Daniel Gordon

Daniel Gordon uses photography to create images that toy with notions of artifice and authenticity. As an undergraduate, Gordon hit the ground running with his "Flying Pictures" (2001—04) a series of low-fi simulations of human flight. An assistant photographed Gordon as he catapulted himself into mid-air, capturing the magical instant—about 1/125 of a second—before gravity had its way. The resulting images blur the lines between reality and fiction, simultaneously documenting his activity and portraying an impossible event.

More recently, Gordon's practice has moved into the studio: instead of using himself as a model, the artist composes three-dimensional collages—mostly lurid still lives and grotesque portraits—from old magazines and Internet printouts, which he then photographs. Unlike the seamless perfection of images manipulated with Adobe Photoshop, these paper tableaux are deliberately crude and unpolished. "I'm interested in showing my hand and letting people see the imperfection," Gordon says.

Gordon has had solo shows at several international galleries and has been included in notable group exhibitions including Out of Focus at the Saatchi Gallery, Greater New York at MoMA PS1 (2010), and New Photography 2009 at the Museum of Modern Art.