More about Studies for Holograms

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Duckface selfie​ avant la lettre.

The 20th century knows many weird and futuristic inventions, like the one-wheeled motorcycle, the baby cage and Venetian blind sunglasses (the original Shutter Shades, but actually kind of cool). Holographic photography is one of those inventions that could potentially be as futuristic as it sounds. Yet, back in the '70’s it had nothing to do with bringing dead rappers back to life. The development of laser technology in the '60’s enabled the creation of holograms, which is nothing more than 3D images on a 2D surface. Many artists tried out this nifty new invention and so did Bruce Nauman. I mean, he used basically every technique in the book, so why not try out holograms as well?

Even though he eventually did make 2 series of true holographic imagery, his studies are way more popular. You can find them in the biggest museums across the country, like LACMAStudies for Holograms are printed photographs in yellow-green colors. These two colors together mess up your brain and mimic a holographic vibe, without being holographic at all. Some people think the photographs are super exaggerated facial manipulations of the letters A - E, but it's nothing like that. The faces he makes in these photographs are just, well, funny faces. He took many more pictures, but found that 5 were the most interesting.  Like those 300+ pictures you take before picking out the perfect selfie, you can never go wrong with funny faces. If only Snapchat filters had been invented.