For class on Feb 28 we took a trip to Chelsea where we viewed eight galleries. Here are three of the most memorable to me.
Prison Nation at Aperture
Artist: Lucas Foglia , Bruce Jackson, Emily Kinni, Jesse Krimes, Jack Lueders-Booth, Deborah Luster, Chandra McCormick and Keith Calhoun, Zora Murff, Nigel Poor, Joseph Rodriguez, Jamel Shabazz, Sable Elyse Smith, Stephen Tourlentes
This exhibit was a collection of images that were taken inside of prisons of inmates, recently released from prison and getting reacclimated, and art made by inmates. The main series of the exhibit were the images that were of the inmates who were performing religious plays. The mood of the inmates seemed to be indifferent to the situation. They sat in costume staring into the camera while they waited. The portraits were well lit on the subject against a black background in high contrast, which helped to bring the focus to the costume and facial expressions. Most of the subjects were placed right in the center and cropped near or bellow the waist. The exception to this was one image of a man in costume armor. He was exposed from head to toe sitting on a stool draped in black cloth. This image allows for the audience to see more of what is taking place around the photograph.

Moving Stillness at James Cohan by Bill Viola
Focusing on The Sleepers instillation, we enter a room that is painted all black with several barrels filled with water and placed around the room. The barrels have a blue glow coming from them and once inspected reveals a t.v. screen at the bottom displaying a sleeping person. The room is still and quiet, while peering down on to this sleeping person I get an uneasy feeling, like I am violating this person’s privacy. Yet I couldn’t look away, I pulled out my phone and recorded this moment of protected exposure. The videos were very close to the subject, giving little context to the whole room they were sleeping in. What was strange was that none of the subjects rolled over.

DCTs and Scenes from the Blackout by Stan Douglas at David Zwirner
The works on view are a series of images that started off as staged photographs that depict what if scenarios in the event of a blackout. The images are dark with minimal sources of light, high contrast. What makes this work more interesting is how he edits them. Douglas manually manipulates color, frequencies and amplitudes to create the desired feel, then prints them on coated surfaces to give them a more surreal feel. One image shows a loot. A hand is shown in the near center of the image, top left of a glass window with a hole in it. The hand is lit by a single light, highlighting the theft.