Today I finally managed to get out to see a few of the area photo-shows that I’ve been talking about lately. Here’s the slight notes I scribbled down as I viewed the many, many photos….
=Wisconsin Photography 2009: RAM’s Wustum Museum of Fine Arts: Racine, WI
-lot of photos of things, but few of, or about, people
-a number of multi-image pieces and series pieces
–Mark Brautigam‘s “Milwaukee, WI, 2005” and “Superior, WI, 2007” are real stand-out pieces. Printed large, they make you feel like stepping right into the images.
–Eddee Daniel‘s “Fog, from the Icon Series, 2007” is also really great. It’s a tripytch from the Marquette Interchange, as it was being rebuilt.
–John Hart‘s “Frame Work, 2009” is a beautiful piece, full of mood. I’m not sure if “real” or staged, but either way it’s a dandy.
-Gary Kampe, with his “Boy 0972, 2008” and “Girl and Cow 10, 2008”, depicts a subject that I could definitely relate to–the showing of cattle at State Fair. Unfortunately, his large prints don’t seem to be of high enough quality and ended up affecting my enjoyment of the images.
–Jason Madson‘s “Rusted Root River Bridge, 2009” is a large print, full of dynamic tones and texture. Unfortunately, some poor digital editing brings down the quality of the image quickly.
-Melissa Alexander’s “Cramped, 2009” and Caroll Pearson’s “Interior Perspective” with their use of framing and composition, both drew Rene Burri’s “Sau Paulo, Brazil, 1960” to mind.
–Christine Sobczak‘s “The Blues Table” was another example of the “multiple-image” trend at the show. She had three photos in separate frames, each one comprised of three side-by-side 8×10 images. The “string of pearls” component was my favorite.
-Besides the “WI Photo 2009” show, there was also a showing of photos from the Wustum’s permanent collection. The standout here were Bruce Saile’s “St. Patrick’s Day Parade, which could have been a missing photo from Robert Frank’s “The Americans”
=Mary Nohl Fund Fellowships 2008 Exhibition: Inova Galleries: Milwaukee, WI
At the Inova Galleries of UWM (in the Kenilworth Building), Barbara Miner‘s “Anatomy of an Avenue, North, from the lakefront to Pewaukee” is on display along with the other 2008 Mary Nohl winners. It’s pretty unique in that it’s really one piece (about 70 feet long) comprised of many separate B+W images. Miner’s examination of Milwaukee’s North Avenue is well done and shows some great documentary moments along this significant road-way.
=My day’s tour ended at Marquette’s Haggerty Museum, where the “Persian Visions: Contemporary Photography From Iran” is currently showing. This show didn’t fit my own tastes all that well, being a more “artsy” show, where my own leanings are toward the documentary and literal. The show did have some pieces that I enjoyed though.
-Ebrahim Khadem Bayat’s works were quite nice–ethereal, B+W images–reminiscent of dreamscapes. While the subject matter was clear, the real meanings of the images were left up to the viewer’s interpretation. My favorite piece featured a chair and a mirror in a stream, a fish (not sure if it was dead or alive) placed on the chair.
-Saeed Sadeghi’s “Their Hands Are In Pain” was also a nice series of images.