Field Of Vision: Elad Lassry

Born in Tel Aviv in 1977 but now resident in Los Angeles, Elad Lassry’s work continues the rich tradition of photo-led Conceptual art. Working with both found imagery from vintage magazines such as Life and Time, and his own slightly unnerving photographs, Lassry displays his images in frames (often sickly coloured) which are as important as the images themselves, since they immediately remove the photographs from any editorial context and make them singular, powerful pieces. Sometimes it’s hard to tell what’s old and what’s new imagery, since he shoots his own photographs like cheesy promotional headshots or outtakes from early computing manuals. "I'm fascinated by the collapse of histories," says Lassry. "And the confusion that results when there is something just slightly wrong in a photograph."

With his collaged film-still compositions he owes a serious debt to John Baldessari, but for such a young artist he has created a distinctive signature style of his own, which becomes all the more apparent in the photographs he actually shoots. Whether it’s through the choice of strange subject matter or the weird compositions, with those distinctive frames you know you’re looking at a Lassry.