Shirin Neshat, The Book of Kings @Gladstone

JTF (just the facts): A total of 56 black and white photographs, framed in black and unmatted, and hung in the main gallery space, the reception hallway, and a smaller side room. The show also includes a new three-channel video installation entitled OverRuled, on view in a separate darkened room. 45 of the photographs come from the series Masses and are ink on LE gelatin silver prints, each sized 40x30, in editions of 5+2AP. 6 of the photographs come from the series Patriots and are also ink on LE gelatin silver prints, each sized, 60x45, also in editions of 5+2AP. And 3 of the photographs come from the series Villains and are also ink on LE gelatin silver prints, each sized 99x50, also in editions of 5+2AP. The other two works in the reception hallway are 47x60 and 62x49, with similar details in terms of process and edition size. All of the works were made in 2012. (Installation shots at right.)

Comments/Context: Shirin Neshat's newest photographs are a direct response to recent political events in the Middle East, encompassing both the Green Movement in Iran in 2009 and the broader protests and revolutions of the Arab Spring. Her images take her back to her mid 1990s aesthetic style (spare black and white portraits with faces covered in painstakingly detailed calligraphy) and apply this haunting look to contrasting groups of participants (Masses, Patriots and Villains) in the struggle for power and freedom.

The Masses portraits are hung in a overpowering 3x15 grid that covers an entire wall with serious, staring head shots. Her subjects run the gamut from the older generation to younger people, and each everyday face provides tiny nuances of group emotion: anxiety, uncertainty, resignation, hope, aspiration. The Patriots images step back to show torso level portraits, with the universally young subjects placing their right hands over their hearts. These activist faces have even more intense expressions: defiance, fervor, pride, devotion, even potentially hatred(the image of Nida is particularly striking, second from the right, at right). The calligraphic text written on their skin is larger and bolder than on the people from Masses, as if shouting rather than whispering, even though the poses are equally sober and quiet. The Villains are full length portraits of older men, where the calligraphic text has been replaced with elaborate illustrations across their bare chests like tattoos. These drawings of ancient war (complete with spurting decapitations in blood red) reinforce the feeling of implicit violence (religious or political) that hangs in the air. Taken together, these three sets of participants are made into metaphors, or symbols of simplified emotions.

I have to admit that I think it is hard to completely understand these works given my inability to read the text superimposed on the bodies and faces. For Western audiences, the calligraphy is transformed from a storytelling layer into a purely decorative motif, and I'm guessing that I'm missing quite a bit of the desired effect. Imagine trying to understand Barbara Kruger's work if you couldn't read the text; sure, there is a graphic quality we as viewers can all connect to, but the irony and juxtaposition of the images and text would be completely lost. I have the same sense of being in the dark with these images. What is being said by the text blaring from the foreheads of the Patriots? And how might it change my experience of their ultra serious faces?

With this caveat of likely misunderstanding, I do think that many of these portraits are quite beautiful, even if they are sometimes harsh and heavy handed. The whole body of work is a personal reminder of the powerful emotions that surround the abstraction of political revolution, where individuals (not types) take part in the action on the front lines.

Collector's POV: The prints in this show are priced as follows. The works from Masses are $35000 each, Patriots are $65000 each, and Villains are $85000 each. The other two photographs are $65000 and $75000 respectively. Neshat's images are regularly available in the secondary markets, particularly I Am Its Secret, which was printed in an edition of 250. Recent prices at auction have ranged from roughly $3000 to $70000.

Rating: ** (two stars) VERY GOOD (rating system described here)

Transit Hub:

• Interview: Modern Art Notes podcast (here)
• Review: Huffington Post (here)

Shirin Neshat, The Book of Kings
Through February 11th

Gladstone Gallery
515 West 24th Street
New York, NY 10011

Catherine Opie, Girlfriends @Gladstone

JTF (just the facts): A total of 45 black and white and color works, hung throughout the gallery in four connecting spaces. The 17 color images are all chromogenic prints, framed in black with no mats, in editions of 5+2AP, and ranging in size from roughly 20x27 to 38x50 (or reverse). These works were taken between 1998 and 2009. The 28 black and white images are all inkjet prints, framed in black and matted, in editions of 8+2AP, and roughly square in format (9x10). These smaller works were taken between 1987 and 2009. (Installation shots at right.)

Comments/Context: Catherine Opie's mid-career retrospective at the Guggenheim was one of the best photography shows of 2008 (review here), so I was certainly looking forward to see her exhibit of new work, now on view at Gladstone. In many ways, this group of pictures has a "back to the future" feel, as Opie has returned to portraits/images of intimate friends and lovers in the lesbian community, after a stretch of time when she explored LA freeways, architecture, icehouses, surfers, and her local community.

The larger color works on display fall into two distinct categories: formal head shot or 3/4 torso portraits against her signature saturated color backgrounds (pink, brown, red, green, and blue in this case) or more casual (though clearly posed) environmental portraits, using both interiors and outdoor landscapes as settings. Opie's gifts as a portraitist seem to come through best in the studio works, where the subjects are seen with more timeless depth and complexity - the personalities captured mix confidence with vulnerability, exposing well rounded humanity beneath the superficial cultural signifiers of elaborate tattoos or butch haircuts. I found the environmental portraits a bit more uneven; they are universally well crafted, but more one-dimensional and less memorable - I don't think they take us anywhere particularly new, although the confrontational swagger of Jenny Shimizu will certainly catch your eye.
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The back room contains a series of 1990s black and white images that Opie has recently started to print for the first time. While the content of these pictures is more challenging and harsher (piercings and needles, SM leather, boots, crotch grabs), they have a lyric softness that somehow tones the toughness down just a bit. There are certainly echoes of Mapplethorpe in these images, particularly in their ability to discover classical beauty in marginalized subjects and in their intimate and personal looks at the details of the people the artist cares about. Compared to the color works in the front rooms, these pictures have a more vibrant edge to them (even though a few bear the hallmarks of a dated time gone by) - life is a little bit closer to the surface and more urgent. They'd make a great small book, collected together on their own.
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Overall, I'd say this show is a kind of retrenching for Opie, not so much a bold exploration of the new frontiers of photography, but more a careful rediscovery of the people who have been important along the way.

Collector's POV: The color prints in this show range in price between $20000 and $35000, based on size; the smaller black and white prints are $10000. Despite Opie's recent recognition, very little of her work has made it to the secondary markets; there really is no consistent pricing pattern to be used as a benchmark. As such, gallery retail is likely the only real option for interested collectors in the short term.

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Rating: * (one star) GOOD (rating system described here)
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Transit Hub:

• Review: NY Times T Magazine (here)
• Artforum 500 words, 2008 (here)
• Interview: Vice, 2009 (here)

Catherine Opie, Girlfriends

Through April 24th

Gladstone Gallery
515 West 24th Street

New York, NY 10011

Jan Dibbets, New Horizons @Gladstone

JTF (just the facts): A total of 19 works, each made up of two color photographs mounted together on mat board within a thin graphite outline, framed in brown wood, and hung in the four main rooms of the gallery. The title, date (all from 2007), and artist's signature are also inscribed near the bottom of each image. Each work is unique (not editioned); sizes vary from approximately 31x42 to 56x87. (Installation shots at right.)

Comments/Context: Jan Dibbets has long been interested in the nature of perception, how perspective alters our view of space, and how the optics of the camera transform what is seen. In his newest works, the straight line of the horizon provides a perfect subject for his meticulous conceptual experiments. In each work, two color photographs (one of a blue seascape with waves, the other of a green and yellow landscape, both against pure light blue skies) are carefully aligned to connect the the two adjacent horizons, creating an unbroken single line that traverses land and water.

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This is the starting point for a wide variety of permutations on this theme, where proportions change, angles tilt, and rectangles and squares move above and below or side to side. In most cases, the spare horizon line runs parallel to the floor, and the geometries and triangulations occur in relation to the constant flat level point; in a few however, the horizon is jarringly slanted, sloping or ascending in an unexpected vertigo-inducing inclination, jolting the viewer out of the soothing simplicity of the construct.

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The most successful works in the show are those that are the most asymmetrical, where the weights of the two parts of the image are exaggeratedly uneven, or perhaps where the limits of the strict compositional device have been tested most. The chunky blocks of uniform sky reminded me of Josef Albers' exercises with squares, and I saw photographic relationships to both John Pfahl's altered landscapes to Hiroshi Sugimoto's seascapes.

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Overall, I found this show to be a satisfying and sophisticated mix of intellectual exploration and meditative repose. The works exhibit a level of craftsmanship and refinement that goes far beyond simple optical trickery and provide a fine example of the subtle power of well-executed conceptual photography.

Collector's POV: While a detailed price list wasn't available, I was told prices for the images in the show generally range between $30000 and $97000. Dibbets' work isn't widely available in the secondary markets for photography; only a few lots have come up for sale in each of the past several years. While prices have ranged between $2000 and $50000, this data may not be entirely representative of his overall output.

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Given the right display environment, I think one of these constructions would hold an entire wall with ease, and would age well without looking dated. The challenge is that work like this doesn't interact particularly well with mainstream vintage or contemporary photography; the visual contrasts are just too great. As such, these works will I think be a better fit for contemporary art collectors interested in optical geometries (and with modern houses) or for photography collectors who have a special interest in conceptual or abstract photography.

Rating: * (one star) GOOD (rating system described here)

Transit Hub:

• Colour Chart @ Tate Liverpool, 2009 (here)
• Review: NY Times, 1987 Guggenheim show (here)

Jan Dibbets, New Horizons

Through March 13th

Gladstone Gallery

515 West 24th Street

New York, NY 10011

Sharon Lockhart, Lunch Break @Gladstone

JTF (just the facts): A total of 11 photographic works (made up of 18 prints) and 1 video, framed in black with no mat, and hung in a series of 5 chopped up gallery spaces (reception, main, project, back and corridor), including a darkened viewing room. The photographs on view can be organized into three groups:

• Lunch box still lifes: There are 5 still life works, each consisting of 2 or 3 chromogenic prints. Each individual print is 24x30, and all of the images were made in 2008. The works are titled by the owner's name and job function. No information about edition sizes was readily available.
• Snack shops: There are 5 images of worker-run snack shops. All of the photographs are 40x50 chromogenic prints, made in 2008.
• Workers eating: There is one larger image of workers eating at a metal picnic table. This photograph is a 48x68 chromogenic print from 2008.

The video, entitled Lunch Break, is 83 minutes long, from 2008. (Installation shots at right.)

Comments/Context: In our fast paced, attention starved world, Sharon Lockhart's films and photographs are a remarkable example of what is to be discovered when even the most mundane of subjects is given in-depth consideration and acute study. In these works, Lockhart has meticulously observed the daily routines at the Bath Ironworks in Maine, capturing the minute human details and overlooked nuances of a wearying life of labor.

The cornerstone of this exhibit is the film, Lunch Break, where the camera moves at an agonizingly slow pace down a long, narrow passageway, lined with aging metal lockers and benches, surrounded by the ambient hum and growl of the machines. Workers sit alone or in pairs, quietly eating, reading a book, or talking. The relentless closing in of the camera is so drawn out that each and every tiny movement is given full attention; if you think you've ever really watched someone eat a sandwich, think again - in this film, the action is so deliberate that every gesture and fidget is highlighted. The effect is meditative, but also sadly melancholy; even though these people have found small moments of personal time, their feelings of isolation, boredom, repetition, and fatigue are palpable.

The still photographs on display in the exhibit take these themes and expand them in varying directions. Still life images of the workers' lunch containers have been taken in an objective commercial fashion; the battered metal pails, dirty picnic baskets, and plastic personal coolers sit against blank backgrounds, often opened up to display the contents. Each is a small vignette of a single life: the decorative stickers, a sandwich in tinfoil, a pack of cigarettes, bottles of medications, newspapers, they all tell the story of a unique person, toiling in obscurity in this factory. A second group of photographs depicts the improvised snack carts and coffee stands run by the employees. Friendly hand lettered signs announce Dirty Don's Delicious Dogs or John's Java Hut, with candy and donuts arrayed on battered tables and folding work benches, unruly wires trailing down from the ceiling; each is a small attempt to make this monotonous place more personal. A final image of a group of workers clustered around a metal lunch table tells the hidden stories of subtle social relationships, hierarchies and connections amidst what appears (from the outside) to be one large, uniform group of faceless workers.

Overall, although the work has a conceptual bent, Lockhart finds a way to inject a feeling of anthropological fascination and genuine concern into a dreary and depressing subject, uncovering surprisingly poignant moments of humanity in the everyday rituals and objects of ordinary people.

Collector's POV: Although I didn't get a look at an actual detailed price list, I was told the works in this show ranged in price between $9000 and $30000; I'm not sure if that spectrum that includes the video itself. Lockhart's photographs have been intermittently available in the secondary markets in the past five years or so, selling between $5000 and $35000. Blum & Poe is her West coast representative, and recently had an exhibition of this same body of work (here).

Rating: * (one star) GOOD (rating system described here)

Transit Hub:

• Reviews: Artforum (here), Artslant (here)

Sharon Lockhart, Lunch Break
Through January 30th

Gladstone Gallery

515 West 24th Street

New York, NY 10011

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ADMINISTRATIVE NOTE: There will be no posts on Monday, due to the MLK holiday in the US. Back Tuesday.