I love this show by Elad Lassry at 303 Gallery, and
this fragment, above, is taken from my very favorite piece in the exhibition, “Untitled
(Bell Peppers)”. I should note that I typically reserve such enthusiasm for
painting. I crave good painting like I crave chocolate. That is, viscerally and
daily. The difference is that I get to eat chocolate every day. Great painting
is a rarer treat, even in New York City. The amazing Charlene von Heyl show at
Petzel should sate me until whatever oily excellence appears next at the
galleries. Photographs, on the other hand, usually feel like journalism or tricks or
one-liners to me. I rarely think of a photograph outside my purview. A
great painting stays with me.
Enough about my ongoing Great Painting Search. Let's
discuss the game-changing Elad Lassry. I am drawn to his transformation of
photographs of the quotidian -- flowers, a massage in progress -- into crafty
objects. The satin wrappers are so unexpected, so inviting, that I could barely contain myself from touching, squeezing,
caressing.
I found our framing assignment particularly difficult
with the Lassry pieces because he has done so much framing himself. There is
the usual framing that every photographer engages in -- choosing what to
photograph, choosing which parts of his chosen image to reveal to the viewer.
Then, he takes an unusual third step. With gorgeously tactile swaths of
opaque satin, he hides parts of his photographs.
In “Untitled (Blond Woman)”, below, the
expertly folded, steel-blue satin hangs just above the action, poised, like one
of those perforated-metal window garages protecting so many NYC storefronts, to
further reveal or secret away more lurid detail.
In “Bell Peppers,” Lassry takes a rather mundane
black-and-white of bell peppers and wraps it up, wood frame and all, as one would a parcel. But his parcel
string is UPS-standard brown, gussied up in stuffed satin. Now we have four quadrants,
plus the complication of the Orly Genger-like knot. This is a lot of tight,
advanced framing to deal with, and it's not all straight edges!
I decided to focus on the top right-hand quadrant because
I dig how Lassry has arranged the two more obscured peppers to cuddle up against the satin
corner, and my own framing could reinforce that idea by cutting out the
negative space on the right, thereby making the dominant pepper feel cozier --
or more claustrophobic? -- too. Now the satin is like a comfy reclining hammock
for our typically uncoddled, antioxident rich friends.
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