Reviews // Josh Pesavento

"Self : Expressed" [Open House Gallery]
Photos by: Cheng-Chang Wu
Cheng-Chang Wu's images won a competition to be featured in this exhibition. They are self portraits of sorts; in them he uses a pair of flashes to over expose his face, leaving a faceless body within a larger environment. The prints were of a large size (maybe 20" x 30") and in color.


The photos, taken in various locations in Taiwan are almost the inverse of self portraits. He removes the sense of self in removing his face, leaving instead an anonymous person in his place. The locations (a baseball field, an intersection, outside a shop, in a rice field, by a presidential palace, etc.) he chooses are ones are unique in their own way to Taiwan. By anonymizing himself he turns himself into the every-person (though he remains one individual). This may mean that he considers Taiwanese to be faceless (voiceless) and uniform, or perhaps he is saying that each of these locations can mean a different thing to a different person, and each has contributed to the sense of place in their own way.

"Yes, But..." [Location One]
Photos by: Vik Muniz

Vik Muniz uses "junk" to create his art. He installs a large format camera on a catwalk very high above a warehouse floor, then has assistants arrange below him the discarded things he collects in order to create an image from the mess. Large c-prints were exhibited at this opening.

One work was a recreation of The Minotaur by George Frederic Watts. By recreating this image, Muniz turns a classical work into a temporal sculpture, made of trash, which he then turns back into a new work of art through a photographic print.

When you initially approach the images, they look largely like classical paintings of mythological creatures. Something seems a bit off. As many did I took a closer look to see how the image was produced - then I saw it for the arrangement of thrown away things that it was. In using coke bottles and old tires as brush strokes, Muniz makes a commentary about our culture - how we use and discard things so readily; further that we individuals are personally contributing and compounding the problem- as these are objects like the ones each of us throw away. By creating images from classical mythology he is perhaps saying we should consider what we throw away a bit more; it can still be useful and relevant.

“Everybody Knows This Is Nowhere” [TEAM Gallery]
Photos by: Ryan McGinley.

78 works. Gelatin silver prints and c-prints.

Press release: http://www.teamgal.com/exhibitions/171