Anne Collier @Kern

JTF (just the facts): A total of 19 photographs, framed in white with no mat, and hung in the main gallery space and the smaller back room. All of the works are c-prints, made in 2011 or 2012. In the main gallery, physical dimensions range from roughly 47x61 to 51x72; in the back room, all of the prints are 29x24 (or reverse), with one exception at 49x40. No edition size information was provided on the checklist. (Installation shots at right.)

Comments/Context: Anne Collier's fascination with the conceptual underpinnings of photographic ephemera continues to be a rich vein for artistic exploration. Her recent work furthers her accumulation of paper-based cast-offs and found objects related to photography (record covers, books, calendars, magazines, postcards, and other items of less obvious categorization), which are then given antiseptic still life treatment in pure white surroundings. Her approach focuses our attention on these artifacts, and the cultural tendencies they indirectly represent.

While there are plenty of decontextualized nudes on view in the main room here, the most striking are those that were originally from camera ads. Product shots of cameras and text blurbs float in front of a casually posed black and white nude, artfully placed to partially conceal (or highlight) areas of attention. In another, entitled Caravaggio by Nikon, a nude woman emerges from a darkened background, covered by something approximating a hand towel. When placed in this pristine contemporary setting, their datedness is both absurd and revealing.

The postcard still lifes in the back room work their target viewers in a different way. Instead of using shapely nudes to attract men, cameras and light meters are placed amidst other accoutrements of high living: scotch, cigars, driving gloves, sunglasses, maps (and a globe), flowers, ties, and photo albums. These works almost look like Outerbridge still lifes, with their bold nostalgic colors. Their message that a camera is a must-have accessory for the well turned out man is clear. And once again, their outmoded details make them quirky evidence of changing attitudes.

Collier's detached, commercial photography approach to documenting these items adds a layer of increased scrutiny, beyond what an exhibit of the original materials would have provided. Her isolation makes the objects and their inherent worldviews more visible, sharpening our ability to see them for what they are and to consider how much has changed (or not) in the intervening years.
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Collector's POV: The prints in this show are priced as follows. The larger prints in the  room are $18000 each. The smaller prints in the back room are $11000 each, with the larger image in the back at $16000. Collier's work has only just begun to find its way into the secondary markets, but there have been too few sales to chart any kind of reliable price history. As such, gallery retail is still likely the best option for interested collectors.

 

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

 

Transit Hub:

• Reviews/Features: Interview (here), Frieze (here)

Anne Collier
Through May 12th

Anton Kern Gallery
532 West 20th Street
New York, NY 10011

High Line Billboard: Anne Collier

JTF (just the facts): A single billboard, 25x75 feet, displayed at the corner of 18th Street and 10th Avenue in Chelsea. The work is entitled Developing Tray #2 and is print on vinyl, from 2009.
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Comments/Context: The High Line Billboard series is turning out to be much more intriguing than I might have thought at the outset. The parameters of the billboard make for unexpected experimentation with monumental scale, and its location allows for contextual relationships that are wholly different from a gallery setting.

In this second iteration of the series, one of Anne Collier's recent developing tray images is blown up and left drifting in an expanse of wide, thick blackness. On the white walls of a gallery and at normal scale, this image (it's the artist's eye) would be much more intimate and personal, and the whole process centric theme of the emerging image floating in the tray would be more at the forefront of engaging with the work. But on this massive scale, and in the context of the bustling city around it, the work is transformed into a penetrating, disconcerting, Orwellian gaze. It's as though she's peering through the knothole of the tray out into our diorama world.
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Collector's POV: This commissioned work was not overtly for sale, nor are there many comparables in terms of scale in recent auction history. Collier is represented in New York by Anton Kern Gallery (here).
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Rating: * (one star) GOOD (rating system described here)
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Transit Hub:

• Review: Societe Perrier (here)

Anne Collier
Through February 29th

High Line
Billboard at 18th Street and 10th Avenue

Nobuyoshi Araki @Kern

JTF (just the facts): A total of 305 black and white prints from three different projects, displayed in the main gallery space. Ginza (1963-1972) is comprised of 212 prints, each 14x17 or reverse, pinned directly to the wall, shown in three large grids. Subway (1963-1972) includes 80 prints, each 8x10, pinned behind plexiglass but not framed, arrayed in small series and groups along one wall. Untitled (1970) is made up of 13 small prints (5 1/2x4 1/2), framed in brown and lined up on an interior wall. (Installation shots at right: Ginza, top, Subway, middle, Untitled, bottom.)

Comments/Context: Japanese photographer Nobuyoshi Araki has been making provocative and challenging pictures for nearly 40 years. His erotic nudes and bondage photographs, along with his sensual painted flowers, have often been called shocking and outrageous, sometimes even pornographic. He is one of the most productive and prolific photographers of all time, producing literally hundreds of books of his tantalizing work.

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The exhibit of Araki's work currently on view at Anton Kern goes back to the beginning of his career and examines some of his first projects from the 1960s and 1970s, before he fully embraced his mature style. Here we find him shooting roll after roll on the streets and in the subways, testing framing techniques and camera angles. The Ginza series, taken on the streets of the fashionable shopping district, are mostly contrasty head shots and tight close ups, dark and indirect. He captures his subjects in both traditional and Western dress, with a sense of style that is reminiscent of William Klein. There are plenty of shadows, but these streets are not gritty, they are glamorous. And while not every shot is a winner on its own, as a group, the images show an evolving working style and energetic eye, telling a well rounded story of this particular place and its people.

In the Subway pictures, Araki follows in the footsteps of Walker Evans, shooting multiple frames of bored travelers and commuting salary men riding the crowded trains. These pictures have more narrative to them, displayed in groups of several images, allowing the viewer to watch a scene unfold over a short time window. The Untitled images show us the beginnings of Araki's more erotic vision. In these pictures, the same thin framed woman, with an oval face and big round eyes reminiscent of an anime character, is photographed in various nude poses, from demure to direct.

This exhibit broke many of my preconceived notions and pigeon holes for Araki's work and made a compelling argument that his talents are much broader than generally perceived. Even if you are not a fan of Araki's more recognizable images, this is a well constructed show that brings forth some thought provoking historical precedents for his later work.

The artist's website (in Japanese) can be found here.

Collector's POV: The Ginza images in the show are contemporary prints, retailing for $4400 each. The Subway series images are also contemporary prints and are $2800 each, sold individually and/or in groups of up to 8. The Untitled images are unique prints, $3300 each. Given that Araki has been so prolific, his work is readily available in a variety of secondary markets. At auction, his larger works are generally selling for under $10000, most for less than $5000. We have even seen Araki's one off Polaroids of nudes and flowers on EBay, going for under $500. Many of his books have become collector's items as well, fetching $1000 and up for the rarer titles. For our particular collection, we have been tempted to put together a small grid of Araki's painted flowers, especially those in wild colors.

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

Araki

Through February 7

Anton Kern Gallery

532 West 20th Street

New York, NY 10011

More Araki at Modern Art Obsession here.