In today’s Washington Times, staff writer Deborah K. Dietsch in her column ‘On the Edge,’ attacked DC’s museums and galleries for “playing it safe” with “familiar names and predictable subjects to secure sponsorship and boost attendance.” In this onslaught she commented on the previously mentioned Avedon exhibit, ‘Portraits of Power’ stating that it “is anything but powerful.” She continues by declaring that the exhibit “reduces famous artists and politicians to glum, cookie-cutter figures.” In her determination, “It’s as celebrity-driven as last year’s Annie Leibovitz exhibit but without any sense of the sitters’ personalities. There isn’t much new here except for some faces of ordinary folks - part of a project called ‘Democracy’ - and they undermine the whole point of the show.”
In reflection, if anything, I would criticize the Corcoran for their superfluous and exploitive political agenda, which affixes an ideology to Avedon’s work nonexistent and unintended by the artist in its rudiments, by the Corcoran’s pairings and placement of particular images. For example, images placed opposed, one of an American Vietnam vet and a Vietnamese napalm victim, is an obvious anti-war statement that is too obvious and belittles the complexity of the greater series. And the location of a Barack Obama portrait (’Democracy 2004′), dead-on center, as one walks in the back end of the exhibit is an overt endorsement of the candidate that is puerile and unnecessary considering the grand context and breadth. Other than this, I am dumbfounded by Dietsch’s comments. I would surmise that she has little understanding of Avedon’s methods and the implications of these methods. Avedon’s portraits sans environment cause the viewer to examine deeper into the psyche of his sitters, not overlook them like bubble gum cards. It is in this closer examination that one sees the embedded intricacies of Avedon’s sitters’ personalities. Furthermore, Dietsch’s distaste for the presence of Avedon’s portraits of “some faces of ordinary folks” in the exhibit is ridiculous. These images, a part of Avedon’s unfinished final portfolio entitled ‘Democracy 2004,’ include images of Republican and Democratic Convention attendees, and ‘joe the plumber’ (I apologize for my 2008 reference) along with the traditional power players of American government and society. To me, Avedon’s photographing these “ordinary folks” in context with the heavy hitters is a statement by Avedon, and acknowledged and reinforced by the Corcoran in including them, that every man and woman, regardless of age, occupation, race, religion, or income plays an important and powerful role in our American democracy. I guess Dietsch missed “the whole point of the show.”
October 24th, 2008 | Uncategorized | No comments
