Perspective, birds, weather and psychopomps

10/4/2023

Des Moines Art Center Print Gallery’s exhibition “Double Take” attempts to make a photographer’s involvement as much a part of the medium as his subject. Curator Laura Burkhalter and guest curator Ben Easter (a superb photographer himself) selected pairs of images — “one of which is a staged or posed photo and another that appears to be more improvisational or quickly-captured street photography,” in Burkhalter’s words.

In some cases, the line between the posed and the un-posed is clear, while in others the differences are much harder to spot. “The comparisons and contrasts these visually similar pairs offer reveal the aesthetic and formal choices of the artist in both obviously directed images and those that might look like chance ‘lucky’ shots at first glance — from lighting and framing to the choice of model,” she said. 

This show challenges the viewer to notice the involvement of the photographer. And it is a challenge in many pairs. Call it a photog empowerment exhibition. 

Among the contrasts are Karl Struss’ “Nude draped in gauze” with Joel Meyerowitz’ “Jan Testori;” Joel Meyerowitz’s “Margaret & Caroline” with Jacques Lowe’s “Portrait of two dancers;” Harry Callahan’s “Providence” and Hans Breder’s “Culiapan” show human forms in utterly different cityscapes, which is the easiest to pick the staged out as Breder works to manufacture lasciviousness; Man Ray’s self-portrait with Leon Levinstein’s untitled portrait of an unshaven man in a fedora contrast good and bad grooming more than any else.  

Callahan’s “Tall urban buildings” are contrasted with Dorothy Norman’s “Cape Cod Village home,” begging the question, how does one stage a city landscape?

Judy Dater’s “Imogen and Twinka at Yosemite” is a portrait of an old woman and nude yaksha with an ancient tree and contrasts here with Larry Fink’s “Ella and JJ, Martin Creek” also showing a young and old woman but caught fully clothed with a brick wall and a concrete floor. 

Other pairs include Hiroshi Sugimoto’s “White rhinoceros” and Jeanne Dunning’s manipulated untitled landscape; Robert Mapplethorpe’s famous “Two men dancing” and Larry Fink’s “Allentown, Pennsylvania fair” where dancers look like a father and daughter. 

Michael Disfarmer’s “Two men in khaki pants, long sleeved shirts” and August Sanders’ “Country girls” might be the hardest to detect staging as both look naturally posed. 

Danny Lyon’s “Marilyn in an abandoned building New York” and Leonard Freed’s “Nude in a fetal position between trees” is another easy one to detect the staging. 

Lyon’s “Cal, Elk Horn, Wisconsin” stages a biker in his rearview mirror while Nathan Lerner’s “Focused view for camera” reveals a face through a magnifying glass. Edward Quigley’s “Portrait of young woman holding up a tennis racket” and Dmitri Baltermants’ “Twice a hero test pilot Khan Sultanuses” contrast American playfulness with Soviet propaganda. Diane Arbus’ “Loser at the diaper derby, New Jersey” and Julie Blackmon’s “Cupcake” show infants in surroundings 50 years apart. They contrast the decades more than the infants.

Dater’s “Twinka and tree” and Sally Mann’s untitled woman with a bedspread is another easy one to pick the staged from the happenstance. This show plays through Feb. 18.

Touts

Olson Larsen Gallery opens “Wing and Bloom” Friday, Oct. 13 (Gallery Night) with six female artists fascinated with birds and sometimes flowers. Rachel Deutmeyer, Barbara Fedeler, Kirsten Furlong, Paula Schuette Kraemer, Molly Wood and Amy Worthen are included.

Oct. 6 Moberg opens “Derrick Breidenthal,” a brilliant painter of mostly Kansas landscapes. He has a knack for making weather his subject. 

Through Dec. 10, Faulconer Gallery on the Grinnell College campus has two shows that feature Stephen Appelby-Barr. One, “Correspondence,” features his works, many of which juxtapose fantastical subjects with common ones, like super realistic dreams. The other, “Old Friends and Psychopomps,” features art inspired by Appleby-Barr. A psychopomp is a being that guides souls on journeys. This is the first exhibition of the painter, a Canadian Englishman. It is fascinating. ♦