An original Hot Shot (Spring 2005!), Matthew Tischler's time in the 20x200 limelight is long overdue. At the rate his prints are selling today, it seems as if the delay has not just starved fans old and new (thanks to the Domino Magazine spread on 20x200 that we just can't stop talking about!) but also made them rabid. So, if you're already sold, go Google checkout your Untitled #4 and Untitled #15 without delay. If you're all set, stay awhile and soak up the Sunday afternoon feeling of Tischler's filmic works.

In his statement, Tischler writes:

I shoot through window screens, netting, and scrims, creating grid patterns that become the sharpest focal element of each image. I employ these grids and barriers in order to dissect, pixelate, filter and flatten landscapes and space. Subjects and figures are broken apart and reconstructed in such a way that they are both integrated into their environments and isolated within them. None of the subjects in my photographs have any discernable features; rather they are faceless characters whose identities are defined by their surroundings. Although the photographs originate from 35mm negatives, I hope to reference both video technology and painting techniques.

These photos are so close to Burt Barr's low-tech videos, in particular, Summer 2005 Looped (2005) which debuted at PS 1 in September 2006. Barr's video of a bucolic Long Island afternoon employed a similarly simple technique to Tischler's shooting through screens, recording the reflection of his backyard from a mirror that was being hosed down, giving a likewise dreamy effect. In Barr's loop, very little changes other than the patterns of water washing over the glassy surface; if I remember correctly, you watch a man walk from one end of the yard to the other. Tischler achieves a consonant sentiment without leaving the single frame: an escape to the timelessness of pastoral summers. The work is smart but slow and steady, sure to put you at ease. See more of it on his website.