"Passionate Image" at Steven Kasher

Blink and you'll miss it.

Black Cherry by Marilyn Minter

Advertising-oriented photography tends to get short shrift in the fine art world, so I was interested to see "Passionate Image", a one-week show sponsored by "House of Campari" (why a show with works for sale needs a sponsor, I can't fathom). With a few exceptions, this show demonstrates the straight jacket that photographers don when entering into a contract for fashion photography. Creative bankruptcy apparently leads to playing with a single variable - edging as close to the taboo of your choice: animals, homoeroticism, eroticization of children, sadomasochism, etc. Still, there are a few examples where the photorgapher overcame temptation to take the easy way out, such as Horst P. Horst's Round the Clock or Minter's Black Cherry - a set of luscious lips dripping like a wound.

The show is displayed in two rooms, the first hung with the shows' prints, curated by Vince Aletti, Steven Kasher and Craig Hensala. The second is primarily taken up with three walls of actual print advertising, not dissimilar to a college dorm room - an interesting curatorial decision, mimicking how photography is actually experienced by many people.

Through Nov 19th at Steven Kasher Gallery
521 W 23rd St, 2nd Flr
(212) 226-1485