KEN BOTTO

Ken Botto Created and photographed miniature tableaux using his toy collection, unique props, and found objects. Armed with his "funky 1973 Nikkormat" he relied on natural light in his Bolinas, California backyard and used reflected mirrors to produce illuminated and atmospheric effects. All images were created in the camera with neither digital nor darkroom manipulations. Botto created over 35 series, each containing anywhere from 9 to 153 images. Much of the work comments on cultural contradictions and absurdities of everyday life.

"I'm dealing with artificial, fake objects. They are fabrications. I'm trying to get beyond the objects of course. I want to stretch the believability. We know these are miniatures, but at the same time the scene looks bigger than it is. It's bigger than life. I'm trying to say something about how we see ourselves through the objects"

-Ken Botto interviewed by Paul Karabinis

Telling  Stories, The Jacksonville Museum of  Contemporary Art, Jacksonville, Florida, 1996