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Four Fun Exhibits
Posted on January 22, 2012 Jill Greenberg at Katherine Cone Amos Mac at Luis De Jesus Los Angeles Tad Wiley at George Lawson Bianca Kolonusz-Partee at OfframpJill Greenberg at Katherine Cone to February 4
The opening of Katherine Cone’s new gallery in Culver City has arrived with a bang with its exhibit of Jill Greenberg’s photographic series, “Commentary and Dissent,”; a bold beginning.
Katherine Cone
Greenberg is well known for past photo controversies such as her 2006 “End Times” series of toddlers crying after their lollypops were taken from them, and her 2008 manipulated satirical photos of John McCain posted on the web after she did the cover portrait of him for The Atlantic Magazine.
What stands out in her photography is the establishment of a middle zone where what appears to be a photograph one moment can look like a painting at another moment; a technique pretty much pioneered by Greenberg and seen in the photography of such artists as Suzanne Opton, Jeff Banks, Marc Dennis, Pierre Gonnord, Erwin Olaf, and Paolo Ventura.
Greenberg’s photos are totally confrontational and filled with scatological wonders to challenge conservative politics and Christian Fundamentalist notions of morality. The gallery walls hang with a veritable menagerie of outrageous and energetic scenes: fighting females, a blood-smeared lamb chin, raw animal carcasses, a chimp taking a dump, an attacking bear, male penis antics, food-smeared children, and much more.
The dynamic Ms. Cone agreed to have her photo taken and chose Jill Greenberg’s photograph of two large animal testicles as the backdrop, lest people fail to realize that her new space has real balls.
