Michal Chelbin “The Black Eye” At M+B Gallery
From the press release:
M+B is pleased to announce an exhibition of new color photographs, The Black Eye, by Israeli artist Michal Chelbin. Chelbin’s photographs of young Eastern European wrestlers evoke both Diane Arbus and Mary Ellen Clark, inhabiting a world between fiction and documentary as they explore the complex relationship between the subject’s captured gaze and presence. Her first exhibition on the West Coast in six years, the opening reception for the artist on Saturday, October 23 from 6 to 8pm will include a book signing for Chelbin’s recently published monograph of the same name by Twin Palms Publishers. The exhibition runs from October 23 to December 5, 2010.
The Black Eye recalls classical images of athletes, but with a twist. Unlike traditional pictures of wrestlers that exalt the physical form and seek to reveal some transcendent ideal, Chelbin’s formally composed photographs are grounded in their nowness. The subjects—young Eastern European athletes of professional wrestling schools—are exhausted, sweaty, bruised and bored, photographed in their first few minutes of recovery. This moment, when the sitters discard public personae, is when Chelbin releases the shutter, revealing the disunion between fantasy and reality. Foregoing digital manipulation or cropping, Chelbin’s photographs reveal a measured intimacy within a genuine timeline.
Also check out Hugh Holland’s “Locals Only” which opens at the gallery tonight as well.
