Portraits from the Belly of the Whale. The artist tours the country in his 'Photo Car': a Volkswagen covered with his photographs. He shoots portraits of whatever speaks to him: his work is about ordinary Americans leading ordinary lives. Inside the work is a deeply felt affection for humanity in all its permutations and expressions, in all its horror and triviality.
Michael Garlington
Portraits from the Belly of the Whale
A wholesome and artistic upbringing in Petaluma. California, combined with regular contact with the hippies, poultry farmers, metal fabricators, bleeding hearts, and wanna-be artists of the Bay Area was a ‘David Lynch meets "Leave it to Beaver"’ backdrop that served as early inspiration for thia young artist. Garlington spent countless hours in the darkroom printing the works of some of San Francisco's finest photographers — and at the age of 17, he began photographing; documenting the world around him in all its splendor, monotony, degeneracy, banality and vice.
Garlington tours the country in his “Photo Car†— literally a Volkswagen covered with his photographs. He shoots portraits of whatever speaks to him - from a contortionist to a fast food worker, from the disabled to a young patriot, his work is about ordinary Americans leading ordinary lives, yet there is something awry. Inside the work is a deeply felt affection for humanity in all its permutations and expressions, in all its horror and triviality. The resulting body of work offers a critical, offbeat, and humorous view of the United States —a portrait of the “belly of the whale.â€
Garlington’s work is in the collections of Yale University, Dartmouth College, Mt Holyoke College, the di Rosa Preserve in Napa County, and in the permanent collection of the Minnesota Institute of Arts where he will have a one-man show in 2007. He has done more than 20 one-man shows. Garlington is currently working on a series of California-Mexican working families living in trailers, struggling for a piece of a promised dream, and is planning his fourth cross-county photo expedition in 2005.
Opening reception will be held on March 17, 2005 from 7 – 9p.m.
Stephen Cohen Gallery
7358 Beverly Blvd in Los Angeles
Gallery hours: Tuesday through Saturday, from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m., and by appointment.