In Focus: Themes in Photography

Afterimage, Jan-Feb, 2005 by Ilana Swerdlin

According to the website of the Albright-Knox Gallery (Buffalo, New York), the current exhibition, In Focus; Themes in Photography, "combines nineteenth-century historic works with recent acquisitions of contemporary photography, and highlights the Gallery's commitment to the photographic medium for more than nine decades." This statement is quite simply an understatement, and many will note that in spite of its scope and quality the show has gone unnoticed in regard to what it provides to Western New Yorkers. The show fills 13 rooms with works from the Gallery's permanent collection, and reasserts the Albright-Knox Gallery's traditional role and ambition to stand as the finest museum in New York State outside of "the City."

The show adheres to no strict conventions, in the best sense, all around. From the way the works were selected and then displayed, to the range and number of artists represented, and the variety of media illustrated, In Focus presents an extraordinary sampling of past and current practices in photography. From Alvin Langdon Coburn's platinum print to Adam Fuss's large photogram, from John Beech's painted photographs of dumpsters to Inigo Manglano-Ovalle's digital prints of DNA, the show immerses the photographically savvy into an extraordinary historical journey. Its variety, along with the diversity of artists hailing from 13 different nationalities, will likewise interest the amateur viewer. Although shaped by historical and thematic approaches, In Focus also addresses eminently contemporary issues. Sophie Ristelhueber's work presents the scarred landscape of Kuwait after Desert Storm as a metaphor for human endeavors. In her aerial view, facts acquire distance and, paradoxically, perspective; spatial perspective is replaced by a philosophical one which defines the photographer's work as seminal to the current trend in conceptual documentary. Next to Ristelhueber's work, Bill Henrich's larger-than-life staged photograph pushed the printing capabilities of the 1980s--an achievement that is easier to accomplish today due to digital technology.

Without a doubt this show has an appeal that reaches beyond photography aficionados. I went to see the exhibit twice, and both times I witnessed children flocking to Jennifer Steinkamp's Dervish, a high definition computer projection of a tree that changed and 'twirled' with the simulated change of seasons. In another room, a more mature audience stopped for a double-take in front of Andreas Gursky's, six-by-nine-foot Atlanta, 1996, while 20-30-year-olds couldn't get away from the Cindy Sherman-Gillian Wearing-Nikki S. Lee room also titled "Self Portraits and 'The Gaze'".

Each room housed and illustrated a specific theme chosen by a curating team composed of various members of the museum staff, hence the title of the show, Themes in Photography. "The Sublime" room showcased the work of Hiroshi Sugimoto and John Pfahl. Works by Uta Barth, Joel Meyerowitz, and a collage by Charles Le Belle filled the room dedicated to "Spaces: Public and Private." As a way to reinforce the voyeuristic approach of her work, Sophie Calle was given her own room for Suite Venitienne, an illustrated diary of her stranger-stalking in Venice. In the next room, Twenty Six Gasoline Stations and Thirty Four Parking Lots, artist's books by Edward Ruscha, were displayed alongside Bernd and Hilla Becher's industrial typologies. "The Complex Nature of Simple Things" was an intriguing room complete with a Man Ray rayograph, Hollis Frampton's 16 Studies of Vegetable Locomotion and Orit Raff's bizarre views of freezers and toilets. Other themes in the show were "Alternate Nature," "Architectural Topography," "Constructing Narratives," and "Representing Others." Labeling artistic works and creating typologies based on their perceived content(s) is always a challenging task. Artists rarely limit themselves to dealing with one single issue. However, the breaking down of this historical survey into thematic rooms will probably play a didactic role and help a general audience to navigate the exhibition.

In Focus: Themes in Photography gives the viewer an eclectic taste of what they may only be able to access in major art institutions on either the East or West Coasts or abroad. While the works shown represent artists of international origins, the contributions of local Western New York photographers are given due credit. Sprinkled throughout the exhibit are works such as Charlotte Spaudling-Albright's manipulated negatives (she was a member of the Photo Pictoralists, a group that grew out of the 1906 Buffalo Camera Club), or Cindy Sherman's student work at the University of Buffalo. Milton Rogovin's work (see Afterimage Sept/Oct 2004) gives another historical insight to the people and places in Buffalo and with a more formalistic touch, John Pfahl pays humorous homage to Ansel Adams in his Piles series was taken around Buffalo. Buffalo is even present in black and white photographs by the Bechers, as part of their Anonymous Sculptures project documenting the growing obsolescence of modernist industrial structures and architectures.