From October 8th through December 31st, 2008, The Boston Public Library at Copley Square will be presenting the exhibition, 'Covering Photography: Imitation, Influence and Coincidence'. This display of books and book covers was conceived and curated by Karl Baden, a photographer and Fine Arts faculty at Boston College.

  Since 2001, Baden has been constructing a comprehensive history of photography through volumes of fiction and poetry with important, well-known photographs on their covers. To date, he has assembled more than 2000 books, representing the work of more than 350 photographers. Much of this project may be accessed online at www.CoveringPhotograpy.com.

  For 'Imitation, Influence and Coincidence', Baden investigates a new facet of this concept by presenting several dozen books whose cover illustrations are in some way derived from well-known images in photographic history. His concerns in this instance involve the larger question of how 'high art' is absorbed, processed and regurgitated by popular culture, either through direct imitation or by stylistic influence. In the exhibition, Baden compares a reproduction of each 'source' photograph to a comparable book cover image, to not only suggest the influence, but to indicate how the image was altered by the process of translation. Sometimes the connection is quite obvious; an instance of blatant appropriation. In other cases it is more a question of the designer or illustrator being subtly, perhaps even unconsciously, influenced by a particular photographer or photograph. Finally, there may be no direct, or even indirect, connection, but rather, for lack of a better term, an
'intelligent' coincidence; ie, an idea or visual trope that is part of the collective cultural consciousness, and manifests itself in various ways by groups or individuals who have no obvious connection to each other.

  By comparing book cover art to the photographs from which they are, or may be, derived, 'Imitation, Influence and Coincidence' poses the questions: How far can this concept of influence be stretched before it breaks? How is visual syntax processed by culture, and when does influence end and coincidence begin? This exhibition prods the viewer to consider these questions and come up with an answer of his or her own.