Among the generation of gifted photographers from Chicago’s Institute of Design in the 1950s who brought modernist photography to a perfection never again to be surpassed, Kenneth Josephson stands out as the one who took the first step into our postmodern age. Rather than adhering to a purely photographic vision, Josephson discerned the possibility of playing with the cultural meaning of photography and subverting its pretensions to realism, crafting images about the medium instead of showing what it could produce on its own accord. Guided by a spirit of wry wit, Josephson offers us an image of a reclining woman, cropped above the waist and wearing a black dress on which he has placed a photograph of the vaginal area where it would appear had his subject been naked. Done without theory and with almost naive innocence, everything we know now is already here. (Michael Weinstein)
Through April 19 at Stephen Daiter Gallery, 311 W. Superior.
Weather Patterns: A Review of John Santoro at McCormick Gallery Talking about the weather, as painter John Santoro notes, was once just a mundane space filler. Now, with more than a few “warmest year on record” behind us, the weather has become a significant concern.
