Brenda Zlamany's Studio Hosts Complex Photographic Essay by Robert Banat

Robert Banat's photographic essay documents a layered artistic encounter in Brenda Zlamany's studio. The shoot features artist Marie Peter-Toltz, who recently exhibited paintings in Australia, posing as model #193 for Zlamany's ongoing project 'A Watercolor Portrait a Day'. Critic David Cohen sketches the scene from an elevated position while Zlamany works with a camera lucida, an instrument introduced to her by David Hockney. Banat's composition captures multiple perspectives simultaneously: Zlamany's portrait of Chuck Close appears behind Cohen, who struggles to include Zlamany's Yale commission in his drawing. That commission depicts Yale University's first female graduating class with a telescope at its center. The photographic arrangement creates optical ricochets throughout the space, evoking references to Velázquez's Las Meninas, Jeff Wall's work, and M.C. Escher's visual puzzles. The entire dynamic unfolds as a complex interplay of observation where each participant—artist, model, critic, and photographer—simultaneously observes and becomes observed.