confident and unrepentant," Kofman recalled.
Kofman is sharing his insights on UCLA hallways in a photographic exhibit entitled, “Passages: Case Studies in Euclidean Seduction” at the dnj Gallery in Santa Monica. In his photographs, Kofman attempts to expose the geometric allure of corridors that passersby indifferently traverse daily.
"Studied carefully," he writes, "the enticing repetition of forms — diminishing doorways, garbage cans, exit signs — would soon come undone when itemized and counted in their own right, removed from the contextual harness of perspective and its heralded descent."
Seeing beyond the perception of campus buildings as structures housing classrooms and offices, Kofman focused his lens on UCLA's hallways to reveal passages — a metaphor for the university itself as a pathway to another destination, he said. "Passages are usually places of transit, connecting two disparate places, and often overlooked in passing," he explained. Instead, with his camera, Kofman captures each passage to celebrate the journey.
The show opens March 3 at the dnj Gallery in Santa Monica’s Bergamot Station through April 14. Go here to see more of UCLA's passages.
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