Replica is a piece about authenticity using the traditional genre of still life as the vehicle to investigate issues of real and fake. By showing the image twice along with the actual plastic pear, I am interested in the problem of how value is attributed and whether it is the image or the presentation which matters most. The non-functional specimen lighting and switchbox allude to a museum context while the "eye quotes" cite the history of the genre as well as the concept of visual copyright. The exaggerated framing references the idea of the specimen box. The piece is intended as a spoof of the establishment system of valuation. A subtext of the piece is the relationship between the digital image and traditional photography practice. The piece is produced using direct scanning of the objects and without camera. While initially photo like in appearance, the scanner mediates data in a different way than the camera records light.

Madge Gleeson is a Professor in the Art Department at Western Washington University in Bellingham Washington where she has taught in the Design area since 1983. Her current teaching includes classes in computer graphics and internet design. She previously taught in the Fine Arts Department at Washington State University in Pullman where she received her MFA in printmaking in 1976. She has frequently exhibited at SIGGRAPH as well as ISEA and the New York Digital Salon. Her work has been shown internationally in Europe, Asia, and Canada. She is represented by AIR Gallery in New York where she will be showing work in December. Her web site MeMart is included in this year's SIGGRAPH and was also in ISEA/ Manchester and the Parsons New Media Festival 1998.

Department of Art Western Washington University Bellingham, WA 98225
mgleeson@cc.wwu.edu
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