American Dream...

Comment

Comment by Resident Curator on July 25, 2014 at 11:30pm

Curator’s Comments:

 

I find this ‘revisionist portraiture’ quite apropos in today’s consumer driven quest for the authentic, or genuine article.  The image itself is actually disarming in that there is a tragic beauty to the child in his gritty surrounds.  The softened sepia and cool grey tones romanticize his posture and remnants of physical toil. Of course the irony is exacerbated by the accompanying descriptions that wax poetic about refined fibers and frayed hems. The layout itself is also simply and elegantly designed. It would almost be funny if our collective sensibilities hadn’t already been dulled by continuous and limitless consumption at the expense of weaker economies. Therefore I believe it to be a bold piece that employs beauty in confronting a politicized subject head on.  The constructed digital landscape titled Expose is considerably more ephemeral, and esoteric in contrast to the former piece.  But what it lacks in astute satirical impact, it offers in dreamy splendor.  The hazy colors in the background suggest old Polaroid transfer; and nicely set off the crisp white sheets. Floating in space, the bed is partially imagined, partially commercially marketed sleep.