Perreault's meditation on photography
If you're interested in either the Diane Arbus or Larry Clark retrospectives currently in town (at the Met and ICP respectively), you might want to peruse John Perreault's latest post of over Artopia. He uses the two shows as examples in a collection of observations on various aspects of photography, eventually digressing into a psuedo-zen affirmation: "It is ultimately not what you are looking at that is important, but the looking itself." If that were true, then a quick scan through the latest J. Crew catalog would be as rewarding as any gallery visit.
Perreault's commentary is pretty loose ended, but it does center on two individual photographers. He talks a little about categories and photography-as-art, but the bottom line is these two photographers are self-conscious (although Clark demures from this a little by claiming he had no original intention of displaying the photos. I don't believe it for a minute). I think this distinction more so than most goes a long way in explaining the fascination others (and myself) have with their images. I don't think anyone really looks at the pictures in a J Crew catalog (except maybe some postmodern cultural critics trying to undermine the concept of authorship), because the intent is transparent; the pictures were taken to get you to buy the goods on display. If the J Crew images were hanging in a gallery and had been shot by a Yale grad I'd probably "look" at them and they would probably offer a lot more. My bias, I suppose. To a fault?
Really appreciate the site by the way. Great links, and good taste. keep it coming.
evan