Matthew Porter “Pale Subtropical Light” At M+B
From the press release:
M+B is pleased to present “Pale Subtropical Light,” a selection of new works by Matthew Porter. The exhibition comprises a critical photographic inquiry into the career and legacy of Hollywood icon Jane Fonda, mid-century modern architecture in California and historical locations such as the Little Bighorn Battlefield National Monument in Montana. “Pale Subtropical Light” runs from January 7 through February 11, 2012, with an opening reception for the artist on Friday, January 7 from 6 to 8 pm.
The exhibition’s six discrete subjects are threaded together to form a reticulated pattern of overlapping subject matter. The title is lifted from “Eureka!,” a 1978 essay by John Gregory Dunne. The essay tracks the attitudes of New York City literati toward his decision to move to Los Angeles in 1964 and their unfounded accusations that he traded the cultural capital of opinions for the cultural capital of images. Los Angeles is often described in terms of mirages and dreams, so it is fitting that Dunne uses hallucinatory imagery to describe his attachment to the city: “I am . . . attached to the deceptive perspectives of the pale subtropical light.” His description of quotidian beauty is used to counter the observations of others on the city in which he lives. He writes of the chimerical possibilities of “psychic and physical slippage” that a place like Los Angeles can instill in the astute observer, using examples of the disconnect between history and experience. In the exhibition, the various pictures explore the relationship between the vivid imagery of historical American myths and the iconicity of the photographs (or lack of) that represent them.
