CURATOR: Nostalgic photography

Art-geek extraordinaire Courtney Sexton presents a weekly selection of Philly's must-see gallery exhibits. This week: Tyler MFAs, nostalgic photography and Vox.

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CURATOR: Nostalgic photography

POSTED: Friday, March 23, 2012, 4:00 PM

Filed Under: Arts | The Curator Visual Art

Art-geek extraordinaire Courtney Sexton presents a weekly selection of Philly's must-see gallery exhibits. This week: Tyler MFAs, nostalgic photography and Vox.

Nadine Rovner and Yuichi Hibi at Gallery 339

I wish I could afford to buy one of the Nadine Rovner or Yuichi Hibi’s prints currently on display at Gallery 339 (if any devoted readers are looking to surprise me with a token of gratitude for my weekly guidance…). I can’t decide which is more drool-worthy: Rovner’s series of archival pigment prints, Somewhere Not Here, or Hibi’s gelatin silver prints, 127.

Armed with a Sawyer Mark IV (a Twin Lens Reflex camera that uses 127 film), Hibi hit the streets of NYC to capture a stunning series of black-and-white portraits. While the subjects seem randomly selected, the specifics of the camera, film, and Hibi’s composition create the effect of a formal portrait. This element of formality creates a nice contrast with the poses and expressions of the subjects. If you didn’t know better, you might think these were images from the turn of the last century. Beautiful.

Rovner, a young photographer who has gained much recognition as an emerging name in her field, uses a very traditional mode for the images in “Somewhere Not Here,” a show of staged photography. The effect is powerful, nostalgic and jarring. The sets and subjects in Rovner's images are full of anticipation and tension; you feel like you know the whole story of the subjects’ lives, but are waiting for the other shoe to drop on the moment that has been captured. Julie, Unknown Instructions, Part 1 and Someone Knows (pictured above) particularly evoke that sense of subtly urgent suspense.

Through May 5, free, Gallery 339, 339 S. 21^st St., 215-731-1530, gallery339.com

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