I feel as though photography is often the low point, or just the overlooked medium, in contemporary group exhibitions, however this is not the case at PS1’s Greater New York exhibition this summer. As someone who is often drawn to video work, installation, or performance (new, new media), I was surprised to find that many of my favorite pieces were photographs.
Michele Abeles’ C-prints are studies into still life photography, even when a body is involved in the strictly formal compositions. Plant, Hand, Paper, Table, Lines, Numbers, a still life of those object described in the title, is supercrisp and has a super high contrast that cuts like a knife. Although this is a photograph of three-dimensional objects, Abeles has opted for a lack in depth of field bringing each object onto the same plane, and in turn, the print carries a strong two-dimensional quality. Man, Shadow, Table, Fan, Rock, is so highly detailed, that the viewer can see every blemish, pimple, stubble, and goose bump on the man’s body. Regarding the body, this is more beautiful than repulsive.
Erin Shirreff’s Teeth is a series of 28 silver gelatin prints displayed in two rows on the wall of the gallery. By association, they appear to be specimens of teeth (human or non-human), however, once you take away your pre-conceived idea of the objects from the title, these smudgy little white objects could also be sample, mystery artifacts that one finds in a lab, but in the end, they really just look like tiny pinches of clay. I love that these photographs are so close up that you can see the artist’s fingerprints, as I can picture her sitting in her studio endlessly shoving the clay around until it reaches her desired, abstract shape.
I was enamored with Pinar Yolacan’s Mother Goddess series of eight C-prints featuring a corpulent woman costumed in various bodysuits of textured fabrics and material. The suits, made of black pleather, stretch denim, nude-colored nylon, or plush velvet, fit the woman tightly around her body and head, leaving the impression of a curvy, silhouette rather than a woman’s body. Her face is eliminated, therefore leaving the idea of femininity, rather than a portrait of a specific person. Her bulbous, reclined silhouette brings to mind the bronze and marble sculptures of Fernando Botero.
Lastly, Leigh Ledare’s provocative photographs of his mother, her lovers, and himself in sexually explicit situations are disturbingly captivating, leaving me more intrigued than disgusted. Mother Tied to Catch 22, is probably one of my favorite photographs ever. I don’t know Tina (his mother), or Catch 22 (the young lover, probably younger than Leigh Ledare himself), yet the playful, intimate comfort between two lovers is captured here in all of its essence. Although Ledare specifically documents his mother (creating an incestuous dialogue that could pose a dilemma with certain viewers’ morals), it is in this photograph that Ledare speaks to all lovers; to both open, sexual promiscuity and to intimate, private relationships.
