The Useless Truth: La Verdad Inã°til

BILINGUAL ENGLISH/SPANISH EDITION The artist known as RES, born RaË(TM)l Stolkiner in Argentina in 1957, studied both photography and economics, which influences his work through the idea of an economics of ideas. This first critical anthology of his career gathers nine series of photographs–Where Are They & Magnets, Pardiez! (By God!), Pretty Little Plastic Thingy, DNSCTTH, On Jorge L. Borges, Me-Cactus, Between is Nothing, HernÂ-n CortÈs’ Route, and his latest, Conatus. That most recent and perhaps most intense entry recreates–in detailed costume, makeup, lighting and composition–iconic pieces of western art, widely acknowledged masterpieces by painters such as Velazquez, da Vinci and Picasso. Each portfolio is introduced by a short text key to its interpretation. And how to interpret the title? The Useless Truth refers to art’s ability to highlight the irrelevance of information, a truth RES points out is just as useless as any other while it remains locked away in the autonomous field of art. La verdad inà til, oxÃ-moron que da lugar a pensar la fotografÃ-a como un modelo teÃ3rico, alude a las complejas relaciones entre pràcticas artÃ-sticas y pràcticas polÃ-ticas. En màs de un sentido, la obra de res formula una articulaciÃ3n entre ambas pràcticas que excede las nociones tradicionales de arte polÃ-tico. El arte puede hacer evidente el caràcter errÃ3neo de la verdad; pero esta cualidad resultarÃ-a inà til, por permanecer encerrada en el campo autÃ3nomo del arte. A menos que concibamos la fotografÃ-a como un modelo de pensamiento. y el pensamiento, acciÃ3n polÃ-tica. El presente volumen articula crÃ-ticamente por primera vez la obra de res: nueve series fotogràficas introducidas por textos breves que aportan algunas claves para su interpretaciÃ3n.