The Situated Image

Every image is situated.

Seen from some specific angle, through a set of specific eyes and with specific situated knowledge. This work makes that truth literal. Optically tuned to resolve only through a single uncorrected eye at a precise distance, the work upends our assumptions about clarity: the viewer with perfect vision who sees a crisp, stable image is, in fact, missing the whole thing.

I've needed glasses since I was a kid. Without my glasses, clothes draped on a chair became a scary witch; an alphabet poster above my brother's bed became a protective cowboy. This experience inspired my art, in addition to my professional work developing new vision exams.

— Jonathan Lansey

Selected Works

A person wearing a trial lens frame, pulling focus on a Snellen-style eye chart hung on a brick wall. — Chart for the Uncorrected Eye

Printed at the standard size of a Snellen eye chart, this work reverses the usual logic of vision testing: the smallest letters become legible only through natural uncorrected refractive error or, for viewers with 20/20 vision, through the glasses included with the work. From a distance it appears black and white; taking a closer look opens up fields of color and eye-like forms.

The glasses lenses will be customized per installation and are not shown.

Detail: scattered color and letterforms surfacing in the chart. — Chart for the Uncorrected Eye

Printed at the standard size of a Snellen eye chart, this work reverses the usual logic of vision testing: the smallest letters become legible only through natural uncorrected refractive error or, for viewers with 20/20 vision, through the glasses included with the work. From a distance it appears black and white; taking a closer look opens up fields of color and eye-like forms.

The glasses lenses will be customized per installation and are not shown.

A self-portrait that resolves out of a hex mosaic as the eye defocuses. — Ode to an Imaginary Cowboy

This self-portrait refers to a childhood image that appeared only through blur: an alphabet poster that transformed into a protective cowboy after I took off my glasses at night. Like that memory, the portrait emerges through uncorrected vision — or through the glasses provided for viewers with 20/20 vision.

Detail: the cowboy's hat and face surfacing from the hexagonal mosaic. — Ode to an Imaginary Cowboy

This self-portrait refers to a childhood image that appeared only through blur: an alphabet poster that transformed into a protective cowboy after I took off my glasses at night. Like that memory, the portrait emerges through uncorrected vision — or through the glasses provided for viewers with 20/20 vision.