The Galerie VU’ is exhibiting a selection of portraits by the American photographer Jeffrey Silverthorne b. 1946). Since the 1960s, he has worked on extreme subjects: morgues, transexuals, slaughterhouses. His strange, head-on and sometimes theatrical photographs, both in black-and-white and color, speak to the existential anguish inherent to life and the curious intimacy of the other. These qualities are particularly striking in this exhibition.
Several self-portraits put the artist into perspective, instilling daily life with mystery: what’s he thinking, eyes closed, an inspired look on his face, as he sits down to get a haircut? The self-portrait in a mirror where we can barely make him out—what does it mean? Besides these are portraits where we glimpse what we imagine to be the model’s personality: Victoria, her dark expression filled with fear or sadness; Tim, his eyes closed, head bowed, confiding in the camera; James and his Christlike features; and a woman at home, barely dressed, with a lawnmower. This is a gallery of the abandoned, the lascivious, the playful, the nude and the disturbing made flesh.
Read the full article in the French version of L’Oeil.
Several self-portraits put the artist into perspective, instilling daily life with mystery: what’s he thinking, eyes closed, an inspired look on his face, as he sits down to get a haircut? The self-portrait in a mirror where we can barely make him out—what does it mean? Besides these are portraits where we glimpse what we imagine to be the model’s personality: Victoria, her dark expression filled with fear or sadness; Tim, his eyes closed, head bowed, confiding in the camera; James and his Christlike features; and a woman at home, barely dressed, with a lawnmower. This is a gallery of the abandoned, the lascivious, the playful, the nude and the disturbing made flesh.
Read the full article in the French version of L’Oeil.
Several self-portraits put the artist into perspective, instilling daily life with mystery: what’s he thinking, eyes closed, an inspired look on his face, as he sits down to get a haircut? The self-portrait in a mirror where we can barely make him out—what does it mean? Besides these are portraits where we glimpse what we imagine to be the model’s personality: Victoria, her dark expression filled with fear or sadness; Tim, his eyes closed, head bowed, confiding in the camera; James and his Christlike features; and a woman at home, barely dressed, with a lawnmower. This is a gallery of the abandoned, the lascivious, the playful, the nude and the disturbing made flesh.
Read the full article in the French version of L’Oeil.
EXHIBITION
In part of Mois de la Photo 2014
Jeffrey Silverthorne : Portrait 1968-2012
Through January 10th 2015
Galerie VU
58, rue Saint-Lazare
75009 Paris
France
From Monday to Saturday (14:00-19:00)
http://www.galerievu.com
