Steve Weiss

Everyone in the industrialized world, at one time or another, has brushed against the routine experiences associated with riding an elevator: You enter, press the button for your floor number, move to the back and stop yourself from looking around. Your only visual options are the floor numbers above the door, or the floor itself.

What if you were allowed to look around with abandon, to stare unflinchingly at others who are sharing this transition space to your destination? Steve Weiss gives us this option through a series of photographs that create a virtual crowd in the museum's north elevator. His riders share your space and act in typical fashion, never making eye contact with you; however, you are completely free to examine your fellow passengers up close and to see the personalities with whom you are making this brief, but intimate journey -- all without the unspoken restrictions inherent in this ordinary social situation.

Steve Weiss attended San Francisco Art Institute and went on to receive a BFA in Photography from Arizona State University. His work has been included in the exhibitions: For Amusement Only, Rotunda Gallery, Art Museum, University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ; Reality Check, Armstrong Prior Fine Art, Phoenix, AZ; Truth and Beauty, Szabo Studio, Phoenix, AZ; Candid Landscapes, Fifth Avenue Gallery, Scottsdale, AZ; Views of Encanto, Arizona State Capital, Phoenix, AZ; A Beautiful Obsession/Candid Landscapes, Scottsdale Community College, Scottsdale, AZ; Dedicated to Women, Northlight Gallery, Tempe, AZ; La Phoeniquera XVII, MARS Gallery, Phoenix, AZ; and Photography Biennial, Phoenix Art Museum, Phoenix, AZ.

Contact artist Steve Weiss with questions about his work for
nooks and crannies by e-mail at steveweissnooksandcrannies@hotmail.com