The materials and processes of photography — besides the clunky old bag filled with cameras and lenses and mini-tripods and film canisters that identify a photographer from a mile away — are surprisingly ephemeral and abstract: strips of opaque black or brown acetate with dotted edges, shadowy forms emerging on watery paper out of a chemical bath, the glow of a light box, rows of paper strung up on clips to dry like a toxic clothes line. Artist Cree Bruins uses these materials to create installations that combine a formal vocabulary worthy of the Bauhaus with the open-ended narrative that photography implies, and her work, which was one of the highlights of last winter’s "Traveling Scholars" exhibition at the MFA, will be on view in a group show called "4 To Look At: Cree Bruins, Sally Moore, Kelly Sherman, Rachel Perry Welty" opening at Barbara Krakow Gallery on July 8.
Bruins’s work undermines the techy side of the photographic process by focusing instead on its most basic physical elements. She builds installations out of slide mounts devoid of imagery and film strips cut into little squares, like a sly new Mondriaan. Familiar materials in unexpected configurations also mark the work of the three other accomplished artists in this show, each of whom is appearing at the Krakow for the first time. Sally Moore’s cantilevered constructions are precariously beautiful, defying gravity with humble materials like eyeglasses and fishing line; they evince a teetering yet tenacious sense of balance and grace — and humor. Kelly Sherman’s spare drawings on layered vellum refer to the structure of poetry and language. And Rachel Perry Welty uses quirky everyday stuff like twist ties and hospital paperwork to create a wall-size, cell-like sculpture.
Howard Yezerski Gallery, just a few steps up from the Krakow, is mounting a fine-sounding summer group show as well. Opening on July 10, "Boston Summer 2003" features top-drawer gallery artists including Gerry Bergstein, Domingo Barreres, Morgan Bulkeley, Emily Eveleth, Catherine McCarthy, Paul Shakespear, and Elaine Spatz-Rabinowitz. And in the gallery’s project room there’s an exhibition of digital photographs by artist Roswell Angiers, who shows paired images of passers-by on the street, all shot at waist level and from the same location. The idiosyncratic pairings focus attention on the happy accidents of coincidence that join complete strangers — visually, at least — as they rush past.
Size matters at Brickbottom Gallery in Somerville this month, as the gallery hosts its third annual summer exhibition on the theme "What Is Big?", bucking the traditional group-show trend of small stuff. Opening on July 12, this show features large-scale work in many media, including an interactive installation by Robert Goss that uses magnetic paint and magnets and a massive monoprint collage by Debra Olin whose layered meaning emerges from juxtaposed images of a printed ’50s housedress with a globe and hand drawings of rock, paper, and scissors. Work by David Columbo, Susanna Darling, Deborah Davidson, Lois Fiore, Cathleen Palumbo, Felice Regan, Dan Rocha, Susan Schmidt, Obie Simonis, Beverly Sky, and Aileen Vantomme provides a multitude of viewpoints on the topic; all dare to think Big.
"4 To Look At: Cree Bruins, Sally Moore, Kelly Sherman, Rachel Perry Welty" is at Barbara Krakow Gallery, 10 Newbury Street, July 8 through September 6, with an opening reception July 8 from 5 to 7 p.m.; call (617) 262-4490. "Boston Summer 2003" and "Roswell Angiers" are at Howard Yezerski Gallery, 14 Newbury Street, July 10 through August 16, with an opening reception July 10 from 5:30 to 7:30 p.m.; call (617) 262-0550. "What Is Big?" is at Brickbottom Gallery, in the Brickbottom Artists’ Building, 1 Fitchburg Street, Somerville, July 12 through August 9, with an opening reception July 13 from 6 to 8 p.m.; call (617) 776-3410.
