Under My Skin - Nudes in Contemporary Photography @Flowers

JTF (just the facts): A group show containing a total of 24 photographic works by 23 artists/photographers, variously framed and matted, and hung against white walls in a series of three connected gallery spaces. Nearly all of the works were made in 2007 or later. The show was curated by Mona Kuhn. (Installation shots at right.)
 

The following artists/photographers were included in the show, with the number of prints on view and image details as background. The works of 3 of the artists/photographers originally planned for the exhibit were not on view:

• Adou: 2 gelatin silver prints, 13x16, edition of 10, 2011
• Jeff Bark: 1 digital color print, 33x41, edition of 8, 2007
• Polly Borland: 1 giclee print on German etch paper with felt, 27x20, edition of 15, 2009
• Christopher Bucklow: 1 cibachrome print, 40x60, unique, 2012
• Ana Casas Broda: 1 c-print, 24x36, edition of 5, 2010
• David Dawson: not on view
• Maciek Jasik: 1 giclee print, 30x24, edition of 6, 2012
• Sarah Anne Johnson: 1 pigment print with acrylic inks, 30x20, edition of 3, 2013
• Nadav Kander: 1 chromogenic print, 36x47, edition of 6, 2010
• Kim Joon: 1 digital print, 87x44, edition of 5, 2007
• Bear Kirkpatrick: 1 archival inkjet print, 34x28, edition of 8, 2010
• Mona Kuhn: 1 chromogenic print, 30x30, edition of 8, 2012
• Justine Kurland: 1 c-print, 30x40, edition of 6, 2007
• Christophe Kutner: 1 color pigment print on fiber paper, 24x30, edition of 20, 2009
• Deana Lawson: 1 pigmented inkjet print, 36x34, no edition information, 2007 
• Malerie Marder: not on view
• Geir Moseid: not on view
• Mariah Robertson: 1 print, 11x14, unique, 2009
• Jenny Saville/Glen Luchford: 1 chromogenic print, 40x31, no edition information, 1995-1996
• Collier Schorr: 1 collage, 48x43, edition of 2, 2007
• Alec Soth: 1 archival pigment print, 30x40, edition of 10, 2011
• Bill Sullivan: 2 c-prints, 28x21, edition of 3, 2010
• Esther Teichmann: 1 fiber based print hand tinted with inks, 20x24, edition of 3, 2013
• Spencer Tunick: 1 c-print sealed between plexiglas, 30x38, edition of 6, 2009
• Shen Wei: 1 chromogenic print, 30x45, edition of 3, 2011

Comments/Context: Summer group shows have never been a favorite of mine (recall a 2009 diatribe on the subject here), so I am always pleasantly surprised to run across one that actually merits some attention. This show eschews the tired "one each from the gallery stable" formula and instead takes stock of a classic genre: the photographic nude. Curated by Mona Kuhn (herself a successful photographer of nudes), the exhibit brings together a broad sampler of contemporary nudes, charting how artists are handling the aesthetic challenges of such a traditional form. It's a vibrant, uneven bunch of known and unknown names, proving that innovative experimentation is still very much taking place.

 

At its essence, the classical nude has always been about line and form, about the elegant shapes the unadorned human body (male or female) makes when seen from different angles. Even in its contemporary form, this concept still holds true for many artists. Nadav Kander's white on black nude makes the ample curves of his model look like polished marble, while Jenny Saville and Glen Luchford use glass to flatten out the female form into a fleshy distortion. Christopher Bucklow directs light through tiny holes to create nude silhouettes, while Mona Kuhn contributes warm palm tree reflections to her standing nude. The bending legs and folded arms of Sarah Anne Johnson's female nude echo a familiar Weston, aside from the tattoo covered limbs and the hand painted clown nose and ruffled collar which undermine its seriousness; Polly Borland works in a similar manner, starting with a body that is all linear arms and legs and adding on red felt dots over the eyes.

 

The added effects of Johnson and Borland point to a further investigation of process and materials in the context of nude subject matter. Mariah Robertson uses nudes forms in her expressionistic color photograms, while Kim Joon turns the nude into body art by painting intricate patterns across the flesh of his subjects. Esther Tecihmann adds gestural overpainted color, while Bill Sullivan allows the pixelation of a rephotographed TV screen to obscure his nudes. In each case, there is a sense of starting with the standard form but pushing the subject beyond its normal boundaries via non-standard interventions and mediations.

 

Many of the other works in this show follow a more narrative strain of nude making, where the naked bodies have more context and plausible storyline. This approach ranges from the personal (Shen Wei, Deanna Lawson, Collier Schorr) to the allegorical (Justine Kurland, Jeff Bark, Bear Kirkpatrick), where introspection and intimacy are exchanged for staged scenes and posed groupings. Alec Soth's nude bends over to pick something up in her scraggly suburban back yard, while kids draw all over their mother with markers in Ana Casa Broda's playroom nude, and puzzling narrative scenarios like these turn more exaggerated, surreal and performative in the hands of Adou and Spencer Tunick. Across this diversity of work, the common thread is the vulnerability of the primal human form, where a naked body stands out in an unexpected place. 

While this show generally leaves out the male nude, the fashion nude, and the more aggressive, risk taking gender studies, I think Kuhn has done a solid job of taking the pulse of the contemporary photographic nude and providing a sampler of some of the vitality in the genre. It's proof positive that even in categories where we might assume we've seen it all before, there is still plenty of white space for original thinking.

Collector's POV: The prints in this show are priced as follows:

• Adou: $2500 each
• Jeff Bark: $14000
• Polly Borland: $2800
• Christopher Bucklow: $18000
• Ana Casas Broda: $5100
• David Dawson: not on view
• Maciek Jasik: $3500
• Sarah Anne Johnson: $10300
• Nadav Kander: $12400
• Kim Joon: $27000
• Bear Kirkpatrick: $2800
• Mona Kuhn: $11000
• Justine Kurland: $8500
• Christophe Kutner: $1500
• Deana Lawson: POA
• Malerie Marder: not on view
• Geir Moseid: not on view
• Mariah Robertson: $3500
• Jenny Saville/Glen Luchford: NFS
• Collier Schorr: $24000
• Alec Soth: $12730
• Bill Sullivan: $3500 each
• Esther Teichmann: $4500
• Spencer Tunick: $8400
• Shen Wei: $3900

In terms of secondary market history, this show contains a wide sweep of artists/photographers, from those with well established track records (Saville/Luchford, Soth, Bucklow, Tunick et al) to those whose work has recently entered the secondary markets or has little or no action history at all. For those collectors interested in following up, gallery retail likely remains the best option for many of these photographers.

 

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

 

Transit Hub:

• Features/Reviews: New York The Cut (here)
• Interview: Le Journal de la Photographie (here)

 

Under My Skin - Nudes in Contemporary Photography

Through July 27th

 

Flowers Gallery

529 West 20th Street

New York, NY 10011

Shen Wei, I Miss You Already @Cooney

JTF (just the facts): A total of 10 large scale color photographs, framed in black and unmatted, and hung in the divided gallery space. All of the works are digital chromogenic prints, made between 2009 and 2012. The prints come in two sizes: 20x30 (in editions of 5) and 30x45 (in editions of 3). The show includes 4 pictures in the smaller size and 6 in the larger size. (Installation shots at right.)

 

Comments/Context: Given that there aren't many male nudes in contemporary Chinese photography, Shen Wei's new self-portraits could certainly be called cultural outliers. His documents of self expression follow the path of the calm and the understated rather than the overtly provocative or the knowingly political, tracing an inward-looking personal exploration with remarkably restrained sensitivity. There is still, of course, tension in these pictures, but it is reserved and quiet, open but uncertain.

Most of Shen's images play with the angles of his body: bent knees on a window sill, an arched back bend, a straight leg interrupting a table top still life, a triangular elbow propping up his head. His graceful stance in a submerged boat, using his outstretched leg to make concentric ripples in the light dappled water reminded me of Thomas Eakins. A few others offer complex, unknowable situations and interactions: a hand on his neck that might be either a caress or a choke, a bedside scene flanked by a nude woman and a sprawled man that offers any number of possible explanations. Shadows engulf many of the photographs, drawing our attention to the central figure in the light and adding a layer of introspective melancholy.

The best of these photographs left me impressed with Shen's growing compositional talents. When the pictures work, he successfully walks the line between realism and lyricism, all within the context of something genuinely personal.

 

Collector's POV: The prints in this exhibit are priced in ratcheting editions, as follows: the 20x30 prints start at $2500 each and the 30x45 prints start at $3500 each (one print in this size had already reached $4500). Shen's work has very little secondary market history, so gallery retail is still likely the best option for those collectors interested in following up.

 

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

 

Transit Hub:

• Artist site (here)
• Review: New Yorker (here)

Shen Wei, I Miss You Already

Through October 27th

 

Daniel Cooney Fine Art

508 West 26th Street (new location)

New York, NY 10001

Moveable Feast: Fresh Produce and the NYC Green Cart Program @MCNY

JTF (just the facts): A group show containing 112 black and white and color images from 5 different contemporary photographers, variously framed and matted, and hung in the entry and main divided gallery space on the first floor. An introductory room containing 19 vintage works from 12 different photographers/artists begins the exhibit and provides some historical context. The new work was commissioned by the NYC Green Cart Program, the Aperture Foundation, and the Laurie M. Tisch Illumination Fund. Newspaper style brochures of the work of each of the 5 main photographers are available for free in the galleries; these are high qaulity and worth taking. (Installation shots at right.)
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The following photographers are included in the main exhibit, with the number of images on view and details in parentheses:
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LaToya Ruby Frazier (6 archival pigment prints, 10 gelatin silver prints, 2009/2010)

Thomas Holton (19 chromogenic prints, 2009/2010)

Shen Wei (8 archival pigment prints, 2010)

Gabriele Stabile (48 chromogenic prints, 1 journal, 2010)

Will Steacy (21 archival pigment prints, 2010)
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The introductory room contains vintage material from the following photographers, with the number of images on view and dates in parentheses:
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Berenice Abbott (2, 1936/1938)

John Albok (1, 1935)

Byron Company (3, 1899/1900)

Nicolino Calyo (3 watercolors)

Ronald Dubin (1, 1947)

Alta Ruth Hahn (2, 1935)

Susan Lorkidkatz (1, 1978)

Edward Martin (2, 1997/1998)

Roy Perry (1, 1940)

Jacob Riis (1, 1895)

Anne Shanks (1, 1955)

Dan Weiner (1, 1951)
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Comments/Context: On the surface, the idea of commissioning five contemporary photographers to take pictures of the sidewalk produce carts in New York city might seem like a project doomed to obscurity, mostly by its inherent narrowness - how many different ways are there, really, to make images of fruit and vegetable vendors? What is astonishing about this show is just how varied the approaches ended up being, and how compelling these stories actually are, especially when seen together as facets of the same whole.
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Of the five bodies of work on view, I found Will Steacy's photographs to be the most haunting, even though there isn't a single produce cart in any of his images. Steacy took the unorthodox approach of making pictures of the environment in which the green carts reside, picking a single location in the Bronx, and then documenting the food options within a roughly 10 block radius of the cart. The result is a contextual map of the neighborhood, with a parade of dismal fast food, from pizza to burgers, deli sandwiches to Mexican, all cheap and easily accessible, and often discarded on the sidewalk. It's a powerful, sometimes ugly, portrait of the problem the green carts are trying to solve.
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Shen Wei also came at the green cart commission from an unexpected angle. His images are elegant still lifes of the food that came from the carts, laid out in pure light on white tablecloths (almost with a nod to Laura Letinsky). The effect is simple and quiet, where watermelons and bananas become sculptural, often still adorned by stickers or packing boxes.
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Gabriele Stabile and Thomas Holton looked beyond the carts to the customers and vendors themselves. Both got to know the people involved, tracking them to their homes, seeing how their lives have been impacted by the buying and selling of fresh produce. Stabile's images are full of family meals, where shopping and cooking are preludes and processes. Holton spent his time with two Bangladeshi vendors, following their struggles both at the cart and beyond.
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LaToya Ruby Frazier's images are more like traditional street photography than the work of any of the others. They capture the juxtaposition and connection of opposites and the mixing of different kinds of people on the city's sidewalks, catching patrons with a handful of fruit or vendors standing idly waiting for the next sale.
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Taken together, these different approaches create a surprisingly robust and multi-layered picture of the impact of these carts. This exhibit is far more nuanced and engaging than you would ever expect, finding subtleties of influence that spread out from the food to a wide range of lives and communities. The photography is consistently well executed, and the overall message is effective: while the battle may be uphill and the existing environment often hostile to their arrival, these produce carts really do work, in all kinds of less than obvious ways.
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Collector's POV: As this is a museum exhibit, there are no prices for these prints. The five main photographers in this show are represented by the following New York galleries:

• LaToya Ruby Frazier: Higher Pictures (here)
• Thomas Holton: Sasha Wolf Gallery (here)
• Shen Wei: Daniel Cooney Fine Art (here)
• Gabriele Stabile: unknown
• Will Steacy: Michael Mazzeo Gallery (here)

In general, their work has not found its way into the secondary markets much (if at all), so gallery retail is likely the only option for interested collectors at this point.
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Rating: * (one star) GOOD (rating system described here)
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Transit Hub:

• Review: New Yorker (here)
• LaToya Ruby Frazier artist site (here)
• Thomas Holton artist site (here)
• Shen Wei artist site (here)
• Gabriele Stabile artist site (here)
• Will Steacy artist site (here)

Moveable Feast: Fresh Produce and the NYC Green Cart Program

Through July 10th
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Museum of the City of New York

1220 Fifth Avenue

New York, NY 10029

Shen Wei, Chinese Sentiment @Cooney

JTF (just the facts): A total of 19 color photographs, unmatted and framed in black, and hung in the single room gallery space. All of the works are digital c-prints, taken between 2008 and 2010. The prints come in two sizes: 16x20 (in editions of 8) and 24x30 (in editions of 3). The show includes 17 pictures in the smaller size and 2 in the larger size. A monograph of this body of work has recently been published by Charles Lane Press (here). (Installation shots at right.)

Comments/Context: Shen Wei's recent images of China fly in the face of the now familiar energetic, economic boom narrative that dominates the our media-saturated view of the Eastern giant. Whether his subject is a landscape, a still life, or a portrait, his images have a consistent emotional tenor, a formal sense of solitary, introspective reserve. There are no pictures of overcrowded chaotic streets filled with noisy bicycles here; instead Shen provides a sense of melancholy distance, where small moments of uncertain peace occur in the muted tones of a grey morning.
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Shen's portraits capture his sitters alone in their rooms or in fleeting glimpses of thoughtful repose; they are at once intimate and unknowable, buried in private stillness. His landscapes find a similar mood: the enveloping mist of a fountain, the rain splattered surface of an ornamental pond, a single figure watching a red paddle boat disappear under a bridge, or the head of a ticket booth attendant in the dark of the early evening. Even his still lifes have a sense of dull ache: the gooey leftovers of a sugar candy stick, an unopened plastic bag of noodle soup on a window sill, or the box of fancy pears in protective sheaths bought for a special occasion. Seen together, the different compositional forms coalesce into an overall sensitivity to the subtle action on the periphery of life, an awareness of the shifts that happen just outside the norwal sweep of our gaze.
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Overall, I liked the sense of understatement and restraint that Shen shows across this body of work. He successfully holds back from courting the obvious, and instead, dives deeper for something more durable and resonant.

Collector's POV: The prints in this exhibit are priced as follows: the 16x20 prints are $1500 each and the 24x30 prints are $2500 each. Shen's work has effectively no secondary market history, so gallery retail is likely the only option for interested collectors at this point. 20x200 (here) also has some of his work for sale.
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My favorite image in the show was Tingwei, Shangahi, 2010; it's on the far left in the bottom installation shot and is also on the cover of the monograph. I like the quietly innocent, eyes-closed expression on her face and the way her hair spreads out on the long green grass; the image has a calm serenity, like the edge of a dream.

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

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Transit Hub:

• Artist site (here) and blog (here)
• Interview: Conscientious (here)

Shen Wei, Chinese Sentiment
Through June 4th

Daniel Cooney Fine Art
511 West 25th Street
New York, NY 10001