Beauty Ritual
@ Pentagon
2655 W Homer St, Chicago, IL 60647
Opening Saturday, April 16th, from 7PM - 11PM
On view through Tuesday, May 10th
The photographs made by Mac Katter, Olivia Swider, Hani Eid, and Billy Buck explore an obsession with transforming everyday experiences, the aggressive re-contextualization of found imagery and objects, and both the submission to and overruling of photographic language. Beauty Ritual refers to the dedication and conviction with which these photographers drive their practice. They are compelled to see the world a certain way, and the meaning of this photography is rooted in the artists’ formal routine, as well as the contemporary life of a twenty-something, living and working in a metropolis.
Katter’s work addresses a balance of spontaneity and composition in photography. An enthusiasm for the medium’s vast possibilities is made hyper-present through his playful approach. A photograph of a figure’s shadow on the back of a person in a nondescript landscape dramatizes anonymity and nods to the third figure, the viewer, who once again mimics the gesture and stands in place of the photographer. Buck uses a similar strategy of personal intervention in his photography where the photographer is the one being described through the represented object or person. Hani’s concern with authorship motivates his own mark of presence in the image; recycling and vandalizing iconic imagery of beauty. Swider steps further away from the subject, presenting wider photographic space in the landscape. Along with confusing scale through perspective and focusing on geometric composition, she, like Katter, creates a playful dynamic between herself and the subject. A house cat hunts the prey that is outside of the frame and Swider, armed with the camera, hunts the cat. In this way, the photographer becomes directly related to the meaning and reading of the subject matter.
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