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 Michael Garlington |
The work of photographer Michael Garlington has been described as "David Lynch meets Leave it to Beaver."Event Details:Vernissage: 25 October at 20:30 - 23:30Exhibition: 25 October - 26 November Expresso Bank-Café van Houtte 5059 avenue du Parc (corner Laurier) Montreal, QC Prices: $350 to $3500. Michael Garlington is an acclaimed Northern California photographer and master printer. He began shooting his own images while working at Spindler Photography, a high-end lab in San Francisco that caters to the finest photographers working today. His work has been purchased by Yale, Dartmouth and countless private collectors. From a review by Scott Bulger (with permission): "This collection of images from the book "Portraits from the Belly of the Whale" is what happens when Joel-Peter Witkin meets Diane Arbus. These photographs are more subtle and lack the deliberately graphic shock value of Witkin, and incorporate some of the humanity of the Arbus freak show portraits. As the photographer, Michael Garlington describes them; they are "disturbing portraits that sardonically reveal the darker edges of the human personality." You form a strange emotional connection to the subjects in each image as you study them, being horrified and caring for them at the same time. All of the images breathe their own fetid breath and engage you with their own empty eyes. "Nothing is happenstance in these informationally loaded photographs. All of the images are meticulously staged; everything in the frame is there for a reason. The abuse, scratches, and stains are purposefully placed, creating the illusion of peering through a filth covered window into a nightmare filled world. The subjects stare back at you, aware of your voyeurism and daring you to engage them. At first glance, you recoil, but after the initial shock wears off, you start to look more closely, like you would stare at a traffic accident. After being held hostage by the gaze of these graphic images, you begin to feel a strange attachment to them, kind of like a photographic "Stockholm Syndrome". These relentless portraits leave a stain on your soul that will be hard to remove. Some stains are good, like the grape Kool-Aid that dripped down your chin on the hot August afternoon when you were nine, and some stains are bad, like the blood embedded in the rough concrete floor after an industrial accident. If this exhibit leaves a good stain or a bad stain, is up to you to decide." This exhibition is part of a series of fund-raising events in aid of Montreal artists and designers by Talisman Theatre. INFORMATION: 514.495.1324--Espresso Bank-Café van Houtte 514.846.0402--Lyne Paquette, Talisman Theatre Michael Garlington info@michaelgarlington.com 415.871.4528 |
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Page last updated on
04-06-2011