“Looking in: Robert Frank The Americans” - MET
“Looking in: Robert Frank’s The Americans”, exhibited at MET, celebrates the 50th anniversary of Frank’s publication. The exhibition divided into four rooms and a projection area exposes Frank’s black and white (gelatin silver prints) photographic work and his work as a filmmaker. The portraits were taken in times of economic, social and political tension during the Cold War reflecting the life and evolution of the Americans. The first portion sequenced at the galleries of the MET exhibit a retrospective on Frank’s early work in Peru, photographing hats; his submission to Life Magazine for their contest “People you don’t see”, and “The Welsh Miners” were he photographed miners while at work. After giving us a background of Frank’s beginnings the exhibit continues to expose “The Americans” through images, letters, contact sheets, work prints and sample books.
The Americans consists of 83 photographs sequenced in the galleries as in the original book. The images embody different communities in their everyday life. The images portray and redefine icons of the American lifestyle during the 1950s. His photographs surround the themes of politics, glamour, rich, poor, middle class, blacks, whites, urban, rural, civilians and everything in between. All these themes are encapsulate thematically, conceptually and sequentially.
Franks journey, enabled by the Simon Guggenheim Foundation fellowship, began in June 1955 and ended June 1956. He was allowed “to photograph freely throughout the United States.” The timeline of the application process, the journey and work process, are as well exhibited at the MET. These materials include various draft of his proposal for the fellowship as well as correspondence between Frank and Walker Evans, contact sheets and an entire wall dedicated to work prints were we can visualize the editing process that Frank explored.
The sequence seems to be sectioned in different categories that reflect the political and religious believes of certain groups, the hardships and discontents of others, and the joy, happiness and pride of some. The imagery includes political leaders, the rich in New York, the glamour of Hollywood, the cowboys in the Midwest, the roads of the south and the political rallies in the north.
“Dress Code: The Third ICP triennial of Photography and Video” - ICP
ICP culminates its year in Fashion with “Dress Code: The Third ICP triennial of Photography and Video.” The large exhibit shows a series of projects by 34 artists from 18 different countries. The works vary in medium from photography, to collage to video, as well in styles, perception and imagery. The aim of the show is to examine fashion’s relationship to art, society and culture. From these themes the show also stems to depict differences in age, gender, race, religion, identity and individuality. Woven into the imagery was the art of making fashion, couture, costume, and the use of fabric.
Although the space seem loaded with projects, each image showed different aspects of fashion. The artists’ interpretations of fashion took the shape of documentary photography and video, abstract images, video performances and the explorations of avatar technology and fashion
Mickalene Thomas was one of my favorites. She used the Blaxploitation film genre of the 1970s as inspiration to create the scenes in her images. Just as the film genre the images capture the urban – domestic environments of African American women in their fashionable and colorful homes and wardrobes. The look includes sexy outfits, animal prints and the exaggeration of jewelry. Other element that Thomas included was the soul, jazz, and funk music showcasing vinyls, one of them of Diana Ross. The images depict strong and complex women.
Lorna Simpson is also part of the exhibit with photo booth images (1940s-1970s) of women. There is a large quantity of images scatter in an organized method throughout the wall. The images are intimate and separated by unexposed images. The photo booth was the subjects’ instrument to record a moment in their lives. A record they sought to be beautiful and lasting. Through these small images these women seem to be creating memories of happiness using the camera as a mirror of time and the inside of the booth as their intimate studio were they had control.
“Maria,” by Pinar Yolacan, is an interesting series of portraits of elder women in Brazil. The images show dresses designed with a historical Portuguese influence. The materials used for the dresses include velvets and satins. The dresses were adorned with animal organs such as cow placenta and a collar of rabbit eyes. The organs from the far seem plastic, with a pale bronze color pallet. The models seem aware of the camera but remain static. The historically inspired dresses, the color pallet and pose of the model remind me of the formal portraits of aristocrats in the 1600s.
Yto Barrada’s simple grid of portraits of a Moroccan woman is an interesting way to expose a culture and the social and economical lives of certain woman. The grid establishes step by step the path of this woman who moves contraband fabrics from a Spanish city to Morocco by layering them on her.
Cindy Sherman, once again using herself as the subject examines the style and appearance of middle age women. The characters played by Sherman seem to desperately try to stay young and hip. In their efforts they become grotesque caricatures with exaggerated facial features.
“New Photography” - MoMA
The exhibit “New Photography 2009” features six artists showcasing diverse ways of contemporary image making. They try to expand the horizons of photography by using traditional methods and adding images from magazines, newspapers, archives and books and later assembling their findings in a digital form. The artists also stretch the possibilities by incorporating drawing, sculpture and graffiti painting. The images range from the abstract, to the conventional, to the historical/political but as a whole they all attempt to explore different ways of creating.
Although the purpose of the exhibit is to see how far the medium of photography can be pushed, I wasn’t really impressed with the works. Some of the projects were mainly collage, mix with Photoshop and other mediums that went to an extreme manipulation nevertheless not very much appealing or innovative.
Visually, the work of Walead Beshty was the only one that caught my attention for a longer period of time. I thought the images were visually captivating due to the burst of vibrant saturated colors and the symmetry of the composition. I thought the process of using the darkroom instead of a camera was interesting, but I question how far can this method go.
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