herbert bayer in las vegas by fred sigman when herbert bayer entered the weimar bauhaus in 1921, a new avant-garde was being formulated in photography. constructivist painter kasimir malevich called for artists to "seize the world from the hands of nature and build a new world belonging to man himself." the romantic visions of nineteenth century art had been intimately tied to nature as subject - such was an art based upon emotion. there were, in the 1920s, photographers whose work was still tied to forms in nature which mirrored an aesthetic state of mind in the artist - such as in the ‘equivalent' pictures of alfred stieglitz. yet, for many artists of the avant garde, modern subjects must be chosen for a modern world - and photography, with its near-industrial precision - lent itself well to this new direction. walter gropius' slogan for the first bauhaus brochure, "art and technology - a new unity," appealed to herbert bayer. while he was surrounded by expressionist ideals at the bauhaus, bayer's work most closely aligns itself with an approach that sought the "destruction of the old representational image in order to achieve new experiences, a new wealth of optical expression." (lázló moholy-nagy) several of bayer's works in the current exhibition at the smallworks gallery in las vegas are photographic experiments in new representational forms/formulas - images that make use of forms and attitudes considered at the time as modern. in the ‘fotoplastiken' titled metamorphosis, geometric shapes tumble out of cave into a romantic landscape: the pure form of abstraction seizing the world from nature. the exhibition also has a selection of bayer's "dream montages," such as look into life and monument. these photographs ask the questions which occupied some of the debates surrounding the nature of photography and the nature of images in general. where do images get composed? in the mind? in the world? is a photograph a statement of objective reality or subjective interpretation? the photomontages of herbert bayer challenge the definitions of photography as offered by paul strand. the essence of photography, according to strand, "is absolute unqualified objectivity." strand further believed that manipulated photographs were "merely the expression of an impotent desire to paint." but paint, bayer did - as he also worked in a variety of other media. diversity is a hallmark of his career: painting, sculpture, earthworks, photography, architectural, graphic and exhibition design. herbert bayer, as the total artist, clearly positions himself in the middle, even the forefront, of the new dialogue with materials and their application to new forms and ideas of expression. the multiple approaches taken by bayer to artistic expression exemplifies the early tendencies of modern artists to experiment with a variety of media in the service of new ideas. without an aesthetic goal motivating the artist, bayer was able, in his time, to fulfill the words of moholy-nagy, who said that photographers can show humanity to itself with new eyes.