From Library Journal
These three inexpensive volumes present the work of some of today's most interesting and accessible art photographers. Emotions & Relations collects the work of five relatively established photographers who first came to know each other while in art school and the 1970s and have since sometimes been grouped as the "Boston School." While most members share similar content (their friends and acquaintances as subjects) and technique (lush, painterly uses of color), each demonstrates a clear individual style. This catalog to an exhibition at the Hamburger Kunsthalle makes a fine case for both their grouping and their specific talents, offering two short essays on the show and the "school" and introductions to each artist preceding the separate portfolios. While all five?Nan Goldin, David Armstong, Mark Morrisroe, Jack Pierson, and Philip-Lorca diCorcia?have published monographs, this volume offers new insights for substantial art libraries and a concise and beautiful compendium for small and medium public libraries. The German Tillmans and Japanese Mori are younger but still have impressive museum credentials under their belts. Mori's book accompanies a show traveling from Los Angeles to Pittsburgh and Chicago. Her stylized photos, using herself as subject in a variety of over-the-top costumes, at first simply entertain and make the viewer happy. But her juxtapositions of contemporary urban life and surreal fantasy also impart more disturbing thoughts. Tillmans's book, his fourth, is the most comprehensive collection of his work and finally captures the full variety of styles?from diaristic snapshots to painterly still lifes to off-the-wall fashion spreads. What unifies all this is an ability to see the ordinary and be astonished. Emotions & Relations belongs in nearly all libraries; Tillmans is a fine choice for medium and large public institutions; Mori will be at home in larger public and academic art collections.?Eric Bryant, "Library Journal"
Copyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc.
Copyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc.
