Present Tense

Through such formal devices as series and multipanel works, JoAnn Verburg invigorates some of photography's common genres-the portrait, the landscape, the domestic view. Some of her works catch viewers off guard, leaving them unsure where they stand in relationship to the scene being shown; others investigate the passage of time, offering narratives that play out in either space or time, or both or neither. The intimate spaces of personal life are another of her ongoing themes, as shown in a series featuring her husband, the poet Jim Moore, reading newspapers or books, or sleeping. These works achieve a delicate balance between unguarded intimacy and the reality, often harsh, of the current events featured on that day's newspaper, reaching out of the work and into the world. Whether taking pictures of artists, swimmers, trees or pyramids constructed from sand, Verburg deftly explores representations of time and space. This publication, which accompanies an exhibition of Verburg's work at The Museum of Modern Art and the Walker Art Center, contains 111 illustrations and an essay by Susan Kismaric.