The work of Allison Katz rewards multiple viewings, although not necessarily from the same fixed point. This catalogue for the eponymous exhibition curated by Katz at Aspen Art Museum in 2024 explodes the idea of a ‘second look’ by presenting the artist’s work alongside that of numerous others, drawn from private collections in the mountain valley of Aspen, Colorado and the Archaeological Park of Pompeii.
Arranged within the reconstructed rooms of a Pompeian domus, the works build adjacencies and affinities across picture planes, spaces and centuries. The result is ‘an artefact that illuminates some of the fundamental questions about images – how they are made, how they stay with us, and what they reveal about ourselves’.
As managing editor, I worked with Aspen Art Museum, Allison Katz, catalogue contributors, external translators, copy-editors, photographers and the book’s graphic designer Mathias Clottu to deliver this complex project.
In the House of the Trembling Eye is a revelation of art’s ability – especially that of painting – to remain contemporary even in its ancient forms. At the same time, it poses a challenge to the viewer: both the siting and sighting of the works in this catalogue reveal the disorienting instability that accompanies the act of truly seeing.
Designed by Studio Mathias Clottu
Published by Aspen Art Museum and Verlag der Buchhandlung Walther König, 2025