The Howard Greenberg Gallery is holding yet another exhibition of the found photographs of Vivian Maier in one of its three rooms. In the midst of the black-and-white shots we know so well by now are a selection of color prints made in delis, those typically American places that can be found on nearly every street corner. They offer a break from Maier’s style, both in the quality of the prints and the distance: no more of the precision framing that make her famous photographs so powerful. These are more about detail and intrigue. The subjects are backs, sides, arms and hands. And a few faces, too, many of them mannequins behind windows. A collection of frozen, fiberglass souls, placed in various postures by their owners. You lock eyes with them, as if you could bring them to life yourself. Once Maier manages this miracle, she turns back to the living, then to a lifeless umbrella, the kind you can see on rainy days in New York. Then onto newspapers, some languishing on shelves, others tossed in trash cans and bushes. And the shadows. Hers, of course, on a background of yellow flowers, but also the shadow of a little girl cast against a wall of green boards. In total contrast of what we have come to love from Maier, these few photographs show us that she still has plenty of surprises in store.
EXHIBITION
Vivian Maier : In her own hands
Through December 6th, 2014
Howard Greenberg Gallery
41 E 57th St Suite 1406
New York, NY 10022
United States
