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Wednesday, January 24, 2007

The Continuation of Isaac Layman’s World Domination Tour

posted by on January 24 at 12:45 PM

I say that with nothing but love. The photographer, who was picked up by Lawrimore Project in Miami after his pastiched bookcase photograph took the place by storm, is now showing in the white-cube gallery at LP.

layman_Shirt.jpg

layman_hang.jpg

The six images at Lawrimore Project (see those and more on his artist’s page) are limited in tone (mostly black to white) but range widely in technique and approach.

Unlike many of the big names in photography, from Sherman to Goldin to Struth, Layman has no signature style, or at least not yet. The closest you could come is to say that he subtly alters or arranges everyday objects for the sake of photography. It’s his insistence on the subtlety of his intervention and the gorgeous way he executes each image that keeps you coming back. Coat Hanger (2003), for instance, is an austerely beautiful formal portrait. Is the hanger hanging? Is it lying down? The questions fade the longer you allow yourself to be seduced by the thick, round lines in the landscape of white.

The performative nature of what he does before he takes the photographs (or after, in the case of the digitally compiled bookcase image) is made literal in the earliest work in the show. It’s a 2001 black-and-white portrait of himself in a sweatshirt, pointing out a window to another window that looks like it has a window built into it. It’s called, of course, Window.

Also earlier are his photograms. A portrait of himself in a chair, made of collaged photograms (2002), is ghostly and impressive in size, but it comes off as bland. A 2003 photogram of a lawn mower mounted on a plinth makes the opposite use of the technology—it’s eggheaded and witty in a warm way, like what comes later.

For White T-Shirt (2004), the triumph of the show, Layman drew dark lines on a folded T-shirt. He made a spotless white T-shirt look like one of van Gogh’s boots: used, rustic, loved, lovable. At the same time, all of those charming cartoonish marks are obviously fake, and the shirt is no longer a shirt, but a drawing on one part of the shirt. So now it’s a photograph of a drawing on a sculpture, an homage to and a critique of each one of those disciplines.

RSS icon Comments

1

I gaped half-drunk at this stuff at the opening. Jen, you make the world make sense.

Posted by Bethany Jean Clement | January 24, 2007 1:08 PM
2

Whereas if I took a picture of a coffee mug or a sock on the floor, it'd just be a shitty picture. Modern art is ridiculous.

Posted by The CHZA | January 24, 2007 3:17 PM
3

How does your indifference and incompetence make something else ridiculous? I'm not saying modern art isn't ridiculous; that's another discussion. But what do your admittedly shitty pictures have to do with it? "I spilled some coffee on my shirt today, therefore music is pointless."

Posted by Fnarf | January 24, 2007 3:27 PM
4

Art like this is what gives modern art a bad name. These pictures are simplistic, childish (the T-shirt), and boring, whereas Oldenberg's sculptures (another modern artist who's appeared in the Slog lately) are at least humorous and creative.

Posted by Stephanie | January 24, 2007 3:32 PM
5

Fnarf, I agree that the CHZA's reasoning is faulty. But I think that what he/she is (inelegantly) saying is that not much thought went into this art. The picture on the artist's page of an extension cord: um, so what? Can Jen explain why that is art?

Posted by Stephanie | January 24, 2007 3:36 PM
6

I don't agree. I think the coat hanger is austere and beautiful. But then, I'm a sucker for anything where the background's been leveled to white. The T-shirt's OK. Bear in mind I'm only seeing them on a screen. But the clarity of objects is nothing to sneer at.

Posted by Fnarf | January 24, 2007 5:34 PM
7

WINDOW is actually the artist pointing AT a photograph of a window, not simply OUT a window... More than thrice removed from the truth? I should also encourage all naysayers to actually go see the work. Think. Look. Experience the work. Ask questions. If 'art' doesn't happen after that, then feel free to dismiss.

Posted by totorTu'm | January 25, 2007 10:57 AM
8

Thanks for clarifying about Window!

Posted by Jen Graves | January 25, 2007 11:29 AM

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