Los Loss

Appleson's formal photographs are created outside; a large black screen is mounted on legs with a metal frame to become the backdrop for the work. Taken at either dawn or dusk when the light is at it's most generous, the screen reduces the amount of extraneous visual information, presenting the viewer with a stark point of focus. Appleson has developed a film still quality to the works, and is interested in the link between the photographic images he produces and old master paintings, particularly Mannerist works. "Los Loss" includes portraits of rural ranchers, narrative sequences of efficient but non-industrial animal butchering, and staged tableaux of Mexico City prostitutes. In another series, Appleson convinced Mexican wrestlers to test their mettle against lifesized pinatas of cartoon characters such as Sponge Bob Square Pants and Captain America. In his still life images, Appleson explores found examples of nature and culture colliding: a street market trolley of dried chillies, roadside vegetation, and an extended series of photographs of that most characteristic and eccentric Mexican artefact, rural grave markers.