Joshua Stern - Plus Ultra Gallery
A solo exhibition of recent work by New York artist Stacy Greene. Unveiling three new groups of photographs, Greene turns slightly from the anthropological tenor of her previous series of portraits via lipsticks, fingernails, perfume bottles, and back seat views of luxury cars to a more encompassing panorama of concerns intersecting where romance meets reality.
Movies I'll Never Make
Opening: Friday, January 10, 2003, 7 - 9 PM
PLUS ULTRA is thrice happy to present "Movies I'll Never Make," a solo exhibition of recent work by New York artist Stacy Greene. Unveiling three new groups of photographs, Greene turns slightly from the anthropological tenor of her previous series of portraits via lipsticks, fingernails, perfume bottles, and back seat views of luxury cars to a more encompassing panorama of concerns intersecting where romance meets reality.
In the first series Greene presents individual photographs of decrepit drive-in theaters. Empty and exposed in the noonday sun, these theaters reveal a blank movie screen, which serves as the subject of the photos as well as a guide through the rest of the show. A second series is made up of groups of photos (usually three or more) composed to create a single piece. Curious narratives emerge. Drastic shifts in viewpoint and scale underscore a sense of drama. And the subject of these works seem to hover in the (metaphoric) Space between the images.
The final group of photos juxtapose attractive women in platinum blonde wigs with houses in a California suburb. The blondes carouse a city at night, innuendoes of sex, drugs and rock and roll abound. As well as a certain tawdriness. The cropping is unexpected, the camera angles spontaneous, this is street photography over portraiture. The houses all seem built around the 1930s in that California bungalow style, and are brightly lit by the sun. A vernacular style, emphasized by bulbously trimmed hedges, or classic cars, or decorated homes, evokes Robert Venturi's architectural examinations of society, desire, and buildings. These are "portraits" of homes, where expression evokes and decoration signifies. Combined, we emerge at that emptiness again. But what an emptiness, full of critique of what seems to pose as freedom (to shop) in a capitalist society, of layers of pastiche that hint at fundamental lackings (thus desires) lurking.
For more information, contact Joshua Stern or Ed Winkleman at 718-387-3844
Stacy Greene
Movies I'll Never Make
January 10 to February 16, 2003
Opening Reception: Friday, January 10, 2003, 7 - 9 PM
Gallery Hours:
Friday through Saturday and Sunday: 12 to 6 PM
Or by appointment
Directions: Take the L train to Bedford Avenue. Walk south along Bedford to South 1st Street. Turn left. PLUS ULTRA is two blocks from Bedford, just past Roebling Street.
Plus Ultra
235 South 1st Street NY 11211 New York