Andy Freeberg, Guardians @Meislin

JTF (just the facts): A total of 15 large scale color photographs, framed in white and unmatted, and hung against white walls in the divided gallery space. All of the works are archival pigment prints, made in 2008 and 2009. The prints are available in two sizes: 30x45 or reverse (in editions of 6) and 40x60 or reverse (in editions of 3). A monograph of this body of work was published in 2008 by Photolucida (here). (Installation shots at right.)

Comments/Context: In recent years, the trend toward academic art making might easily have led us to conclude that increasing conceptual complexity was a requirement for some measure of artistic success. And yet, this backdrop of pervasive, brainy seriousness makes the elegant simplicity of Andy Freeberg's Guardians project all the more remarkable. At first glance, a series of photographs of museum guards and the artwork they protect seems a unlikely winner. We can quickly imagine the probable look alikes, the tedious boredom, and the quirky juxtapositions, and the premise itself seems like the kind of one-liner heavy thing someone else has already done.

But the images in Freeberg's series go far beyond this obviousness. They ask us to step back and consider art in context, to see the treasures of Russia's finest museums not just as items to be checked off after consulting the wall label, but as objects that stand in relation to everything around them: the wall colors, the light, the moldings, the frames, the position and gestures of the guards, and the people themselves. The art he sees is in the entire environmental experience, the back and forth dialogue between the "center" and the overlooked surroundings. There is a conceptual kinship with the work of Louise Lawler here, but with a softer, more human touch.

Freeberg's visual echoes between the retired Russian women and the nearby artworks cover a wide swath of ground, from hair styles and facial features to poses and clothing color. A glass case of wide eyed mummy masks is flanked by an equally alert guard, while the jowled cheeks of a Malevich self-portrait are surprisingly similar to those of his protector. The patterned shawl of a guard sits underneath an equally swirling blue Matisse tablecloth, just as a striped shirt recalls the sculpted sideways drapery of a nearby ancient statue. And a modest, hands-clasped guard is a doppelganger for the nervous young girls before a country dance in a painting by Kugach, almost as though she was an extension of the painted scene herself. In every case, the pairings are done with an eye for detail and a respect for the dignity of the guards; they never degrade into overly clever jokes made at the expense of the sitters. In unexpected ways, the presence of the guards enhances the overall of seeing the art, highlighting aspects of the work we might have missed.

What's exciting about these pictures is that they use photography to force a recalibration of seeing. They are less about the amazing paintings and sculptures on display and more about the space around them, and the shifting relationships between people and the installations of art. They are a "hiding in plain sight" revelation, innocuously simple but consistently rich and thought provoking.

Collector's POV: The works in this show are priced based on size. The 30x45 prints are $6000 each and the 40x60 prints are $7500 each. Freeberg's work has not yet reached the secondary markets, so gallery retail remains the best/only option for those collectors interested in following up.

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

Transit Hub:

• Artist site (here)
• Features/Reviews: Slate Behold (here), American Photo (here), SF Gate (here)

Andy Freeberg, Guardians
Through March 2nd

Andrea Meislin Gallery
534 West 24th Street
New York, NY 10011

Barry Frydlender, Travelogue in Pictures @Meislin

JTF (just the facts): A total of 7 large scale color images, framed in blond wood and not matted, and hung in the main gallery space (with a dividing wall) and the back alcove. All of the works are chromogenic color prints, ranging in size from 39x93 to 47x112. The works were made between 2010 and 2011, and have been printed in editions of 5. (Installation shots at right.)

Comments/Context: With the proliferation of powerful digital tools, it seems like the composite panorama has become a photographic subgenre all its own. Starting with fragments from hundreds of individual images, a photographer then stitches these pieces into a single large tableaux, often with multiple stories occurring simultaneously. The result is a hyper-real instant, where detail is crisp from edge to edge, and where the documentary reality is subtly transformed into an interpretive scene.

Barry Frydlender has been assembling large scale photographic scenes for many years now, so his craft has reached a point where the illusion is pretty well seamless: time seems to stand still while multiple stories play out in different portions of the composition. From Paris to Tel Aviv and from London to Los Angeles, broad panoramas capture inadvertent juxtapositions and relationships of people, all intertwined in the clustered bustle of the city. And while the viewer can stand and unpack the separate narratives all in one place, I think we've now reached a place where this kind of master digital construction isn't enough anymore in and of itself.

What I found most interesting (and in some cases perplexing) in many of Frydlender's images is that he has quietly inserted a sense of upending time warp, where individual subjects can often be seen more than once in the large span of the image. This doppelganger effect is easy to miss if you don't look closely, but once you see it, it transforms the scenes from quasi-documentary stills into something altogether more original and radical. Time has been collapsed, and the single image now represents a more cinematic place, where individuals seem to traverse the surface of the image as they jump from one instance of themselves to the next. This technique unfreezes the fabricated moment and instead creates fluid motion, where past and present are interlinked.

For me, this idea of time-based seriality inside the framework of a single static image is quite exciting, as it updates the concept of the multiple exposure for the digital age; it also changes the nature of the traditional photographic narrative. This seems like fertile ground for unexpected ways of thinking, and I hope Frydlender will take this straightforward thought and expand it in new and challenging directions.

Collector's POV: All of the images in the show are priced at $75000 each, regardless of variations in size. Frydlender's work has very little secondary market history, with just a few lots coming up for sale in the past few years; prices have ranged between roughly $50000 and $70000. Given such sparse auction activity, gallery retail is likey the best option for interested collectors at this point.

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

Transit Hub:

• Review: Wall Street Journal (here)
• Exhibit: MoMA, 2007 (here)

Barry Frydlender, Travelogue in Pictures
Through June 18th

Andrea Meislin Gallery
526 West 26th Street
New York, NY 10001

Jed Fielding, Look at Me: Photographs from Mexico City @Andrea Meislin

JTF (just the facts): A total of 33 black and white images, framed in black and matted, hung in the reception/entry area and the main gallery space. All of the works are gelatin silver prints, 23x15 or reverse, printed in editions of 10. The images were taken between 1999 and 2005. (Installation shots at right.)

Comments/Context: When we think about the most successful photographic portraits made in the history of the medium, we often hear talk about how well the photographer and sitter worked together, how it was a collaborative exchange, and how there was trust and respect in both directions. Jed Fielding has explored the edges of these ideas in his new images of blind schoolchildren in Mexico; most specifically, what happens to the photographer/subject relationship if the subject is blind? And how does this alter the process of making an intimate and revealing portrait?

Irrespective of their lack of sight, Fielding's subjects are kids: laughing, playing, curious and energetic. I think a key difference is that their blindness has allowed the photographer to get up very close without creating a sense of discomfort or intrusion (the normal social boundaries are gone); he has been able to capture emotions and gestures that are often overlooked or quickly hidden if attention is being paid. The resulting pictures are consistently gentle and tender without being condescending; we've come a long way from Paul Strand's famous blind woman (here).

Another thing we viewers often forget is how much we look at people's eyes to get a sense for who they are. These children have unexpected blank stares, foggy white eyes covered in cataracts, giving them a strange, almost sinister feel, even though they are innocent kids. This surprising lack of connection creates real tension in the pictures, a mix of being uncomfortable and empathetic at the same time.

Fielding's pictures also bear the hallmarks of his ID teachers (Callahan, Siskind et al); there are plenty of dark shadows and formal compositions, printed with exquisite clarity and subtle tonalities. The excellent images taken through black fingers that partially obscure the lens (in the group at left in the top installation shot above) seem particularly reminiscent of the aesthetic conventions of the Chicago school.

Overall, this is a challenging and satisfying body of work, well worth a visit.

Collector's POV: All of the images in the show are priced at $4000. Fielding's work has no secondary market history, so gallery retail or direct from the artist will be the only options for acquiring the work in the short term.

I'm perhaps a bit embarrassed to admit that I hadn't really heard of Jed Fielding until I visited this show. And while the subject matter doesn't fit our collecting genres, I came away impressed with both the craftsmanship of the prints and the serious care with which the images were taken.

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

Transit Hub:

• Artist site (here)
• Look at Me book (here)
• Review: Chicago Maroon (here)
• 30 Years on the Street @Edelman, 2009 (here)

Jed Fielding, Look at Me: Photographs from Mexico City
Through October 17th

Andrea Meislin Gallery
526 West 26th Street
New York, NY 10001