PERSPECTIVE: Face Forward ' Portrait Photography at Gallery 339

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PERSPECTIVE: Face Forward ' Portrait Photography at Gallery 339

POSTED: Monday, October 12, 2009, 5:45 PM

Filed Under: Arts

City Paper welcomes Jonathan Wallis, assistant professor of art history at Moore College of Art and Design, to our Critical Mass team. His column, 'Perspective,' will run monthly in this space, bringing a critical eye to a visual art scene that continues to thrive in Philadelphia. Questions? E-mail Wallis at jswallis@gmail.com.

gallery339.com

Nicholas with Mom and Milo, by Jessica Todd Harper

One hundred and twelve years ago, pioneering photographer Gertrude K'sebier lectured to an audience gathered to view her exhibition at the Photographic Society of Philadelphia. Known for her evocative portraits, K'sebier put forth this statement: 'I earnestly advise women of artistic tastes to train for the unworked field of modern photography. It seems to be especially adapted to them, and the few who have entered it are meeting a gratifying and profitable success.'

The current exhibition at Gallery 339, "Personal Views: Contemporary Photographic Portraiture in Philadelphia," brings together the work of six photographers who, by unintended chance through the selection process for the exhibition, are all women. It's a result worth noting, however, and the range of creative and well-crafted portraiture in the show is a testament to the vanguard presence of women photographers in the Philadelphia art community.

In an ironic twist, the first works encountered when entering the gallery are Justyna Badach's portraits of single men in their domestic dwellings. These large-scale vertical works evoke what the artist refers to as the 'refuge and prison' of bachelorhood, and the images communicate the range and openness of its definition. Personality and identity are revealed equally in these images between the individuals' poses and expressions and the decorative and iconographic aspects of their respective abodes.' But the deadpan aesthetic is cracked by Badach's inclusion below the images of framed textual descriptions of the subjects' histories, desires and interests gleaned from her personal encounters with each of the men.' These words 'move' the picture (to borrow a term from David Carrier) and present an embellished narrative, providing viewers with a 'before' leading up to the photograph as a visual pause. The fact that the tale of what is next for these men is left untold offers an open-ended approach to narrative portraiture that is provocative and compelling. Only one work hints at foreshadowing. Badach includes a terse comment about one man's habit of collecting potentially controversial images, declaring 'I was afraid for him.'

Jessica Todd Harper's portraits in suburban backyards and interiors are quietly present, with long exposures and a sensitivity to backlighting that permits the eye to comprehend the subjects through an ethereal filter.' There is no missing the fact that Harper's background is steeped with interests in Western art history, most notably Dutch Baroque and Renaissance painting, and these traces are present but reworked to a new, original purpose in the works in the show. In Sarah and Zephyr, the photographic distortion of the sitter's arm and hand recalls the mannerist irregularities of Parmigianino and Rosso Fiorentino. Becky and the Mountain combines the tradition of odalisques with a formal echo between body and nature not unlike like Franz Marc's Blue Horses. The act of looking at Harper's work is a slow process that induces contemplation rather than an immediate transaction between viewer and image ' it takes what painting offers and transcribes it to the contemporary through photography with innovative results.

Nadine Rovner is the newest photographer of the group, and as an emerging artist in Philadelphia her work exhibits much potential (see also her current solo show at The Print Center). Her images in this show range widely ' voyeuristic, tableaux-style interiors, plays on reflections and close-ups, and outdoor figurative landscapes. Clearly Rovner understands the language of contemporary photography and knows how to use her camera, but I got the impression that her personal voice is still veiled slightly by derivative sourcing. This, combined with the range of photographic subjects and approaches, left her work slightly ungrounded. Someone Knows is the most engaging of the mix, and its suburban atmosphere is a riddle not to be solved.

gallery339.com

Sicily 7, 1990, by Andrea Modica

Andrea Modica's portraits of Sicilian and Umbrian life are nothing other than stunning. Exquisite craftsmanship and flawless technique combine with Modica's talent for spotting a latent modernity in rustic Italy, and she turns the ordinary into something extraordinary.' This is proof that photography does not always need clever strategies of engagement or digital bells and whistles to have merit as a contemporary mode of art. Every image is a stand-alone winner. Hemingway once remarked, 'You lose it if you talk about it.'' Mum's the word on this series.' Just go see it.

Rita Bernstein's portraits on the second floor are a turn away from much of the other work in the show.' If anything they share something of the ethereal experience and painterly references present in Harper's images but in smaller scale, black-and-white hand-produced prints (Awaiting Matthew's oblique angle reminds me of Mantegna's Dead Christ).' But Bernstein's artistic voice speaks sensually through the formal vocabulary of photography ' a hazy, soft light (not unlike some of K'sebier's photographs), emotive gestures and camera angles encourage voyeuristic intrusions on private moments that reveal little of the identities of the subjects ' to great effect. Many of the images offer views of intimate relationships between two figures where one appears as a definite physical presence and another as an intangible companion.' This is accomplished through a reflection or an effect of blurring the figure, and it results in a secondary figure that might suggest its presence as thought alone in the mind of the primary sitter. Bernstein's work reminds me of Susan Sontag's Against Interpretation; I recover my senses. I feel more.

gallery339.com

San Diego, CA, by Sarah Stolfa

The curatorial conversation between the work of Sarah Stolfa and Zoe Strauss on the second floor of the gallery is fascinating. On one side, Stolfa's portraits present an understanding of America's regional diversity through individuals identified by location only: Camden, Pensicola, Memphis, San Diego, etc. Identity is framed in socio-geographic terms, and moving from one anonymous portrait to the next conjures up a conceptual journey across the map of the American continent. Memphis, TN, which depicts a deadpan image of a woman with a pistol holstered around the outside of her white dress-top, reminds us that American culture is framed by the balance and tensions between the federal, state and local. Stolfa's physical distance from her subjects creates an equal dynamic in looking that promotes the desire to scrutinize (not gawk at) the fascinating people she captures with her camera. To look at these portraits is to learn about America.

The portraits of women on view by Zoe Strauss elicit a different response. Part of a larger series called "America," these subjects are closer to the mediating picture plane between viewer and subject, so much so that at times I feel more the subject of the gaze than the depicted figure. Tonya, who stands in contrast to the red wall behind her, looks out with such intimidating intensity that it forces one to look away and re-engage again and again. Yet persistence pays off and the details, such as the torn earring holes in both ear lobes, mark the traces of personal life experience visible in each of Strauss' subjects.' Kelly, who gazes with confident tenderness from behind a Walgreens counter, almost hides an indescribable pathos. Yet, while we know the names of these women we don't necessarily know where they are in America (you can check the catalog in the gallery, but that detracts from the effect of their presence in this particular show). In this sense, they compliment the socio-geographic identity of Stolfa's portraits by presenting America as a country of individual identities who remind us that people are the same everywhere you go ' they hurt, they laugh, they age, and unfortunately in the tragic, heart-wrenching case of Gina, they often die too soon.

One of the challenging aspects of portraiture is the negotiation between artist and sitter ' how you approach and engage your subject has sensitive effects on what they are willing and not willing to do in front of the camera. Both Stolfa and Strauss have great talent for this process, and their photographs evidence the humanity that lies underneath the diversity, eccentricities, hardships and passions of America in the 21st century.

Pet portrait

Posted 2009-10-13 01:22:09

Whether you're just getting serious in photography and are looking for a crash course, or have been at it awhile and want to learn some of the more technical aspects, this is the source for you. I am looking forward for the posts.

eldiablo

Posted 2009-10-13 18:09:29

i thought this show was rather boring.

Posted by jonathan.wallis @ 5:45 PM Permalink | Post a comment

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Featuring everything from event roundups to concert reviews and sex talk, City Paper's Critical Mass is a space for off-the-wall coverage of Philly's A&E scene.

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