Jeff Wall Takes Photography Into a Painterly Realm

May 15, 2019 · 4 comments
Celeste (Emilia)
I agree with Ari Weitzner these pictures make you think as if photography was dead. They look taken casually with a smartphone. Also a wordy article to describe "nothingness". The only risk taking is for the reader and the viewer.
JL Williams (Wahoo, NE)
While I won't go as far as the emperor-has-no-clothes commenter, I do think it's legitimate to ask: (1) If these items weren't part of the current Gagosian inventory of objets d'oligarchie, would we be reading about them here? (2) if this collection is in fact a “conversation,” what's its point? Is there anything we don't already know about the ambiguous relationship between photographs and the lived world?
Emily Lessard (Brooklyn)
This work is getting more attention then it deserves based on being at Gagosian. If you want something painterly, that also deals head-on with the commercial facade, you need to look further then Jeff Wall. John Lehr’s Island Position is up right now (I think at Kate Werble) and it does a much better job looking completely surreal and pushing this conversation further.
Ari Weitzner (Nyc)
I got bad news. The emperor ain’t wearing any clothes. These photos are awful and have zero artistic value. Just awful.