Ulrich Gebert, The Negotiated Order @Winkleman

JTF (just the facts): A total of 13 photographic works hung unframed in the entry and the main gallery space. All of the works are gelatin silver prints mounted to Dibond, with cardboard, MDF, wallpaper, lacquer and/or linen, and were made in 2012. Physical dimensions range from 9x11 to 23x15, and each work is available in an edition of 3+1AP. (Installation shots at right.)

Comments/Context: Ulrich Gebert's newest works continue his conceptual exploration of the human urge to order the natural world, once again using our relationship with animals as the basis for investigating our controlling behavior. In his previous series, Life Among Beasts, he used appropriated images of humans interacting with domesticated animals to highlight the weirdly disturbing way we touch and handle these creatures. In these new works, he once again returns to archival and found imagery, this time deftly removing the animals, leaving the humans in strange one-sided exchanges and conversations.

While a trainer holding a hoop for a jumping dog or using a fish to entice a seal to do tricks in the air might seem like ordinary events, when the animal is erased, the narrative is interrupted and left unresolved, the human stuck in a kind of awkward, surreal pantomime. People call and pet invisible dogs, feed invisible horses, and stand back apprehensively, with sticks and whips at the ready for who knows what kind of invisible animals. Our gestures in this absence are disorienting, oddly formal, and often completely ridiculous. Instead of matting and framing these manipulated black and white photographs in a traditional manner (which would have made them look like a 1970s conceptual throwback), Gebert has embedded the photographs in off center rectangular canvases, which have been painted in muted colors. The effect is to make the works feel more like objects, reducing their tendency to seem like inexplicable documentary evidence.

The best of the images in this show avoid the trap of the obvious visual one-liner and leave us with something more open ended and uneasy. Gebert's sleight of hand has removed the certainty in our interactions with these animals, leaving behind a unsettling sense of not knowing what might happen next.
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Collector's POV: The works in this show are priced at either $2800 or $3300 each, based on size. Gebert's work is not yet available in the secondary markets, so gallery retail is likely the only option for interested collectors at this point.

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

Transit Hub:

• Review: TimeOut New York (here)

Ulrich Gebert, The Negotiated Order
Through June 30th

Winkleman Gallery
621 West 27th Street
New York, NY 10001

Sigrid Viir @Winkleman

JTF (just the facts): A total of 4 color photographs, shown in custom wood frames and unmatted, and displayed against white walls in the small back room (the Curatorial Research Lab). All of the works are pigment prints, made in either 2009 or 2011. Physical dimensions of the prints range from 9x14 to 23x28 (or reverse), and the works are available in editions of 5+1AP. (Installation shots at right.)

Comments/Context: Estonian photographer Sigrid Viir's exploration of the intersection of photography and sculpture goes a step beyond the now commonplace practice of building something to be photographed. While she does indeed construct and make pictures of elaborate installations of everyday objects, she brings her images into the realm of the three dimensional by displaying them in angular wood frames that stand on thin pedestals, roll on wheels, and drop down from high on the walls. It's a double layer of sculptural thinking, entirely upending our expectations for how we are supposed to interact with a photograph.

Inside Viir's photographs, objects are piled into dense interlocking forms, with an eye for simple geometries and color interactions. The jutting legs of overturned tables are balanced by the roundness of two white teacups, while an upended leather couch is decorated with silver chairs, yellow plastic bins, and doilies, creating the hint of an anthropomorphic face. Other constructions recall the odd precariousness of Fischli and Weiss, with stacks of glassware and eggs built up in towers and a white folding chair embellished with blue plastic bags filled with air, a green colander, a shiny silver pot lid, and a yellow sponge.

What I found new and exciting though was Viir's sculptural framing. Suddenly, these photographs become objects that take up space, that need to be navigated around. Images are high and low, out and in, forcing an entirely different path through the tiny gallery space. With the work on wheels, there is even the potential for motion, or at least reconfiguration. I liked the crowded physicality of the works, they drew me in and forced me to consider not only the constructions in the photographs, but the larger construction going on in the room. These ideas were thoughtfully and elegantly nested rather than gimmicky, and I came away impressed by the potential of this approach to smartly extend the definition of photography away from the flat surface of the wall and into the open air of the space in between.

Collector's POV: The works in this show are priced at $2500 each. Viir's work has not yet found its way to the secondary markets, so gallery retail is likely the only option for interested collectors at this point.

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

Transit Hub:

• Pulse Prize, 2012 (here)

Sigrid Viir
Through June 30th

Winkleman Gallery
621 West 27th Street
New York, NY 10001

American ReConstruction @Winkleman

JTF (just the facts): A group show containing 24 works from 6 different photographers, variously framed and matted, and hung in the entry and main gallery spaces. The show was organized by collector Michael Hoeh, who writes the Modern Art Obsession blog (here). (Installation shots at right.)

The following photographers have been included in the exhibit, with the details of the works on view to follow:

• Matthew Albanese: 3 c-prints on plexi, unframed, sized either 20x30, 40x21, or 50x33, in editions of 10+2 or 5+2, made in 2009/2010.
• Jowhara AlSaud: 3 c-41 prints, mounted but unframed, either 30x40 or 50x60, in editions of 5+3 and 5+2 respectively, made in 2009.
• Jeremy Kost: 3 Polaroid collages, framed in white with no mat, ranging in size from 17x23 to 25x50, each unique, made in 2010.
• Mark Lyon: 4 archival pigment prints mounted to poly metal, framed in white with no mat, ranging in size from 36x23 to 36x54, in editions of 8+3 or 8+2, made in 2009/2010.
• Curtis Mann: 7 works made of synthetic polymer on bleached chromogenic prints, framed in white with no mat, each 19x23, each unique, made in 2010.
• Cara Phillips: A total of 4 works from two different projects. 2 of the works are digital c-prints mounted on cintra, framed in white with no mat, 30x38 or reverse, in editions of 5+1, made in 2006 and 2010. The other 2 works are gelatin silver prints, framed in black with no mat, each 30x24, in editions of 5+1, made in 2010.

Comments/Context: The abstract idea of constructing something - a truth, an identity, an environment, or a picture - has become an entire subculture of 21st century art and life. We're constantly building - walls, facades, worlds - recreating and seeing ourselves in ways that go beyond the simple outward appearance. We've been given the tools to remake ourselves and our surroundings, and we're busy doing it in a myriad of ways. This smart collection of new photography comes at this rather broad concept from a variety of angles, weaving disparate ideas and bodies of work back into a more complex fabric of current photographic practice.

The "constructions" in this show span both the literal and the figurative. Matthew Albanese's spewing volcanoes, angry tornadoes, and broken ice sheets are actually carefully built tabletop models, photographed in a way that mixes the appearance of truth and the obvious details of artifice. Curtis Mann's works are also deeply rooted in process; he takes images found on the Internet (in this case of the Golan Heights), and subjects them to bleaching, which alternately leaves parts of the picture visible and obscure. These particular works have been folded, creating elegant mirror image blobs and smears, allowing us to glimpse only portions of the underlying story.

Other works delve into the "construction" of self and personality. Jowhara AlSaud uses a darkroom process to eliminate the faces of her subjects, replacing them with large etched line drawings, soberly commenting on the practice of censorship (and how it affects the development of individuality) in Saudi Arabia. Cara Phillips comes at this same idea of creating an identity via her images of creepy plastic surgery offices (trying to change the surface appearance) and her unsettling ultraviolet portraits (uncovering what lies beneath the skin).

Jeremy Kost's collaged portraits of drag queens and young men have many layers of staging and construction: the staging of the scenes, the creating of new identities, and the Cubist layering of pictures reminiscent of David Hockney's photographic collages from the 1980s. And Mark Lyon's photographs of unlikely places covered by landscape mural wallpapers get at our desire to remake spaces in ways that mask their actual use; brightly colored outdoor scenes are oddly juxtaposed with the trappings of a nail salon, a laundromat, and a YMCA exercise room.

To my eye, the works by Curtis Mann, Mark Lyon and UV portraits by Cara Phillips are the most memorable and original of those on view. The others certainly fit the thematic structure of the show and interconnect tightly in terms of extrapolating on the main organizational idea, but impressed me less in terms of their ultimate durability. By design, group shows are supposed to bring together disparate works and provide alternate perspectives, nearly always leaving viewers with a sense of unevenness based on their own preferences. As such, I found this show to be thoughtfully organized and well "constructed", but naturally somewhat mixed in terms of the spread of likely longevity.

Collector's POV: The prices for the various works in the show are as follows, organized by photographer:

• Matthew Albanese: $1000, $1300 or $2000, based on size
• Jowhara AlSaud: $3500 or $6800, based on size
• Jeremy Kost: $3750, $4500, or $8000, based on size
• Mark Lyon: $1200, $1700, or $1800, based on size
• Curtis Mann: each $3000 (and most already sold)
• Cara Phillips: $2800 or $2900

None of these photographers has any secondary market history to date, so gallery retail will be the only option for interested collectors at this point. Curtis Mann was also included in the Whitney Biennial 2010 (here), and seems to be on a bit of a hot streak.

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

Transit Hub:

• Review: Conscientious (here)
• Matthew Albanese artist site (here)
• Jowhara AlSaud artist site (here)
• Jeremy Kost artist site (here)
• Mark Lyon artist site (here)
• Curtis Mann artist site (here)
• Cara Phillips artist site (here)

American ReConstruction: An exhibition of new photography
Through June 12th

Winkleman Gallery
621 West 27th Street
New York, NY 10001

Ulrich Gebert, This Much Is Certain @Winkleman

JTF (just the facts): A total of 9 works, both color and black and white, hung in the reception and main gallery spaces. 3 of the works are from the Typus series and consist of groups of c-prints (either 5, 6, or 7 individual prints) framed in brown and not matted, and hung in tight groups that each measure 67x59. Each group of prints is also accompanied by a printed list of scientific names. These works are made in editions of 3+1, and were taken in 2005. 3 additional works come from the Life among beasts series and consist of gelatin silver prints mounted to aluminum (2, 3, or 4 prints) hung together without frames. The works vary in size from 36x40 to 58x65, are made in editions of 3+1, and were taken in 2009. The final 3 images are all single gelatin silver prints mounted to aluminum and not framed, ranging in size from 13x12 to 24x17. These prints are made in editions of 5+1, and were taken in 2009. (Installation shots at right.)

Comments/Context: When the title "conceptual photographer" is overtly bestowed upon someone, as a collector, I read this as secret code for "in this case, the actual pictures don't matter at all; it is the ideas that underlie them that I should be concerned with". While one might conclude that all conceptual photography will therefore be cerebral, intellectual, and oftentimes indecipherable, in my experience, conceptual photography can also be quite witty and subversive, assuming you get the inside jokes. But when the word "German" is added in front of the term "conceptual photographer", it's hard not to think of the serious deadpan objectivity of the Bechers.

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It is with these biases that I visited this show by the German conceptual photographer Ulrich Gebert. Both of the bodies of work on display are generally concerned with idea of man's desire to control nature. In the Typus series, Gebert has gone to botanical gardens and made straightforward color images of a wide variety of coniferous trees and shrubs (the pictures themselves are reminiscent of a natural history field guide). The conceptual twist is that all of these species have disputed scientific names: over time, they all have been "discovered" or named by more than one person, with one Latin name eventually becoming the dominant or "right" name. A printed sheet that accompanies the images (the "List of Invalid Names") details the "before" and "after" names of these plants. While the press release text ties these images to racism and the "totalitarian categorizations of humans", I have to admit I didn't really see that connection. What I saw was the obsessive human instinct toward control and order, the self-centered taxonimization of the environment around us, in the face of the mute indifference of the natural world (which really doesn't care what we call things).

The Life among beasts series is altogether more unsettling. In these images, Gebert has taken appropriated photos of humans interacting with domesticated animals (many of them dated veterinary shots I would guess), cropped them down to fragments, and blown them up to a size that exposes the halftone printing dots. Animals of various kinds (horses, pigs, even a possum) are poked, prodded, groped, fondled and handled in a weirdly disturbing way. Hung in combinations and groups, the concept of man doing what he wants with the natural world comes through powerfully, and is more than a little ridiculous and creepy.

All in, the show delivers what was promised: a thought-provoking and sometimes quirky use of photography to explore deeper ideas and hidden truths.

Collector's POV: The works in this show are priced as follows. The Typus groups are 6500€ each, regardless of the number of prints included. The Life among beasts groups are 3200€, 4800€, and 5500€, based on overall size. The smaller single image prints are 400€, 500€, and 850€ . Gebert's work does not seem to have found its way to the secondary markets yet, 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)

Transit Hub:

• Review: Village Voice (here)
• Article: Foam (here)

Ulrich Gebert, This Much Is Certain

Through February 13th

Winkleman Gallery

621 West 27th Street

New York, NY 10001