In a lavish and arresting display of fifty-five black-and-white and color photographs, shot in traditional style with a 4×5 view camera, Jean-Christophe Ballot sets up a “dialogue” between the monuments, buildings and museum interiors of his native Paris and his second urban love, our sweet home. A master of ultra-tight composition who is able to organize complicated forms and myriad details into powerful configurations, Ballot adds another level of play and complexity by juxtaposing his images to reveal visual comparisons and contrasts, bringing his two cities closer to each other than one might expect. Even Ballot’s simplest pairings are rife with telling visual cross references that pop out from the apparent differences between their elements. In clear yet muted color, the Wicker Park skyscraper thrusts upwards into the blue. Next to it, in soft black and white, the shadow of its doppelganger, the Eiffel Tower, is cast upon the streets, yet also appears to rise to the heavens. (Michael Weinstein)
A New Vision: A Review of Milwaukee's Sarah Ball Allis Art Museum Curator Kate E. Schaffer has gathered a group of works by femme, women and nonbinary artists that interacts, intervenes and innovates with the museum’s permanent collection to reveal the life of the explorer, traveler, caretaker and collector Sarah Ball Allis.
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