Health & Fitness
S.L.A.M. Dunk Photography Exhibit!
This is the second of three blog posts about overlapping photography exhibits in St Louis.
Rarely does St Louis have a confluence of photography exhibits. Currently in their "run times". All three are well worth seeing.
The second of three photography exhibits is at the St Louis Art Museum. This blogger saw it during the "Arch Madness" basketball weekend, and the exhibit is definitely a "slam dunk"!
Titled "An Orchestrated Vision: The Theater of Contemporary Photography", it runs 01/27-04/23/12.The exhibit covers the period, 1990-2011, and touts the continuing importance that photography plays in the arts.
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Using a metaphor which compares this period of modern photography with the theater, it traces the evolution of large scale photographs (from 12" x 12" to 6' x 10'), the grouping of photos (from single to doubles to triptych to six at a time), and the "manipulated" image.
Each photo grips the viewer, sometimes by drawing the viewer like when we identify with an actor or sometimes pushing the viewer out, using surrealism or alien spaces. The exhibit illustrates the theater metaphor by grouping the photographs into four themes: 1) The Public Stage (14 photos), 2) The Elusive Narrative (14 photos), 3) Portraiture and Performance (12 photos), 4) and Constructed Space (10 photos).
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There are also four additional photos in the "foyer" room of the exhibit and it is up to the viewer to decide which of the four categories each of those photos falls into. This blogger will touch on a few of his favorites, although this show is so varied that there will be something for everyone.
"The Public Stage" theme illustrates the dramatic increase in size of photographs over the past twenty years. "Pantheon, Rome, 1990" by Thomas Struth (German, b. 1954) shows the architectural grandeur of this huge pagan temple turned basilica with its huge interior space and dwarfed persons.
Also in this theme is "Target Practice, USS Peleliu, 2005" by An-My Le (born Vietnam, 1960). The photo tab describes this as "gaining unique access to American military exercises, she examines the theme of military power as it relates to seascape."
"The Elusive Narrative" is described in the program as "a recurring motif...of the solitary figure, often central to the composition and absorbed in his or her own thoughts." Gregory Crewdson (American, b. 1962), who like An-My Le has two photographs in this exhibit, displays "Untitled (snowy valley), 2006", a solitary female on a dirt driveway in a non-descript New England town.
The theme of "Portrait and Performance" has another An-My Le' photo, "Line Shack Supervisor for EA6B Prowler, USS Ronald Reagan, North Arabian Gulf, 2009". Gregory Crewdson's,"Untitled, 1993 & printed 2011", shows a robin and other birds around a circle of hollowed out ground, surrounded by 18 eggs, in the foreground of a suburban landscape (including a water tower and ladder leaning against a tree). This photo is representative of the fourth theme, "Constructed Space".
Make it a point to see this photographic exhibit. Take one of the programs home as some of the photos will haunt you or you might benefit from further reflection.
As always, the St Louis Art Museum's special exhibits are free on Fridays when the museum also stays open late. This exhibit may inspire you to pick up your camera and begin your own theatrical production!