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Stretching the Truth
John Michael Kohler Arts Center
608 New York Avenue
Sheboygan, WI. 920-458-6144
www.jmkac.org
Through May 3, 2008
Posted April 21, 2008. The manipulation of photographs is the theme of the
Kohler’s new large group exhibition. One has to wonder why this show fails to gel
like so many of the other JMKAC group shows. The Kohler specializes in tackling
thematic material. They do it extraordinarily well. But this show has no lift-off.
Most of the work tells us only one thing about contemporary photography and its
experiments with technology: There’s nothing too fresh happening in the field. But I
don’t think this is true. There are lots of interesting things happening. The Kohler
simply didn’t bring in the right work or establish a central dynamic for the show.
Pioneers in the field, such as Nic Nicosia, who has done staged photographs
since the early 1980s, and Lucas Samaras, who began altering Polaroid prints in
the 1970s, are represented with new work that looks like uninspired continuations
of their old work. Then there’s Young Min Kang, who now lives in Texas. His
enormous cut-up photo installation of a city scene is stupefying in its ambition but
not particularly engaging beyond the recognition of his process and ambition.
Some of the more memorable works in the show include a piece by Oliver
Herring, who lives in Brooklyn, and who might technically be called a sculptor.
Previous bodies of work involved knitting mylar into life-sized human sculptures.
He is represented here with a sculpture of an eagle created from cut of
photographs. The work is stunning in its exactitude and craftsmanship and it
makes a statement about the reality factor of photography, as he somewhat
desperately takes the photographs and tries to make them “more real” or three
dimensionally convincing as an object. At the other end of the scale, Texas artist
Allison Hunter seems to use technology to erase and reduce the impact of her
images. This is a rare aesthetic in this show, which is dominated by certain
“Baroque” tendencies to wield the technology assertively. Her quiet spaces where
sheep stand within empty vistas allow the viewer to contemplate where and how
the images have been altered, in a restrained way. Here, technology merges with
poetry, an uncommon coupling. Wisconsin’s Tom Bamberger also falls in the
‘reductive’ camp, using photo-shop to expand monotonous vistas and erase
irregularities so his images contain a quizzical evenness as they unspool. His
work holds up well around the corner from Hunter’s.
In general, the problem with this exhibition is perhaps not its lack of interesting
work, but its lack of clarity in the story it tries to tell. A narrower focus would have
helped. Still, it’s certainly worth the trip to Sheboygan.
Reviewed by Debra Brehmer.
John Michael Kohler Arts Center
608 New York Avenue
Sheboygan, WI. 920-458-6144
www.jmkac.org
Through May 3, 2008
Posted April 21, 2008. The manipulation of photographs is the theme of the
Kohler’s new large group exhibition. One has to wonder why this show fails to gel
like so many of the other JMKAC group shows. The Kohler specializes in tackling
thematic material. They do it extraordinarily well. But this show has no lift-off.
Most of the work tells us only one thing about contemporary photography and its
experiments with technology: There’s nothing too fresh happening in the field. But I
don’t think this is true. There are lots of interesting things happening. The Kohler
simply didn’t bring in the right work or establish a central dynamic for the show.
Pioneers in the field, such as Nic Nicosia, who has done staged photographs
since the early 1980s, and Lucas Samaras, who began altering Polaroid prints in
the 1970s, are represented with new work that looks like uninspired continuations
of their old work. Then there’s Young Min Kang, who now lives in Texas. His
enormous cut-up photo installation of a city scene is stupefying in its ambition but
not particularly engaging beyond the recognition of his process and ambition.
Some of the more memorable works in the show include a piece by Oliver
Herring, who lives in Brooklyn, and who might technically be called a sculptor.
Previous bodies of work involved knitting mylar into life-sized human sculptures.
He is represented here with a sculpture of an eagle created from cut of
photographs. The work is stunning in its exactitude and craftsmanship and it
makes a statement about the reality factor of photography, as he somewhat
desperately takes the photographs and tries to make them “more real” or three
dimensionally convincing as an object. At the other end of the scale, Texas artist
Allison Hunter seems to use technology to erase and reduce the impact of her
images. This is a rare aesthetic in this show, which is dominated by certain
“Baroque” tendencies to wield the technology assertively. Her quiet spaces where
sheep stand within empty vistas allow the viewer to contemplate where and how
the images have been altered, in a restrained way. Here, technology merges with
poetry, an uncommon coupling. Wisconsin’s Tom Bamberger also falls in the
‘reductive’ camp, using photo-shop to expand monotonous vistas and erase
irregularities so his images contain a quizzical evenness as they unspool. His
work holds up well around the corner from Hunter’s.
In general, the problem with this exhibition is perhaps not its lack of interesting
work, but its lack of clarity in the story it tries to tell. A narrower focus would have
helped. Still, it’s certainly worth the trip to Sheboygan.
Reviewed by Debra Brehmer.
| Copyright 2008 Art History Chicks LLC |
| David DiMichele, Broken Glass, 2006 |