Since last week, when I wrote about Art and Illusions: Masterpieces of Trompe-l’oeil From 
Antiquity To The Present at Palazzo Strozzi in Florence, I’ve learned that the Center for Contemporary Culture there has a companion exhibition which is just as interesting. Maybe less amusing, though.
It’s called Manipulating Reality: How Images Redefine the World. The works of 23 artists, from around the world, including the U.S., are on display: Andreas Gursky, Cindy Sherman, Aernout Mik, Gregory
Crewdson among them.
The show’s concept is hardly new — that photography and video art may falsify, as well as record, the world, that what you see is not what you get. But it goes hand in hand with trompe l’oeil. And once again, there’s a very good website, with wonderful images and much explanation.
I’ve put a sampling of images here — Rosemary Laing’s Groundspeed above left and Thomas Demand’s Presidency V below right.
Don’t know why I’m fixated on the Strozzi: maybe it’s just that I do long to visit Italy again.
Photos: Courtesy Centro di Cultura Contemporanea Strozzina