| The struggle for personal identity in a media-saturated culture assumes absurd
anthropomorphic proportions in this work by Laurie Simmons. Using her friend,
photographer Jimmy DeSana, as a model, Simmons fashions a creature that is half-human,
half-machine, capturing him with her shutter against a seamless studio backdrop
as he tips awkwardly forward. The strong, directional lighting and grainy appearance
of the photograph suggest a film still. The imagery derives from 1950s television
advertising, which often featured life-size dancing cigarette cartons, matchbooks,
and the like. . . .
- April Watson, Curatorial and Exhibition Assistant in the Department of Photographs
National Gallery of Art, Washington |
Text excerpted from A Capital Collection: Masterworks from
the Corcoran Gallery of Art.
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