Search |
|
NCMA : view « Loretta Lux, Isabella and Study of a Boy 2 | Main | Collector's Panel Discussion, Friday, May 20 » May 17, 2005Nat’s Back
Rebecca Moore Posted by at May 17, 2005 04:25 PM Comments
As indicated by Rebecca's post, it is apparent that this exhibition solicits very personal reactions from viewers. I think that is the nature of many private collections and certainly of photography in general. This is the finest show I have seen at the Museum in some time. Posted by: G. Poindexter at May 18, 2005 03:08 PM Post a comment |
When the Museum Director asked about my favorite work in In Focus I responded Nat’s Back without hesitating. Interesting was all he said. Made me wonder why I mentioned that work only after a quick perusal of the exhibition. Thinking about the photograph reminded me of my friend Phil, the only air guitar playing-divinity student I’ve known. He thought mornings were a time of celebration, a new day, a fresh start, blaa, blaa, blaa. Jack Pierson’s work on first glance with the fused morning light filtering in through window shades is intimate and refreshing. The pose of the sexy Nat, stretching, cat-like touching his toes on his disheveled sheets is a tribute to the power of intimacy. On deeper reflection the works fills me with sadness. Grief long buried. Intimacy lost. After all, don’t we respond to some flash of memory, some past experience when responding to art? On the most basic level aren’t we projecting our own emotional landscape on the artists work? Nat’s Back is not a celebration of the new day, but a reflection of embedded grief and loneliness, a memory of a lover killed by a drunk driver months before finishing divinity school.
