Untitled, 2003

'I want to say something more about seeing. I am not talking about reading a photograph; for that you can go to photographer/writers Robert Adams, Stephen Shore or John Szarkowski. They offer rather tight analytical approaches to looking. When I encounter a great photograph I believe that I see the whole thing in that instant: the shapes, the contrasts and the lines are all present in my eye. The great ones fill your eye fully and that resonates through your whole system. I don’t know the physiology of vision but I think we have the extraordinary ability to see everything in an image immediately. This is not to deny that the representational or the informational part of the image may take some time to sort out but, with apologies to Cartier-Bresson, that moment is for the viewer as decisive as it may be for the photographer.
In Joe Heidecker’s irreverent collages the original formal cabinet cards have been distorted. Any sense we might have had of what the original sitters appeared to be feeling – comfortable or ill at ease – has been interfered with by the application of the goofy, googly eyes. What we have now is new information, silly and fun.' – W.M. Hunt