Rosamond Purcell: Deception, Fate, and Rotten Luck

August 22 - December 22, 2004

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This exhibition presents Purcell's series of dice from the collection of Ricky Jay, former curator of the Mulholland Library of Conjuring and the Allied Arts (and a recognized sleight of hand artist). Vintage dice, composed of cellulose nitrate, are stable for many years but then dramatically begin to decompose. Purcell has captured these dice in the process of deconstruction and eventual implosion. The images were published in Dice: Deception, Fate, and Rotten Luck (W.W. Norton Company, December 2002). For this exhibition, her photographs are accompanied by dice from Jay's collection and an audio component of his thoughts on dice and Purcell's photographs.

• Funded in part by UW American Studies, UW Cultural Outreach, the National Advisory Board of the UW Art Museum, and the Wyoming Arts Council through the National Endowment for the Arts and the Wyoming State Legislature. Dice and audio courtesy Ricky Jay and the Museum of Jurassic Technology.

Images:

Left: Rosamond Purcell, Page 41, Iris ink-jet print, by Singer Editions, Boston, 24 x 24-1/2 inches, 2003, Courtesy of the artist

Center: Rosamond Purcell, Page 16, Iris ink-jet print, by Singer Editions, Boston, 24 x 24-1/2 inches, 2003, Courtesy of the artist

Right: Rosamond Purcell, Page 2, Iris ink-jet print, by Singer Editions, Boston, 24 x 24-1/2 inches, 2003, Courtesy of the artist