User:Abrahb

Aziz + Cucher (Anthony Aziz and Samuel Cucher)
Anthony Aziz (b. Fitchburg, Massachusetts, USA) and Samuel Cucher (b. 1958, Lima, Peru/grew up in Caracas, Venezuela) are visual artists working together as a collaborative team since meeting in graduate school in 1990 at the San Francisco Art Institute. They are pioneers in the field of digital imaging and post-photography with projects exhibited at numerous venues including the 1995 Venice Biennale, the LA County Museum of Art and the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art.

Biography
Anthony Aziz received his BA from Boston College in 1983 and then went on to earn his MFA from the San Francisco Art Institute in 1990. Sammy Cucher received his BFA from Tisch School of the Arts at New York University in 1983 and then earned his MFA from SFAI in 1992. They live and work together in Brooklyn, NY and are both members of the faculty at Parsons the New School for Design in New York City.

Work
Aziz + Cucher have worked in many media including digital photography, video installation, sculpture, and textiles. They were among the first to use Adobe Photoshop in the context of fine art photography. The resulting series (1992-2002) of images can be seen as a whole as a commentary and reflection on the relationship between the human body and the technological forces that shape our society. In later video projects (2003-2006), their concern shifted towards the way that our perception of nature and the landscape had been augmented and modified by technological mediation. Beginning in 2006, Aziz + Cucher embarked on the creation of a new body of work that looks at the landscape from a historical and political perspective.

Significant examples
The DYSTOPIA Series (1994-95) This is probably Aziz + Cucher’s most widely known work which consists of large digitally manipulated portraits in which the orifices --eyes, mouth and nostrils-- have been covered by a layer of skin. The intention was to suggest an evolutionary change signifying the loss of individuality in the face of advancing technology and the progressive disappearance of face-to-face, direct interaction.