Jen Bekman: Best Midwestern

Last Thursday, I attended the opening of "Best Midwestern" at Jen Bekman gallery. The show highlights a handful of Midwestern photographer and subjects. There are a couple of pure landscapes, but overall the show skews towards an East Coast sensibility about the Midwest, focusing on the mass culture squalor of the lower middle class and juxtaposing it with the prefab utopia enjoyed by those just a few steps above them on the ladder. Justin Newhall's tricky flash-lit sunset shot of a deer exiting stage right and Deborah Stratman's subdued mountain landscape managed to put aside socio-economic commentary by excluding any sign of humanity. Peter Haakon Thompson's self-portrait is similarly straight landscape aside form the motion blur of his head as he swings it back and forth, perhaps indicating that all is copasetic aside from his own presence in Eden. Bekman selected a smaller print of my favorite shot from the spring Alec Soth show, "Cemetery, Fountain City, WI", shown above, for this show.

I find describing photographs to be a bit dreary and useless. Which, I suppose, is why I suggest you visit the gallery yourself. The show features Susan Boecher, Peter Haakon Thompson , Justin Newhall, Craig Prehn, Alec Soth, Deborah Stratman, and Tema Stauffer.

I have to agree with Paige West over at Art Addict when she says that openings are "the worst time to check out the art " since a fair number, if not all, of the attendees are standing around shmoozing and blocking the view. I hemmed and hawed about going on Thursday since I'm not a particularly social person, but I figured I was going to see the pictures, not people and I wouldn't have time otherwise.

Oh, and one last thing, much of the art there was fairly affordable, as larger format photographs go. My understanding is that Bekman aims to show up-and-coming talent to up-and-coming collectors, which is a good thing all around.

Through August 27 at Jen Bekman
6 Spring St.
(212) 219-0166