Tuesday, January 26, 2010

Four Faces - Review by Michael Weinstein in NewCity

Write up by Michael Weinstein on the "Four Faces" exhibit at Barbara & Barbara Gallery.

"Drawn to the recesses of densely wooded public parks, Jennifer Ray seeks out evidence of male sexual encounters—a spent condom, a pair of briefs, a Styrofoam cup—and shoots the tell-tale details in color, so that they are small, yet obtrusive elements of the larger verdant scene. Eric Bessel takes color portraits of women posed in gestures and sporting expressions that betray distress, bitterness or hostility. Helen Maurene Cooper dolls women up in kitschy costumes, places them against decorative mannerist backgrounds, and snaps them in color as they vogue like fashion models, sometimes tough, sometimes dreamy. Grant Ray puts ordinary objects into compositions suggesting “pseudo-scientific experiments,” as when he goes into the wooded glen, plants an electrical gizmo there, and shoots the scene in color, proving that you can do other things in the park than have sex. You can read the artists’ statements if you want an overdose of cultural theory, but their work boils down to crossing the boundary from the illusory world of normal certitude to the wilderness of the seamy psycho-dramas that surround the islands of sanity that we so painfully attempt to construct. (Michael Weinstein)"

Through February 18 at Barbara & Barbara Gallery, 1021 N. Western

Tuesday, January 19, 2010

Four Faces exhibition


I am pleased to announce the inclusion of my work for the exhibition “Four Names” at the Barbara and Barbara Gallery. The opening reception is being held on Saturday, January 23rd from 7-11pm.

Four Names
Grant W. Ray
Helene Maurene Cooper
Jennifer Ray
Eric Bessel

Opening Reception
Saturday, January 23, 7-11pm

Barbara & Barbara Gallery
1021 North Western Ave.
Chicago, Illinois