Deep Space None
By Matt Spangler

To hear him tell it, one might surmise that Jason Falchook, age 26 and receiving his first airing at Fusebox, had his head in the cinematography of Gregg Toland inasmuch as any of the photographers he studied while working toward his Bachelor of Fine Arts at the Corcoran.

But unlike Toland -- whose pioneering use of deep focus in films such as Citizen Kane rendered a more objective reality by bringing the foreground, middle ground, and background equally into view -- there is not even a hint of relevant space, beyond a thin layer Falchook has discriminatingly brought to the fore, in two-thirds of the nine C-prints Fusebox has on display.

For instance, "Range" hones in on a pair of gorgeously azure gas burners, leaving blurred the balance of the stovetop and a lamp perfectly burned in the background. But despite its technical brilliance, the center of interest in the print seems rather arbitrary, and the subject matter quite prosaic.

Though likewise failing to summon any subterfuge of deep space, with "The Consolidation of Misgivings (Trespass)," Falchook prevails in his professed aim to capture a sense of suburban isolation. The print offers a middle-aged man idling on a couch, the background out of focus. We view the man through an in-focus sliding glass door whose frame, delineated by asymmetrically arranged vertical lines, intimates that he finds himself in a sort of provincial brig. Adding to the impression of confinement is a picture of a butterfly above the man's head, suggesting they are both specimens best viewed under glass.

Less successful in his use of selective focus is "Unfurl/Repose," where Falchook again appears to have capriciously peeled off a layer of an otherwise trivial scene, this time the perimeter of the pool at the house in which he was raised. In this instance, he would have been better advised to transform the subject into an abstraction along the lines of "The Offing," where the night shot of a Sunrise, FL, street -- his camera a mere centimeter above the asphalt -- could just as well be the surface of a planet with twin suns in a distant galaxy.

His concern being the limitations of visible space, it should be noted that his work is well suited for the white and near-cavernous space of Fusebox.

"Lightly Scratching a Trajectory," color photographs by Jason Falchook, will be on exhibit at Fusebox (http://www.fuseboxdc.com), 1412 14 Street N.W., 202/299-9220, through Aug. 25.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------
A telecom reporter by day for McGraw-Hill in Washington, Matt Spangler occasionally sneaks out at lunch on "special assignments" for Cultureflux, covering photo shows in local galleries and museums. His work as a photographer can be seen at Gallery West in Old Town, Alexandria.